Moto Z2 Play First Impressions: Sleeker and faster Moto Z Play

Motorola today announced the second generation Moto Z Play smartphone in the Indian market. Priced at Rs. 27,999, Moto Z2 Play will be avail...

Motorola today announced the second generation Moto Z Play smartphone in the Indian market. Priced at Rs. 27,999, Moto Z2 Play will be available for pre-booking till 14th June across leading mobile stores and e-commerce stores Flipkart.

The new Moto Z2 Play mid-range smartphone features a sleek metal design and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM. The smartphone supports a variety of first and second generation Moto Mods and sports a 12MP primary camera that has dual pixel phase detection and can also record videos in 4K format.
Besides, it is backed by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 CPU and has 4GB of RAM and 64GB internal memory. Let's find out what has changed since the launch of first Moto Z Play handset with the help of the first impressions of Moto Z2 Play.


Design: Appealing design that stands out from the crowd
Moto Z2 Play is quite an appealing mobile device. The smartphone is also amazingly thin (5.99 mm) and feels very light in hands as it weighs just 145g. If you own a Moto Z Play, you will instantly feel the difference in overall look and feel.
But this difference in thickness and overall weight comes with certain compromises.The company has downgraded the battery size to 3,000 mAh from the 3,510 mAh battery unit that powers up the previous Moto Z Play.
Nevertheless, the smartphone is entirely crafted out of metal and Glass. It feels quite premium and instantly makes an impression. The matte finish rear panel, the protruded circular camera module and the Moto design elements makes it one of the stylish looking handset in sub Rs.30k price-point.
The right side houses the volume rockers and power button and you also get a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom. The rear panel of the smartphone has got some noticeable when you compare it to the previous Moto Z Play.
Unlike the glass rear panel on Moto Z Play which was quite prone to smudges, the matte finish aluminum rear panel on Moto Z2 Play feels more durable and easily restricts fingerprints and smudges.


Display: 5.5-inch 1080p Display with 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass
The screen on Moto Z2 Play is fairly touch responsive and offers a good color reproduction. It is a 5.5-inch AMOLED panel and is protected by a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass. The AMOLED panel offers deeper blacks and will please consumers who prefer saturated colours on their phone's screens.


Hardware: Not the fastest CPU but ample RAM and storage
Moto Z2 Play does not pack the fastest CPU in town but has abundant RAM to take care of your multitasking needs. The smartphone works on Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 chipset which is not the best you can get at this price-point; however it's a capable processor and when paired with 4GB of RAM and stock Android UI will not create any performance issues.
During my brief usage, the smartphone worked without a glitch and there were no heating issues with prolonged camera usage. For complete performance review, stay tuned for our review of Moto Z2 Play.
As far as storage is concerned, Moto Z2 Play comes with 64GB internal memory that can be expanded by up to 2TB via microSD card.


Software: The stock Android 7.1.1 with nifty Moto Actions
Moto Z2 Play runs the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat and like previous Moto handsets, it also offers stock Android experience which is certainly one of the key selling points of Moto smartphones. With the new Moto Z2 Play, the company has improved on Moto actions and now you can navigate the handset with the help of fingerprint sensor.
A tap on the scanner takes you to the home screen, swiping to the left works as back key and swiping to the right opens up the recent apps tray.
Other Moto actions include- twist your wrist twice to activate camera, swipe to shrink screen, flip for DND, etc. The software performance seemed quite smooth and free of glitches in our brief usage.


Camera: A capable 12MP dual pixel primary camera and a 5MP front camera
Moto Z2 Play features a 12MP dual autofocus pixel camera with 1.4um sensor and F/1.7 aperture. The camera comes equipped with laser autofocus, phase detection autofocus (PDAF), and dual LED color correlated temperature (CCT) flash.

The output from 12MP rear camera is decent when light conditions are favourable. You can get ample detailing in daylight images and colors also look quite vivid on the full HD AMOLED screen. The camera is also capable of capturing a good dynamic range.
In my brief usage, I also took some macro shots and the results were quite pleasing. The 5MP front camera is also decent. Wait for our comprehensive review to find out the camera performance of Moto Z2 Play.


Battery and Connectivity: How long it can last?
To make the handset sleeker by 1mm, Motorola has squeezed the battery unit by a total of 510 mAh when compared to last year's Moto Z Play. The Moto Z2 Play is backed by a humble 3,000 mAh battery unit that has to support a 5.5-inch full HD Super AMOLED screen and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 chipset. Motorola claims that the fast charger in the package gives 7 hours of power in just 15 minutes of charging.
We will find this out in our comprehensive review of the smartphone while evaluating its battery backup in everyday usage.

Conclusion
Moto Z2 Play seems to be worthy upgrade over the previous Moto Z Play as far as design, camera and software is concerned. It offers a great mix of style, features and the fact that Moto Mods are there to enhance the performance aspects makes it a great buy in sub Rs. 30,000 price segment.
The battery backup still remains a question that we will answer in our comprehensive review of the smartphone. Stay tuned on GIZBOT for more on Moto Z2 Play.