By Lenovo this week unveiled a new addition to the Moto Z family at IFA 2016. It’s the Moto Z Play, and as you might expect from similarly-named phones from recent history, this model is made to be more affordable than the flagships it shares its name with.
The Moto Z Play is by and large a Moto Z device. Looks alone could drive that point home with its distinct camera module on the rear. Despite the fact that it has a glass-plated back instead of a metal one, and thankfully reintroduces the 3.5mm headphone jack we all know and love that the other Moto Z phones ditched, it looks like it belongs in the family.
One other similarity is the existence of contact pins on the rear of the phone, and that particular bit is more than just for show — the Moto Z Play supports Moto Mods just as well as the rest of them do. You can extend the functionality of the phone by snapping one of these mods on the rear. Camera enhancement gear, more powerful speakers, and even a projector are all possible thanks to its modularity.
Internally, things differ a bit more, with Motorola opting for weaker (but still perfectly capable) hardware to keep the phone running:
- 5.5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display (517 nits max brightness)
- Snapdragon 625 processor Adreno 506 GPU
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB storage w/micro SD card slot
- 16MP camera f/2.0 (laser and PD AF)
- 3,510mAh
- Fingerprint reader water-repellent
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
- Compatible with existing MotoMods
Really, its only weak point here is the Snapdragon 625 chipset, though in our eary usage it hasn’t done anything to harm the user experience. The device will be available on Verizon starting mid-September for just over $400, with other folks able to get an unlocked model for about $450 the next month. Make sure you get a closer look in our hands-on video above.
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