According to this, the Moto Z Play smartphone can be called a replacement for the Moto X Play. We got a chance to spend some time with this phone at the IFA event this year and now this phone has been launched in India. Now it remains to be seen how this phone competes in the market.
Moto Z Play design and build quality
The Moto Z Play smartphone is not as slim as the Moto Z phones from the Z series. But that is actually a good thing. We would personally recommend a smartphone that is more secure and can fit in your pocket easily. And being thicker means that it has a better grip while holding and typing. However, we did have a bit of an issue with the length of the phone as it is not easy to fit in most pockets. With the Style Shell back cover, the phone feels bulky without a cover and the glass rear cover makes the phone slip a lot from the hand. The phone also comes with a Style Shell.
The aluminium body makes the Moto Z Play feel like a rugged phone. The build quality of the phone is excellent. We really liked the Moto X design but the design of the Z Play is also not bad. The buttons on the phone work well but feel a bit small. Lenovo has tried to differentiate the other buttons and the power button but it would have been better if they were placed at a different place or in a different size.
There is a SIM tray at the top and users can use two nano-SIMs and a microSD card of up to 2TB. The phone has a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom. The phone has a 16-megapixel rear camera with a laser autofocus sensor and dual-tone LED flash module at the rear. There is a raised lens on the front with a stylish shell to protect it from scratches. There is no speaker grill in the phone as the earpiece also works as a loudspeaker.
The 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display offers vibrant colors and sharp text. The phone is legible even in sunlight. Apart from this, we did not face any problem in touching the phone and it works well. There are onscreen buttons for Android UI navigation and there is a fingerprint sensor just below the screen which can be used to lock or unlock the phone. The fingerprint sensor works well, although sometimes it fails to recognize the fingerprint.
On purchasing the Moto Z Play, customers will get a USB Type-C cable, 15 watt wall charger, headset, SIM projector and a guide. The quality of the headset that comes with the phone is not very good for a premium smartphone and its quality could have been better.
Moto Z Play specifications and features
The Moto Z Play is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, which is the same processor that powers most Asus ZenFone models, including the ZenFone 3 (ZE552KL) we recently reviewed. We think that most phones these days are powered by the flagship Snapdragon 820 processor. But ultimately, it’s how the phone is optimised that matters more than the numbers. While the processor in the Z Play isn’t as powerful as the Qualcomm flagship processor in the Moto Z, it does manage to multitask with ease.
With 3GB of RAM, the performance of the Moto Z Play’s software is good. In terms of statistics, the Moto Z Play performs well. Gaming performance is excellent in this smartphone and the phone works well.
Talking about the rest of the specifications, the phone has 32 GB inbuilt storage, Bluetooth 4.0, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, NFC and USB OTG. It supports 4G in both SIM slots. There is no separate information about VoLTE support in the phone. Apart from this, there is no FM radio and the absence of Wi-Fi 802.11 AC is also disappointing.
Like the Moto Z and other Moto smartphones, Android offers a smooth experience. You can multitask without any problem in animations. On average, 1.1 GB of RAM is free all the time. Apart from Moto Mods and Moto apps, Android Marshmallow works just like any other Nexus phone. Gesture based actions can be performed from the Moto app.
Moto Action lets you toggle with hand gestures to operate the camera, flash light, etc. Swiping up from the bottom brings the screen to one-handed mode. Moto Display lets you see the time at first glance and also gives you notifications when the phone is in standby.
Moto Z Play performance
It’s hard to complain about app performance on Moto’s premium smartphones and that’s no different with the Moto Z Play. The overall performance is fast and the smartphone runs cool even during active usage. The Moto Z Play does get a little warm while charging but there’s no overheating while playing games or using the camera. All the modes that work with the Moto Z work with this phone as well and it feels like an expensive Moto Z.
Multimedia playback on the Moto Z Play is very good and this is thanks to the excellent display and good audio. Audio settings can be set separately for speakers and headphones. High-resolution videos and 4K video files also play well. Sound is also good. The earpiece speaker produces good sound without any problem. The earpiece speaker produces excellent sound and there is no problem even at high volume.
The Moto Z Play sports a 16-megapixel camera with PDAF and laser autofocus. In daylight, landscape photos are captured with good detail and colour reproduction. The phone focuses fast, though we sometimes struggled to lock focus on the subject during close-up shots.
Macro photos are quite good. Landscape photos lose detail in low light. Overall, photos are good if you don’t crop the photos too much. If you go into the settings and manually tweak the pro mode, you can get better results.
Video recording is pretty good in full HD and 4K. Slow motion videos recorded at 120fps and 720fps are also good. The camera app is basic but popular shooting modes like Professional and Panorama capture good pictures. The front camera can take good selfies in good light and the front flash works well at night. The rear dual-tone flash performs well in a small room.
Battery life is another feature of the Moto Z that performs very well. The 3150mAh battery lasted for 17 hours and 4 minutes in our video loop test. With normal use, the phone easily lasted for a day and a half. Moto’s TurboPower feature allows for quick charging, which charges the phone up to about 26 percent in just half an hour.
Our verdict
Priced at Rs 24,999, the Moto Z Play competes with our current favourite OnePlus 3. The Asus Zenfone 3 and Honor 8 are also excellent all-rounders. The Moto Z Play does well in every department and is a very good all-rounder. Considering the price, the phone could have used a more powerful processor and the lack of Wi-Fi 802.11ac is a big drawback. It is also a bit on the heavy side. While the extra weight and thickness are not an issue for us, the length of the phone might be an issue for some.
The Moto Z Play has a unique feature that other smartphones in this range do not have and that is the support for Moto Mods. If you are thinking of investing in this ecosystem then it will be a great decision. And the Moto Z Play is not expensive either.
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