Get ready for more Moto Mods, as Moto has announced a new Mod-compatible phone overnight from its phone roadmap, the Moto Z2 Play. The launch was rumoured for 1 June, and as it ticked over in the US (which is a few hours behind, and now also a few decades) Moto made good with its announcement.
Like the Moto Z Play which came last year, the Moto Z2 Play features the same 5.5-inch FHD AMOLED display, but the front is now a bit more 2017, with a rounded fingerprint sensor in the front and centre of the bottom bezel. Unlike the Moto Z Play, though, the battery isn’t quite so big — it’s down from the 3,510 mAh battery last year to a 3,000 mAh battery this year, but as we know manufacturers are shifting focus from including the world’s biggest battery to including the fastest ways to charge batteries, meaning that a 15-minute charge at your desk should be enough for another 8 hours of phone use.
Under the hood are the usual mid-tier suspects; a Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 processor, Adreno 506 GPU, 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage, though there will be an option for 4GB/64GB in some markets. Android 7.1.1 Nougat comes out of the box.
There’s a couple of interesting features to note: first, the headphone jack stays. Second, the fingerprint sensor supports gestures (similar to Huawei’s P10 range) allowing users to swipe left and right to go back and multi-task respectively. Third, the Moto Z2 Play uses the same camera setup as the Moto G5 — a 12MP f/1.7 rear camera and 5MP front facing camera. It doesn’t seem there’s an IP rating, though.
Let’s take a look at the new Moto Mods too, and there’s some neat ideas here. Since they were announced, we loved the idea of the Mods, and for me personally, I thought the clip-on battery mods were the most natural fit, but there’s other things like cameras, speakers and more.
This time around, the Moto Mods are joined by a gamepad, a new battery pack, and a wireless charging Moto Style shell. The fourth mod announced is a partnership with JBL, in the form of a Soundboost 2 speaker.
We’ll find out more about these Mods soon, but we know the Gamepad Mod features dual control sticks, four action buttons, and an extra 1,035 mAh battery to power your phone for longer gaming. JBL’s revisited SoundBoost 2 speaker gives a 10 hour play-time in a water-repellent speaker meaning you can pump the tunes by the pool or wherever you happen to be, in a range of colours (as long as they’re red, black or blue). The TurboPower pack instantly doubles your battery life (so we’re thinking its basically a 3,000 mAh clip on battery), whereas the Style Shell with Wireless Charging allows you to utilise a Qi charger to grab some extra power at your desk.
The Moto Z2 Play will arrive in the US in the next couple of months for $US499, so we could see it locally for around $799 is my guess. We’ve reached out to Moto Australia for more information on launch, timing and pricing for us here.
Going out on a limb here to predict the Moto Z3 Play will be released next year with a larger battery to offset sales losses. Not sure they will make up the difference with battery mods this year.
I agree with the previous commenters – Moto has taken what was great about the Moto Z Play, and ruined it; the firmly in the mid-range price ($650ish Aud) with a standout feature (battery life). They have now moved it to the next price bracket, and removed the feature. By the time you add a Mod, it is iPhone/Pixel price.
Thats way too High Motorola, its not worth that price tag. Forking out even more for overpriced moto mods seem a deal breaker to me.
Yep, significantly over the top.
Looking at the specs I was thinking US$299-320, and somewhere around $400 here. It’s basically a Nexus 5 after all, 4 years down the line. I was being generous.
$800 for a midrange phone with average sized battery, average camera and no IP67/68 rating? You can buy a HTC U11 for $200 more, “Goodbye Moto”