Anyone else have one?
I bought mine unlocked from Best Buy on Friday for $450. I wasn't aware of this particular variant of the Z line before, I just happened to see it when looking for a phone I could get right away. I accidentally dropped my previous phone, the Honor 8, last week in the toilet and it died... couldn't revive it even after thoroughly drying it (I think something may have shorted internally when it happened, as the cellular radio died, and then the screen, and then the phone audibly was sizzling/hissing inside even after I turned it off). You can say I was dishonored.
I rescued the microSD and SIM cards from the Honor 8 and popped them in the Moto Z Play. Here are my initial impressions after 2 days of use:
- The build quality is nicer than I was expecting, though it's not quite "pretty" without the style shell/back cover on, as the shell makes the camera housing (aka bump or hump) flush with the shell rather than protrude out, and it conceals the Moto Mod contacts. The shell snaps on and off without effort thanks to the magnet system, which is also used for securing the various Moto Mods (sold separately). The glass back of the Z Play naked is rather nice, but the back of my Honor 8 was easily getting tiny scratches here and there before I put a case on it, so I'm likely keeping the shell on almost all the time. The wood shell that came with it is nice, but it quickly gets a smudgy fingerprint patina from just using and carrying it. I already ordered a blue Incipio back to use instead and hope it fits nicely. The wood one isn't bad, but it's not really my preferred style.
- The phone feels a little heavy (gsmarena says it's 165g, though that might be without the shell) compared to other, more plastic-y phones I've used, but it's distributed well and the phone feels solid and sturdy thanks to the metal frame. It definitely has a premium feel to it, but It's not quite as comfortable to hold as lighter and smaller phones (the original Moto X was close to perfect for one-handed comfort).
- This has to be the one of the cleanest shipping implementations of Android (currently Marshmallow, though it's supposed to be getting Nougat soon) I've seen outside of Nexus. Granted, Motorola (now Lenovo) has kept it fairly clean on the X, G, and Z lines since the original Moto X, but even so I was pleasantly surprised by there being only two Moto apps on the device: one with the typical Moto features (gestures, voice commands, display notification features), and the other a shortcut to the Moto Mods store. Android is otherwise pretty much indistinguishable from a Nexus version (Pixel is a little different as it has its own newer launcher and some other tweaks). The camera app does have some more Moto-specific features, but you can turn them off if you want. I assume the Verizon-branded variant (the Z Play Droid) has the normal Verizon bloat apps on it, unfortunately.
- It's maybe too soon to say exactly how long the battery will last in a worst case scenario, but so far I'm impressed. I installed all my apps yesterday, and early this morning I charged the Z up fully (the USB Type-C turbo charging works well, by the way) before taking it off the charger. I've been using the phone heavily all day (7 hours screen on time) from 7AM and it still has 45% battery remaining right now at 9:25PM. The combination of big battery (3510mAh), efficient SoC (Snapdragon 625), and medium resolution screen (1080p AMOLED, which is a reasonably good panel, but the res isn't ideal for VR like Daydream) result in very good battery life, which is one of the main reasons I picked this phone. I suspect I could get the phone to last 3 or 4 days if I get one of the power pack Moto Mods (2200mAh), though undoubtedly the added weight would make the phone a bit unwieldy for daily use.
- The spacing of the volume and power buttons is a bit odd. I've been having to look to avoid pressing the wrong button - though the power button is textured - but I suppose I'll get used to it in time.
- I don't use the fingerprint sensor, but it is easily confused for a home button because of it's location just below the screen. It's only a sensor, though.
- The Moto Z Play has a normal 3.5mm headphone jack. It's a little weird that they did away with it on the Z and Z Force, but I'm glad it's on this variant as I listen to music and podcasts frequently through regular corded earbuds.
I think a lot of people will skip the Moto Z Play because on paper the SoC, RAM (3GB) and other specs are rather unimpressively mid-range versus the other ~$400-$500 phones like the OnePlus 3, Axon 7, Honor 8, ZenFone 3 Deluxe, LeEco Le Pro3, etc and it doesn't benchmark well, but from real-world performance it seems close to as fast as my Honor 8 was. It probably is outclassed by the Pixel and I haven't really used the camera much yet so I can't say if it's a good performer there, but I think the phone is worth looking at for anyone who needs extreme battery life and/or wants to play around with Moto Mods.
Speaking of Moto Mods, I don't think I'll be getting the Hasselblad True Zoom unless it drops in price, but I may get the JBL speaker. The built-in speaker has aceptable volume and sound quality for a smartphone, but for me the mod would be worth getting if it's equivalent quality to a decent portable bluetooth speaker. I may also possibly get a power pack with wireless charging for use when traveling.
I wasn't really sold on the Moto Mods before buying this phone, but in part that's because I was disappointed to hear that the Project Ara and fully modular phones weren't going to be coming, despite years of rumors and news about it. I'm a little more optimistic about the idea now, but Lenovo does need more mods and lower priced ones for it to be a success beyond a nifty concept.
