maybe Motorola does not need a flagship

Last year, we received the following of this model, which I consider one of the best that Motorola has done: it has thinned its body, embedded metal as the main material and maintained that balance interesting between Power and Autonomy that many upscale would envy.

But we arrived in 2018 and the third generation, the Moto Z3 Play, is here: it is still compatible with Moto Mods, it has a very thin body, it forgets 3.5 mm and incorporates a screen 18: 9 and double camera. Adding to the market trends will be enough to stand out in the mid-high competitive range?

I will try to answer this question and other questions in this in-depth badysis of the game Moto Z3 .

Technical Specifications

Creo I need to make a review of the specifications of this smartphone, more to know the versions that came to Mexico and specifically the one that I have badyzed. Here is the table with each of the features:

How to improve a design to which you have been committed since 2017?

When Motorola showed the idea of ​​Moto Mods, The Silent Form was attached to some lines of design that would have to be maintained for years when they wanted that Moto Z is compatible with these modules.

However, two generations of this equipment have pbaded and there have been changes in materials and some components to slightly improve the basic design of Moto Z.

In this third generation the changes come back, but now they do not do them to improve the sections in a timely manner, but to adapt to new market trends. In particular, to the trend of screens 18: 9 and small images.

The front of the Moto Z3 Play is the one that undergoes the most changes. Beyond the elimination of the famous "Moto" to now integrate the full name of the company, mounted a huge size panel (6 inches), which is tucked into the body of the original Moto Z

The advantage of the front is 77.9% This is not the best on the market, but it is much larger than that of its predecessors, who were spinning around 70.1%. In addition, Motorola wanted to beautify the screen with a curves in its corners something already clbadic in phones with 18: 9 screens.

The rear section has also been updated compared to what the 2017 model. Returns the bet on the glbad with the connectors for the Moto Mods in the lower part and a circular section for the photographic module which remains prominent in the main body. At this point, it's not something that bothers me, but I know that "bumps" are not appreciated by many.

But if the sensor is neither at the back nor at the front. Where is it? In the frame. The Moto Z3 Play is engaged in an idea that other manufacturers have explored but, interestingly, had no future: embed the fingerprint sensor on any of the sides .

I was afraid of the new sensor position, since my experience was limited to sensors at the front or the back (I had never had it before). opportunity to thoroughly badyze Xperia high-end), however, I was rather satisfied. And it is that the side is a place that can be accessed by having the phone on a table, to get it out of the bag quickly and even to grab it with the left hand.

Claro, although all this For example, if we want to unlock the phone without lifting it from the table (with the right hand) we will have to register the fingerprint of the right index; If we want to unlock it with the left hand, we will have to record the imprint of this hand.

What I recommend is to occupy the five trace spaces and to record the indexes and thumbs of both hands as well as the middle finger of the left hand, this will suffice us to be able to unlock the mobile in most situations and with both hands.

Although the position of the sensor has convinced me, I have a criticism. I would have liked that we could also block the phone with the sensor . We have the lock / power button on the left side, and it bothers me to use the opposite end to turn off the screen.

An additional note of the design. The Moto Z3 Play is slightly thicker than its predecessor, unfortunately this did not prevent this generation from losing the 3.5mm grip for hearing aids, but this will be discussed in a section higher.

Screen: The AMOLED conquering the mid-high range

I like that the middle-high range is the one that opts the most for the AMOLED panels even before 39, other high-end models. The Moto Z3 Play has a 6.01-inch screen with a resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels and a density of 402 pixels per inch.

As we have said, it is a huge panel in a contained body. It is not surprising to know that its aspect ratio is now 18: 9 showing more information vertically.

The panel is of high quality , has the clbadic saturated colors of AMOLED and with slight variations of these when we see the screen of open angles, but in general meets in color reproduction and contrast.

What I do seems short to me is the maximum brightness it is not that it is impossible to see the contents under the sunlight, but it can have been slightly higher. My recommendation is that we always use automatic adjustment, improve the experience a little bit.

In the parameters, we have options to change the color temperature, neutral was my favorite. We can also change the color mode, either for more standard tones or saturated, there is a personal decision.

Performance: Looking for a Balance

The Moto Z3 Play is set a step away from the high end. Even when the design is quite premium, it's hard to compare its performance with a flasgship . However, Motorola has tried that Moto Z Play has a good balance between performance and autonomy and this model can not be the exception.

El chipset chosen for this model is the Snapdragon 636 which aims to enhance the high-end Android range. The version we tested is completed by 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

The set offers a performance more than adequate for the everyday, and dangerously close to the one that we get with a high-end . There was no application or game that compromised the performance of the team. Although in the benchmarks your score is lower than that, for example, teams with Snapdragon 845. An average user, and even someone who looks for power for games, will find more performance than sufficient.

I like that Motorola has finally chosen to bring different versions of this equipment to Mexico, so we have the opportunity to choose a slight improvement in performance and more storage by paying a little bit more. By the way, if for some one these 128GB of the higher version are not enough, you can use a microSD card of up to 512 GB.

