Review and tests of Motorola Moto Z2 Play. Smartphone swiss army knife. Motorola Moto Z2 Play review: let's play with Moto

Moto Z is the top series of the product line Motorola Moto, which first appeared last year. It is logical that this year the time has come for the heirs of last year’s models. In this review, we introduce you to the Moto Z2 Play, the successor to the Moto Z Play, which was the most available model in the line. The Moto Z2 Play has gone up a bit in price, bringing the device closer to the top models on the market. The changes compared to its predecessor lie primarily in the design, which is now based entirely on metal. In addition, the device has a thinner profile. Dimensions and 5.5-inch screen were retained because, like all other products in the Moto Z line, Moto Z2 Play is compatible with so-called Moto Mods, which we will talk about below. The smartphone also has a new processor, new camera And new battery, and all this, of course, will pass our tests.

Motorola Moto Z2 Play price

Construction and design

Moto Mods

Screen

Specifications Motorola Moto Z2 Play

Battery

Battery testing, comparison with Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 and Moto Z Play

Telephone conversation

Internet surfing with Wi-Fi

Internet surfing with 4G

Watch video

3D games

Software

Performance

CPU testing

Geekbench 3.0 (multi-core)

Vellamo 3 Metal

Vellamo 2 Metal

Graphics chip testing

GFXBench 2.7 (T-Rex, Offscreen)

GFXBench 3.0 (Manhattan, Offscreen)

3DMark (Ice Storm Unlimited)

Operating temperature

Camera Motorola Moto Z2 Play

Examples of photos taken on Motorola Moto Z2 Play

Conclusion - does it make sense to buy?

Pros of Motorola Moto Z2 Play

• Stylish metal design and 6mm thickness
• Ability to add various Moto Mods
• Fingerprint sensor and USB Type-C port
• Long battery life
• Pure Android 7.1 Nougat + a few extra Moto features
• Low temperature body after prolonged load
• 12-megapixel camera with f/1.7 aperture, laser autofocus and 4K video recording

Cons

• Very protruding camera
• Increased cost compared to its predecessor

Review from the owner of Motorola Moto Z2 Play, opinion about Moto Mods

The waltz between Lenovo and its Motorola is very interesting to watch. At first it was about preserving both the Moto line and the VIBE series, then VIBE disappeared, but the “double” brand Lenovo Moto and Lenovo smartphones without sub-brand (in small quantities). Now we are talking about the fact that smartphones will be produced only under the Moto brand - I don’t think, however, that the epic will stop there.

The gadgets themselves can get lost in this fuss, but that’s not the case. Unlike another revived legend, Nokia, which so far is mainly selling its “face,” Moto has very interesting developments behind its soul. Moto Mods are not a thing of the past - the topic continues to develop, new modules appear, and Z2 is already the second generation of smartphones that support Mods.

But Moto Z2 Play is notable not only for its ability to expand functionality. This is a smartphone that is curious in its positioning. On the one hand, it has an AMOLED display, a front-facing fingerprint scanner, slim body, splash protection. On the other hand, it has a middle-class platform, Qualcomm Snapdragon 626, LTE only category seven (and not category 9 or 12, like modern flagships), RAM only 3-4 GB. And the price is 35 thousand rubles. Z2 Play seems to freeze at the junction of two worlds - a semi-flagship.

⇡ Specifications

⇡ Appearance, ergonomics and software

Making a phone with your own face today is a real feat. The days of the RAZR or N98 are long gone, experiments with form have been crushed by the huge touch display- the space for designers to express themselves is reduced to some tiny details. Nevertheless, compared to the general (especially Chinese) background, Moto is doing very well with this.

The main thing that distinguishes last generations seniors Moto smartphones, is their thinness: less than six millimeters on average, excluding additional cover. Well, it has a very unique appearance “out of the box” - with open contacts on the rear panel. The smartphone looks like a model for assembly, and not a final device, which, however, is not far from the truth, given the modular concept.

