Back in April this year, Lenovo-owned Motorola announced its Moto E5 and Moto G6 series smartphones at an event in Brazil. And now, as expected, Motorola has announced the Moto Z3 Play at yet another event in Brazil. The Moto Z3 Play is successor to the the Moto Z2 Play that was launched last year in June.
Unlike last year’s Moto Z2 Play that had a display with traditional aspect ratio, this year’s Moto Z3 Play features a 6.01-inch Super AMOLED display that has aspect ratio of 18:9 with a resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels. And, as a result, the smartphone has smaller bezels. Well, as the bezels on the Moto Z3 Play are smaller as compared to its predecessor, the fingerprint scanner has been moved on to the right side of the phone. Yes, the Moto Z3 Play comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner located below the volume rocker.
Well, the fingerprint scanner on last year’s Moto Z2 Play supported navigation gestures, however, as the Moto Z3 Play has a fingerprint scanner that’s on the right side, Motorola has introduced Android-P like pill-shaped navigation bar that supports One Button Nav which supports different gestures for navigation.
That said, the Moto Z3 Play features a glass-metal sandwich construction, meaning the front and back of the smartphone is covered with 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass whereas the side frames are made out of “lightweight, aircraft-grade aluminum”.
Under the hood, the Moto Z3 Play comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 636 running the show which is laced with 4 GB RAM. The smartphone boots up to Android 8.1 Oreo and comes with Moto Experiences that include features like Moto Display and Moto Actions.
Speaking about the photography department, the Moto Z3 Play features a dual camera setup at the back which is a combination of one 12 MP camera and one 5 MP camera. The 12 MP camera is a low-light sensor whereas the 5 MP camera is a depth sensor.
These cameras come with AI-based features like depth sensing, portrait mode, object recognition and cinemagraphs. Having said that, the Moto Z3 Play also comes with an 8 MP camera on the front for selfies and video calls.
Lastly, the Moto Z3 Play ships with a 3000 mAh battery that draws power from a USB Type-C port. And yes, Motorola has ditched the 3.5 mm headphone jack on the Moto Z3 Play.
The Moto Z3 Play supports all existing Moto Mods with which you can get extra battery life, turn your phone into a projector, or, get a powerful stereo sound for parties.
Moto Z3 Play Specifications
- CPU: 1.8 GHz Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor
- RAM: 4 GB
- GPU: Adreno 509
- Operating System: Android 8.1 Oreo
- Display: 6.01-inch Full-HD+ (2160 x 1080 pixels) 18:9 Max Vision Super AMOLED display with 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass
- Rear Camera: 12 MP (f/1.7) + 5 MP with PDAF, Portrait Mode and dual-LED flash
- Front Camera: 8 MP with f/2.0 aperture, 84-degree wide-angle lens and screen flash
- Internal Storage: 32/64 GB
- External Storage: Expandable up to 2 Terabytes via microSD card
- SIM: Dual SIM (depending on countries)
- Connectivity: 4G LTE, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, NFC, USB Type-C (no 3.5 mm headphone jack)
- Other: Fingerprint Scanner, Face Unlock, Water repellent p2i coating, One Button Navigation
- Battery: 3000 mAh with 15W Turbo Charging
Moto Z3 Play Price and Availability
- Price: Starts at R$ 2,299 (around $589/₹39,806)
- Availability: Available in Brazil. Will be rolled out globally this month