Lenovo Philippines launched the Moto Z2 Play in the country last week as it continues to bet on the modular smartphone approach.
The Moto Z2 Play is a premium mid-range smartphone powered by a newer Snapdragon 626 chip with 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage.
The Moto Z2 Play follows the same design signature as the original Moto Z. Compared to the Moto Z Play, the Moto Z2 Play is thinner by 1mm and lighter by 20grams. It looks almost the same although there are some minor enhancements done on the exterior. The unibody design is made up of all glass and metallic materials with rounded corners and chamfered edges. It’s got the same smooth, matte finish and thin profile.
The power button and volume toggles are on the right side, and though the buttons are slightly smaller than we would’ve wanted, the power button has ridges on it so you can easily figure it out without even looking. The fingerprint sensor at the front is now more rounded than the previous squarish design.
The USB Type-C is placed at the bottom end along with the 3.5mm audio jack. Up top is the SIM card tray that supports dual-SIM slots with the second one that doubles as a microSD card slot (up to 2TB capacity).
At the back is a flat surface with a polished metal finish, pin connectors for the Moto Mods at the bottom end and a large camera lens that protrudes about 2 or 3mm. The 12-megapixel rear camera comes with a dual-tone, dual-LED flash just below it. The protrusion of the camera module at the back is a result of the very thin profile that houses a large camera module. It also helps stabilize the Moto Mods when attached to the back of the device.
The implementation of the antenna bands is unique with lines circling all the way around the corners, so at first glance you would not notice it.
Up front is a 5.5-inch full HD Super AMOLED display protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The screen is vibrant and crisp as expected of a Super AMOLED display.
The Moto Z2 Play features a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a full HD 1080p resolution protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The Super AMOLED display is bright and crisp, colors are vibrant and rich while maintaining low-power consumption.
There are also options in the settings that allow the user to set color saturation and brightness control, for personal preference.
The Moto Z2 Play runs on the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat with barely any customization on top of it. It’s the closest to Vanilla Android as you can get. It has clean and simple UI that we really liked.
The Moto Z2 Play comes with a single 12-megapixel autofocus camera paired with a dual-tone, dual-LED flash. It’s quick and snappy, focuses quite fast and generally takes really good photos even in low-light environments, thanks to the wide f/1.7 aperture.
It also comes with a Pro mode, which allows the user to adjust the settings manually. The rear camera can take 4K videos at 30fps or full HD 1080p at 60fps. There’s also an option for slo-mo in one of the camera modes.
The 5-megapixel front-facing camera has a dual-tone, dual-LED flash, which is really useful for taking selfies in low-light situations.
Powering the Moto Z2 Play is a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 chipset composed of an ARM Cortex A53 octa-core processor with a maximum clock speed of 2.21GHz.
It has a fairly powerful chipset and is a very capable device able to run multiple apps without any problems, and graphics-intensive games play very smoothly.
With a 3,000mAh Li-Ion battery, the Z2 Play can last over a day on light to moderate use. The Z2 Play also has Turbocharging similar to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge so you can quickly recharge the device in just a short amount of time. Charging time is pretty fast – zero to 50 percent in 30 minutes.
What makes the Moto Z2 Play and its entire Moto Z series family unique is their modularity. It’s an approach that has never been tried before and, unlike the modular design of the LG G5 (that was subsequently discontinued), continues to be a solid offering with over a dozen Mods to choose from.
The new lineup also comes with a selection of style shell that adds a fashionable cover and wireless charging capability.
Motorola is committed to make more Mods and make them backward and forward compatible to the Moto Z series for at least two years. Some of the Mods really extend the feature and functionalities of the device – an extended battery pack, a stereo speaker from JBL, and a more capable camera module from Hasselblad.
Lenovo has managed to make the Motorola brand stand out from the rest in the industry by pursuing a direction and sticking to it. Motorola stands by the modular approach and we commend the bravery. The Moto Z2 Play is a testament to that. It’s a beautifully crafted phone, well-balanced, proudly stands on its own and conveniently maximizes itself with the Moto Mods collection.
The Moto Z2 Play will be available in three exclusive Motorola outlets located at the CyberZone of SM Mall of Asia, SM Megamall and SM North EDSA with a suggested retail price of P24,999.