It is not necessary to use Moto Mods - you can simply cover the back panel with a replaceable cover. This is also nice - I don’t think that many people will regularly buy new covers for themselves to refresh their impressions of their own smartphone, but the opportunity to immediately choose, for example, a back panel “like wood” or with some kind of print, is very Fine.

Replaceable modules, like covers, are attached to the back with magnets - in one movement and very securely. Realized great.

Other distinctive features of the Z2 Play: a round main camera unit with an integrated lens and dual flash, as well as a flash for the front camera on the front panel - a rarity these days. An oval key with touch rather than mechanical control and a fingerprint scanner integrated into it will not surprise anyone today. You can also note the absence of a visible grille for the main speaker - the conversational speaker takes the rap for two here, and I wouldn’t say that this is such a brilliant solution.

Moto Z2 Play, back panel: camera unit with lens and dual flash, microphone at the bottom

But there is a mini-jack, which tragically disappeared from the Moto Z. In the end, we are talking about the Play version - it is still simpler, it should not make user revolutions. It's still more convenient to live with a mini-jack - that's why it's here. And those who want to proudly stand at the forefront of progress can choose flagship devices.

Specifications

• Android 7.1.1
• Display 5.5 inches, AMOLED, 1080x1920 pixels, 401 ppi, automatic brightness adjustment, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Li-Ion battery 3000 mAh, operating time in mixed mode up to 40 hours, fast charging
• Version for one nanoSIM card, two nanoSIM cards, separate memory card slot in the tray
• 3/32 GB memory or 4/64 GB memory, memory cards up to 256 GB
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 chipset, octa-core Cortex A53 @ up to 2.2 GHz, Adreno 506 GPU
• Front camera 5 megapixels, dual-section flash
• Main camera 12 megapixels, f/1.7, phase detection autofocus
• Noise reduction system, three microphones
• Fingerprint sensor
• FM radio
• USB Type C, USB OTG, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, NFC
• GPS/GLONASS
• Color options – Lunar Gray, Fine Gold, Nimbus Blue
• Dimensions – 156.2x76.2x6 mm, weight – 145 grams

Scope of delivery

• Smartphone
• Charger supporting fast charging
• Wired stereo headset
• SIM tray eject tool
• Additional panel for back wall
• Instructions

Positioning

In 2017, the Z line becomes premium for Motorola, in fact these are the company's flagships, but with one caveat - there is an expensive, top-end flagship with the Force prefix, which uses an unbreakable ShutterShield screen, and a more affordable Z2 Play. The difference between these models in cost is noticeable, almost twofold. The issue of positioning the Z2 Play is complex, since based on the cost of 400 euros in Europe (35,000 rubles in Russia), this is a mid-segment model, and the filling corresponds to this segment. In my opinion, this device meets a couple of requirements from potential buyers, namely for a long time works on a single charge, clean and most up-to-date Android without add-ons and additional functions, good body materials. In fact, we have a device for those who choose a phone for a couple of years and want it to work for a long time on each charge. At the same time, such a buyer does not require the most top-end characteristics; for example, it is not important for him to have the most powerful processor, and the balance of the device comes to the fore. For fans of the brand that still exist, this is also an interesting decision.

Design, dimensions, control elements

The model is available in three colors, I don’t know which color suits you best, they are all interesting in some way.

The phone is easily recognizable, but, for example, I don’t like the case being too thin, its thickness is 6 mm! It digs into your hand, and the camera window protrudes a lot and constantly clings to various objects if you carry the phone that way.

But the device comes with an additional cover, a kind of panel that removes this “defect”, the device becomes a couple of millimeters thicker, but there are no problems with ergonomics.

Please note that there are contacts on the back panel, they are intended for Moto Mods, with the help of these accessories you can expand the functionality of the device, the company has released a fairly large number of “mods”, here and external speaker JBL, both battery and camera.

In my opinion, the best way is to use external battery, its capacity is 3000 mAh, which gives you about 1.5 times more energy, and the device will work not for two days, but for all three days. In this aspect, the phone is a record holder, but we will talk about this later.

