Dissecting the Moto Z2: A Smart Device Review

MOTO Z2 Play Smartphone Review

Max Wales

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Manufacturers have spent lots of time to develop a stunning configuration for Moto Z2 Smartphone. Iris scanner, curved displays and new aspect ratio, it has everything that can make a new model stand out against a big crowd in the market. Moto Z2 is designed with a unique design that focuses on Motos Mods and the high tech back panel provides new functionality. This phone is compatible with almost all carriers of the US, provides impressive battery performance and you will also be able to get a high-quality headphone jack option. All these features make Z2 as a top-rated smartphone for 2017. So if you are planning to buy a new phone then you should go through the detailed review below; probably you will soon make up your mind to invest in Moto Z2.

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Pros:

• It offers 2-day battery life when used with MotoMod.
• You will definitely be impressed by its Premium Build quality.
• Z2 is well-rated for its stunning performance.
• The camera quality is definitely incredible.
• Beautiful aesthetics and well-designed system.

Cons:

• You will not find the aging processor choice good.
• The price range is quite high than its predecessors.

Complete Review of Moto Z2 Play Smartphone

1. MOTO Z2 Play Price and Availability

Moto Z2 has released into the market on July 6 and it is now available on several online stores via Verizon. In the US, for the course of total 24 months, you can get Moto Z2 with payment of $17/month. Within a few weeks, people can avail this smartphone with a price tag of $499 only in the nearby retail stores.

2. MOTO Z2 Play Design

Moto Z2 is currently available in four attractive colors, gray, gold, blue and black. This smartphone appears almost similar to Play Droid and Moto Z Droid when we talk about design. You will find a band of metal on side portions of this device along with the power button and volume buttons. The back panel is finished with the matte metal appearance and you will also notice the camera bump as well as few magnetic attachment pins that are dedicated to Moto Mods. The total dimension of this device is 6.1x3.0x02 inches and the overall weight goes up to 5.1 ounces. Well designed bezels are added to the upper and lower portion of the screen but they make it quite hard to operate devices with one-handed operation. It also contains a headphone jack and a USB-C charging slot at the bottom portion whereas the top portion handles MicroSD card and SIM card slot. The memory card capacity is extendable up to 256GB. With a well-designed water repellent coating, this smartphone becomes capable enough to resists splashes. Screen brightness for this device is well adjusted so that users can access it well even at outdoor locations. Colors are often distributed with saturated and deep ambiance whereas with night mode enabled you can expect warmer tones with fine color temperature adjustment.

3. MOTO Z2 Play Hardware

If you have already used Moto Z Play and Moto Z then you will definitely find this new model just like a hybrid of both these predecessors. The frame appearance is well improved with a smooth aluminum finish on the body. It works with snapdragon 626 that provides a 10% faster speed as compared to Z play that use to work on 625. You will be able to find 4GB RAM along with an internal storage space of 64GB. As 626 is not able to support larger displays screens so it is limited to 5.5 inches with a resolution rating of 1080p. Other than the screen, you will find a few aesthetic differences in this device as compared to the predecessors. The new round shape of the fingerprint sensor looks quite impressive and its wider design assists in easy activation. The battery shell for this device is 17% lesser where you will find 3000mAh battery but this design selection leads to a slimmer look for Moto Z2.

4. MOTO Z2 Play Camera

You will find the front camera of Moto Z2 somewhat comparable to its predecessor but yes it’s quite good. On the other side, the rear camera is G5’d that has faced a major fall drop 16MP to only 12MP but at the same time, the aperture has been expanded to f/1.7 range. Manufacturers have also merged the phase detection autofocus and dual focus pixel option into this device to make its camera performance more accurate. You will definitely feel impressed with its daylight shots as they deliver higher accuracy, impactful brightness, and stunning sharpness. At the same time, we didn’t find any trouble in its low light performance because it was capable enough to adjust focus to a much better level even with challenging light situations. The only trouble noticed about Moto Z2 is its camera speed; the old image processor technology is not capable enough to stay tuned to today’s desired digital speeds. This camera also finds some difficulty to boost up the ISO level on time so that blurry subjects can be avoided and shutter speed can deliver accurate performance.

4. MOTO Z2 Play Battery

Moto Z Play was well rated for its superb battery performance in 2016; the same quality is continued for the new Moto Z2 design. It can easily last for 2 days when you operate this device with the attachment of Moto Mod Battery. You will be glad to know that Moto Z2 provides little higher battery performance as compared to its predecessor and it happens just because of the addition of 10% higher clock speed for this new chipset. So, we can say that performance of Z2 is little upgraded when compared to the older series devices of Moto. This phone is observed to work well up to 8 hours and 18 minutes even if the person keeps on watching full-screen videos with maximum brightness level over LTE. In case if you need more power then you should switch to TurboPower Pack mode that can provide an excellent boost over performance. Also, you can avail fast charging feature with its included Turbo Power adapter.

5. MOTO Z2 Play Network Connectivity

Z2 extends support to LTE bands, UMTS, GSM and CDMA. This device allows users to easily operate on US carriers while including services for Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T. During the T-Mobile testing, this device delivered an awesome performance for uploading and downloading with value falling somewhere around 17.6Mbps and 14.3 Mbps respectively. Other protocols for connectivity include NFC, Bluetooth 4.2 and dual-band Wi-Fi. It provides decent performance for phone calls as voice transmission is observed to be quite impressive. It provides great noise cancellation property and conversations were just fine. The earpiece option is quite impressive with distortion-free sound transfer that suits best for the noisy environments.

6. MOTO Z2 Play Software

This device is loaded with Android 7.1 Nougat. You will be able to find some of the most popular Moto apps in this smartphone like Moto Voice, Moto Display and Moto Actions etc along with Google Pixel XL. Although all the older smartphones of Moto series are going to have new software updates by this year Moto Z2 is already found to have all the latest features in it. You will be glad to know that this recently launched Moto device is designed with Thumbnail quick access feature so you need not unlock your phone every time. There is no doubt to say that Motorola has reflected the best improvement for display technology and it is now going to give a great competition to Google, LG and Samsung. One more interesting feature added to Moto Z2 by this year is its “Show Me” that works in assistance with Moto Voice Suite. With this advanced application, users can easily launch any application on screen by just saying “Show Me X”. Everything on this phone appears really good and simple to use. You can access weather, twitter and routine schedule etc by simply using voice commands with Voice Search API. The screen scaling options for this device are also much improved so now you can easily fit more icons on the device screen. You will definitely love the launcher as it leads to impressive performance. You will definitely love to use its gesture-based control ability where twist opens the camera, chopping opens flashlight and if you swipe down the screen then it will automatically enable one-handed operation for Moto Z2 screen.

Conclusion:

With the price tag of $499, Moto Z2 offers an impressive set of features. The long battery life, great aesthetics and its ability to handle all US carriers very well make it suitable for all android lovers. The greater flexibility for application management and advanced software updates make Moto Z2 the best choice for your next purchase. But, this device doesn’t carry the fastest processor and there are several devices having resolution setting a little higher as compared to Z2. So, if you are more concerned with speed and resolution then you may need to search for options; however, for beginners, this device is the best choice by means of the suitable price range, user-friendly interface and great looks.

Max Wales

Max Wales is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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