Motorola today announced the latest entry to its modular Moto Z lineup, the Moto Z3 Play. The handset keeps the same general design as previous generations, and the Lenovo subsidiary is proud of that. The firm said that you can still use all previously made Mods, and it's not planning on changing the design either, as it said that you can use all future Mods.
The display has changed though, with Motorola opting for an 6-inch 18:9 1080p AMOLED screen, as opposed to last year's 16:9 display. That means that it has a glass front and a glass back, and no, the glass back does not mean that it supports wireless charging. The longer display removes the fingerprint sensor from the device, and that can now be found on the side.
Last year when we reviewed the Moto Z2 Force, we remarked on how some of the camera features are reminiscent of Nokia's old Lumia Windows phones. The design of the manual settings in the Camera app is remarkable similar to the Lumia Camera app, and the Selective Black and White feature is just like the Color Pop feature from Lumia Creative Studio.
Those features are still there, but now Motorola is adding a new feature: Cinemagraph. And yes, it works exactly like Lumia Cinemagraph, allowing you to keep the motion from certain parts of an image, and not others. Once you're done, you can export it as an animated GIF.
One key difference from Lumia Cinemagraph though is that this is all done from within the Moto Camera app. You might recall that with Windows phones, all of these features required a separate app to use them.
Motorola also put portrait mode in the front camera, which only requires a single lens. While you'll get the bokeh effect, you can't edit it in the same way that you can with one shot with the dual rear cameras, so there's no Selective Focus or Selective Black and White.
The rear camera sensor is a 12-megapixel rear camera with a 5-megapixel depth camera configuration, with an f/1.7 aperture. The front is 8 megapixels, with an f/2.0 aperture.
Internally, the Moto Z3 Play includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset, promising a 30% increase in performance from the Z2 Play. It has 4GB RAM, and either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, along with a 3,000mAh battery.
If that battery isn't enough for you, then there's good news, as the Z3 Play will ship with the battery Mod in the box. The device will cost $499 for the unlocked model, and you'll be able to get it from Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Fry's, B&H Photo, and it will be a Prime Exclusive Phone on Amazon. Carriers in the U.S. that will sell it are Sprint and U.S. Cellular, and in Canada, you'll be able to get it from Videotron, Bell Canada, Virgin Mobile, MTS, and SaskTel.
Update: A previous version of this article said that the rear camera sensors were both 12 megapixels, which was incorrect.
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