I bought mine unlocked from Best Buy on Friday for $450. I wasn't aware of this particular variant of the Z line before, I just happened to see it when looking for a phone I could get right away. I accidentally dropped my previous phone, the Honor 8, last week in the toilet and it died... couldn't revive it even after thoroughly drying it (I think something may have shorted internally when it happened, as the cellular radio died, and then the screen, and then the phone audibly was sizzling/hissing inside even after I turned it off). You can say I was dishonored.
I rescued the microSD and SIM cards from the Honor 8 and popped them in the Moto Z Play. Here are my initial impressions after 2 days of use:- The build quality is nicer than I was expecting, though it's not quite "pretty" without the style shell/back cover on, as the shell makes the camera housing (aka bump or hump) flush with the shell rather than protrude out, and it conceals the Moto Mod contacts. The shell snaps on and off without effort thanks to the magnet system, which is also used for securing the various Moto Mods (sold separately). The glass back of the Z Play naked is rather nice, but the back of my Honor 8 was easily getting tiny scratches here and there before I put a case on it, so I'm likely keeping the shell on almost all the time. The wood shell that came with it is nice, but it quickly gets a smudgy fingerprint patina from just using and carrying it. I already ordered a blue Incipio back to use instead and hope it fits nicely. The wood one isn't bad, but it's not really my preferred style.
- The phone feels a little heavy (gsmarena says it's 165g, though that might be without the shell) compared to other, more plastic-y phones I've used, but it's distributed well and the phone feels solid and sturdy thanks to the metal frame. It definitely has a premium feel to it, but It's not quite as comfortable to hold as lighter and smaller phones (the original Moto X was close to perfect for one-handed comfort).
- This has to be the one of the cleanest shipping implementations of Android (currently Marshmallow, though it's supposed to be getting Nougat soon) I've seen outside of Nexus. Granted, Motorola (now Lenovo) has kept it fairly clean on the X, G, and Z lines since the original Moto X, but even so I was pleasantly surprised by there being only two Moto apps on the device: one with the typical Moto features (gestures, voice commands, display notification features), and the other a shortcut to the Moto Mods store. Android is otherwise pretty much indistinguishable from a Nexus version (Pixel is a little different as it has its own newer launcher and some other tweaks). The camera app does have some more Moto-specific features, but you can turn them off if you want. I assume the Verizon-branded variant (the Z Play Droid) has the normal Verizon bloat apps on it, unfortunately.
- It's maybe too soon to say exactly how long the battery will last in a worst case scenario, but so far I'm impressed. I installed all my apps yesterday, and early this morning I charged the Z up fully (the USB Type-C turbo charging works well, by the way) before taking it off the charger. I've been using the phone heavily all day (7 hours screen on time) from 7AM and it still has 45% battery remaining right now at 9:25PM. The combination of big battery (3510mAh), efficient SoC (Snapdragon 625), and medium resolution screen (1080p AMOLED, which is a reasonably good panel, but the res isn't ideal for VR like Daydream) result in very good battery life, which is one of the main reasons I picked this phone. I suspect I could get the phone to last 3 or 4 days if I get one of the power pack Moto Mods (2200mAh), though undoubtedly the added weight would make the phone a bit unwieldy for daily use.
- The spacing of the volume and power buttons is a bit odd. I've been having to look to avoid pressing the wrong button - though the power button is textured - but I suppose I'll get used to it in time.
- I don't use the fingerprint sensor, but it is easily confused for a home button because of it's location just below the screen. It's only a sensor, though.
- The Moto Z Play has a normal 3.5mm headphone jack. It's a little weird that they did away with it on the Z and Z Force, but I'm glad it's on this variant as I listen to music and podcasts frequently through regular corded earbuds.
I think a lot of people will skip the Moto Z Play because on paper the SoC, RAM (3GB) and other specs are rather unimpressively mid-range versus the other ~$400-$500 phones like the OnePlus 3, Axon 7, Honor 8, ZenFone 3 Deluxe, LeEco Le Pro3, etc and it doesn't benchmark well, but from real-world performance it seems close to as fast as my Honor 8 was. It probably is outclassed by the Pixel and I haven't really used the camera much yet so I can't say if it's a good performer there, but I think the phone is worth looking at for anyone who needs extreme battery life and/or wants to play around with Moto Mods.
Speaking of Moto Mods, I don't think I'll be getting the Hasselblad True Zoom unless it drops in price, but I may get the JBL speaker. The built-in speaker has aceptable volume and sound quality for a smartphone, but for me the mod would be worth getting if it's equivalent quality to a decent portable bluetooth speaker. I may also possibly get a power pack with wireless charging for use when traveling.
I wasn't really sold on the Moto Mods before buying this phone, but in part that's because I was disappointed to hear that the Project Ara and fully modular phones weren't going to be coming, despite years of rumors and news about it. I'm a little more optimistic about the idea now, but Lenovo does need more mods and lower priced ones for it to be a success beyond a nifty concept.
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