At the top end you see a tray for SIM cards, depending on the market there may be two or one (nanoSIM format), on the other side you can install microSD card. That is, the slot allows you to use up to two SIM cards and a memory card at the same time.

On the right side there are two volume keys and an on/off button. The phone has three microphones and a well-implemented noise reduction system.

Above the screen there is a front camera and an LED flash, a proximity sensor, but the central key is a fingerprint sensor; pressing is not supported, but you can enable gesture support in the settings and scroll through lists on this button.

The device has a 3.5 mm jack, and at the bottom there is a standard USB Type C connector for charging your phone.

The dimensions of the device are 156.2x76.2x6 mm, weight - 145 grams. It's quite wide, but with an extra pad or some Moto Mods it fits well in the hand, it shouldn't be used without them, although it is possible. The case is made of metal, the front panel is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, the oleophobic coating is good.

There are no complaints about the build quality, it's still the same good old Motorola.

Display

Screen 5.5 inches, AMOLED, 1080x1920 pixels, 401 ppi, automatic brightness adjustment, Corning Gorilla Glass 3. As for me, automatic brightness adjustment often darkens the screen too much, this is done so that the device works longer. And if in normal modes this is not so noticeable, then when shooting with a camera on the street on a not very sunny day it becomes a problem; you have to peer into the screen. Exactly for this reason I turned it off automatic adjustment brightness

But if you manually set the screen brightness, then in most cases it will be comfortable for you. After the flagships from Samsung, I did not have enough display brightness, it seemed dim, but this is typical for most models in this price segment, both with AMOLED and TFT screens. For example, Huawei uses exactly the same aggressive brightness reduction algorithms for most use cases.

For the average person, the screen on the Z2 Play will be more than enough, especially if you have not used devices with QHD displays, otherwise you will definitely not have enough of it.

Battery

The built-in Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 3000 mAh, according to Motorola, can provide up to 40 hours of phone operation in mixed mode, which means that you can easily do different things on the phone for two days. As a rule, the stated and real time Motorola's are the same, and so it happened in my case, the device worked on average for about two days with 5-6 hours of display operation (60% backlight).

The playback time for unconverted video is a little more than 16 hours at maximum brightness, this is a very decent result.

Considering what you can buy external battery in the form of a mod (3000 mAh), you will easily get three days of work. And if you play on the device, then it will be 15 hours of pure time with such a battery, that is, a full day from morning to sunset. In terms of operating time, this device is very good, which will captivate many.

Fast charging is supported, the complete charging time with the complete device is about 1 hour 35 minutes.

Memory, RAM, chipset and performance

The phone has 4 GB of RAM, you can choose 64 GB of internal memory (there is an option for 3/32 GB), but there is also support for microSD memory cards up to 256 GB.

The chipset inside the phone is Snapdragon 626, 8 Cortex A53 cores up to 2.2 GHz, graphics accelerator – Adreno 506. The performance of this solution is not maximum, but it is quite enough for most typical tasks. Look at the results synthetic tests below.

USB, Bluetooth, communication capabilities

Version BT 4.2, all profiles are supported, which can be considered a nice feature of the device. Depending on the model number, different frequencies are supported for LTE, there are always the following bands: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 13.

For Wi-Fi there is support for 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. The phone has NFC, but the USB version is 3.1 (Type C).

Camera

The front camera is 5 megapixel, it has a two-section (!) flash. The pictures are of average quality. The main camera has a rather interesting interface.

The characteristics of the main camera are as follows: 12 megapixels, f/1.7, phase detection autofocus. Unfortunately, the shooting quality is very average, it is not strong point device, however, look for yourself.

Software features

Just like other devices from Motorola, this one is built on pure Android 7.1.1, no add-ons and nothing superfluous.

From a multimedia point of view, I liked this device, it plays music well, and, comparing it with classmates of predominantly Chinese origin, I give preference to it, the sound is reproduced cleaner and better.

The Moto app shows you how you can swipe your wrist to activate the camera, how you can record a voice tag to wake up your phone, and introduce you to night mode.

The implementation of FM radio is normal, it works with a headset.

