Eyes-on: Motorola Z3 Play unveiled - Playing it safe and consistent... Maybe a little boring. What a shame.

crowing (36)in #technology • 6 years ago

Hi fellow Steemians!

Motorola has unveiled the Moto Z3 Play, a toned down, mid-range version of the soon-to-be announced Z3 series. Let's take a look.

Specification

6-inch Super AMOLED 1080x2160 resolution 18:9 ratio (Gorilla Glass 3)
Snapdragon 636 processor
32 or 64GB storage (with microSD slot)
4GB RAM
Dual 12MP f/1.7 and 5MP rear cameras
8MP f/2.0 front camera
3,000mAh battery
Others: side-mounted fingerprint scanner, moto mod support, glass back

Price and availability

The phone will be launched today in Brazil for R$2,299. Brazil is a country Motorola puts a lot of effort into to sell their mid-range phones. It will be sold in the US soon too, with the phone expected to be sold for $499 unlocked. A little expensive for what's on offer. It will be available worldwide in the next few weeks.

My thoughts

Motorola played safe with this iteration of the Z3 Play. It now follows the trend of 18:9 display ratio with reduced bezels and has an upgraded spec compared to the Z2 Play. However the rear design is relatively unchanged and while this is a mid-range phone, it just doesn't seem that special. Don't get me wrong - I like the whole package. But every time I look at a recent Motorola phone, I think 'it's good, but not THAT good'. Why would you buy this over another cheaper / better midrange phone? Sure you get MotoMods, but I personally wouldn't find them useful. When I buy a phone, I want all the features I need to already be in the phone. I don't want to have to buy separate accessories and carry them around with me.

The price is probably the biggest factor that decides whether a mid-range phone succeeds or not and to be honest, I see no chance for it. There are cheaper and better options from China which people will be attracted to and even mid-range offerings from Samsung and other major manufacturers look better in my opinion. Heck, nowadays you can even get a one year old brand-new flagship phone for a similar price! I want to like this phone so much but I just can't. It's such a shame.