When you turn it on for the first time, you are prompted to install additional programs, including from Yandex, but you can safely refuse them. That is, the preset here is delicate, there is no need to delete anything.

Impressions

Motorola always has everything in order with speech transmission, and no Chinese even came close to their noise reduction system, it is excellent. The ringer volume is above average, it can be heard quite well in noisy places, the vibration alert is average or a little muffled, you just can’t feel it.

With a Russian price of 34,990 rubles, this device did not turn out to be a win-win option, since for this money you can choose many alternatives from the “Chinese”. For example, the Honor 9 that just went on sale has the same battery size (almost the same), a 5.15-inch screen (IPS), fast charging and a price of 27,990 rubles. The difference in cost is quite noticeable, and not in favor of the device from Motorola. And this is a famous Chinese.

Or you can remember such a device as the OnePlus 3T, which today costs about 34,000 rubles (27 thousand on the gray market). Good model in all respects, which looks like a good buy.

There are a huge number of models in the segment of about 35,000 rubles, and they are very different, these are former flagships and current devices from Chinese manufacturers. Against this background, Motorola Z2 Play stands out only due to its brand name and unusual appearance. It is difficult to say how much this will be enough. What do you think about this device and its cost?

P.S. Full review will appear in August, after studying not a prototype, but a commercial sample. Commercial samples will have a better camera, the operating speed will change a little, but overall the idea is clear to you at first glance.

Motorola Moto Z2 Force is a combination of reliability, elegance and top-end performance. In addition to the gadget's extensive functions, you can add new features to it using add-on modules.

A screen that cannot be broken

A bright and contrasting 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2560 × 1440 is assembled using proprietary ShatterShield technology. The screen module consists of 5 layers:

• plastic;
• flexible glass;
• sensor;
• the screen itself;
• durable aluminum base.

This makes the display incredibly durable. You can throw your smartphone on the floor from a height of up to 2 meters, drop heavy objects on it - not a scratch will remain on the screen!

Control with your voice

The smartphone received a proprietary Moto shell, in which special emphasis is placed on advanced controls. For example, switching to previous page, opening the settings menu, activating the screen - all this can be programmed for gestures.

A system utility Moto Voice allows you to control your gadget using voice commands. Just speak a few phrases into the speaker, and smart smartphone will remember your voice. After that, just ask to show the calendar or weather widget, and Moto Z2 Force will instantly execute the command.

Ahead of time

In its class, the Moto Z2 Force, equipped with an 8-core Snapdragon processor 835 with 4 GB of RAM shows perhaps the best performance. The gadget responds to commands with lightning speed, works excellent in multitasking mode and maintains high frame rates in graphically advanced games.

In addition, Moto Z2 Force demonstrates impressive capabilities when working with mobile networks. When the 4G LTE module is running, the smartphone's throughput reaches 1 GB per second, so the gadget is quite ready for the emergence of ultra-fast fifth-generation networks.

Build your smartphone

Motorola Moto Z2 Force is modular smartphone, so you can upgrade the function you need.

Are you missing the capabilities of a 22 megapixel dual main camera with optical stabilization? Install the wide-angle Moto 360 Camera module, which also allows you to broadcast online.

Are you an avid gamer and ready to spend hours playing your favorite game? A module in the form of a gamepad with familiar controls is provided for you. Connoisseurs of quality and strong sound can install a JBL speaker, and to watch movies, a projector module is connected to the smartphone.

With overlays, you can even change the appearance of your smartphone, for example, use a panel made of wood or corrugated metal. And to extend battery life, simply install the TurboPower Pack plug-in battery.

Please note that in our online store you can only buy the smartphone itself. To purchase additional modules, please visit the manufacturer's website.

Color

General characteristics

Deciding on the type of device (phone or smartphone?) is quite simple. If you need a simple and inexpensive device for calls and SMS, it is recommended to choose a telephone. A smartphone is more expensive, but it offers a wide variety of options: games, videos, the Internet, thousands of programs for all occasions. However, its battery life is significantly less than that of a regular phone.

Screen

Multimedia capabilities

Connection

Memory and processor