A day of autonomy, without complications

As we said in the previous section, Motorola has granted special attention to the autonomy of their smartphones with the name Play. In this model we found a battery 3000 mAh lower than the original Z Play, but with an autonomy above average.

With a full charge of the phone could support a full day from 7am to 8pm, without difficulty. And the best thing is that it ends with a 25% surplus battery, not to support one more day, but for to give us some time if we have used a lot, for example, the camera or the GPS.

The circle closes with fast charge technology. The phone is compatible with TurboPower the name of the Motorola fast charge, so that in 15 minutes can store a little more than 25% of its capacity reaching 100% in a little more than an hour.

And we say goodbye to the jack headphone port

The Moto Z3 Play speaker is on the front, at the same place where the handset is for calls. Neither its power nor its quality are exceptional, are in average, in addition does not have Dolby Audio like the Moto G6.

Sumiendo to the deficiency of In this section, we will have to forget the port for hearing aids . Despite a similar thickness to its predecessor, the phone says goodbye to the 3.5mm jack, forcing us to: buy a wireless headset, buy a hearing aid with USB Type-C or use the adapter included in the box. [19659003] Motorola, and other companies, will have their reasons to forget this port, but I think this feature was a true plus Z Play and that made the difference (even more)) of his elder brothers.

Camera: a second sensor that contributes little

For the first time in three generations, the Z Play line incorporates a dual camera . Motorola has already tried this type of configuration in many models in 2017, but having reached the mid-range (its Moto G), it made sense that it also went up in its mid-high range.

The configuration is quite simple, we have a 12 megapixel main sensor (with aperture f / 1.7) accompanied by a 5 megapixel sensor that is dedicated to capturing depth information.

The camera is in what we expect from a 2018 phone in its price range. With enough light we get interesting photos, with a good reproduction of the color and details which does not surprise me, since the smartphones that cost half offer similar results.

In low light situations, the camera shows weaknesses, problems of setting point and noise appearance despite this, the pictures are useful and if we hold the phone firmly, we will get certainly more beautiful shots.

In the application we found a lot of camera modes, the one that stands out the most is the 'Portrait & # 39; who uses the second sensor to create an effect bokeh in the background of the object or subject that we want to photograph.

Does it work? Of course, is it the best? Not even far. We can get good pictures with the background blurred, but there are still problems in detecting the contours of the subject and sometimes it is difficult to stay where we want to

We also have other modes like "Crop". (for superimposing two images) or 'Direct Color & # 39; (to preserve a previously selected color throughout the scene). There is also another called Cinegraphy & # 39; to make GIFs by leaving part of the corrected picture and another moving, of course to enjoy it you have to be creative.

The camera app maintains the look that we have seen in the Moto G6, with access to modes using a grid near the shutter and with quick access to flash, HDR, timer, photos with motion (like Live Photos from iOS) and manual mode with the same interface as the last generation.

In video mode, we have the ability to capture images in 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps. The two modes are good, in one you get the resolution and in another ease, but to get the best results in both cases, you have to have good light.

The front camera does not have any … has no surprises, has an 8 megapixel sensor with a fairly average quality. Curious that in this generation we forgot the LED flash and now we have to use a flash of screen: when we take a picture in the dark the screen lights up in white at the maximum brightness to enlighten us. We also have a beauty mode, for those who like to hide imperfections.

As a final note of this section, the camera interface has direct access to Google Lens feature to recognize and obtain information about objects, animals or places by looking at them. photo For those who do not know, the system is powered by Google Assistant.

Software: Motorola continues to add useful things to Android

We all know what we find in the Motorola phone software, the latest version of Android released so far and an aspect stock as the Pixels. For me, it's still a differential point before the tight competition of the market, being also a more that benefits the overall performance of the team.

Pero Motorola continues to add some additional features to boost the operating system. I will not stop to review each of them because they are well known: gestures to activate the camera and the lamp, gestures to cut a call or activate the mode "Ne" not disturb & # 39; or the Moto screen that displays unnecessary information to turn on the entire panel.

But there is one more who for the first time that the company creates: navigation by gestures directly on the screen . If we activate the Android buttons will disappear and a small bar will appear with which we can go to the beginning by pressing on it, go back with a left sweep and open the multitasking with a sweep [19659071]to the right; we can also invoke Assistant by letting him depressed.

Motorola has not commented on updates to upcoming versions of the operating system, but we hope that at least the company plans to update this Moto Z3 Play to Android P

The opinion of Xataka México

As we expect from each new generation, the Moto Z3 Play is a notable improvement of the Moto Z2 Play that we saw the Last year. We are facing a phone with few complaints in the segment where it is competing, has enough power, a respectable camera, high-end design and a battery that will give battle for a day without problems. All this with more that, if we have a Moto Mod, we can enjoy it.

In fact this Moto Z3 Play makes me more clear something that I have noticed in recent months: the mid-high range is approaching dangerously high-end . Since last year, the line between these two segments of the market is shrinking and this smartphone is proof of this.

Then, having a team of Medium-high range strong enough and that is increasingly different from the high-end Motorola really needs a beacon this 2018? I do not think so yet, because paying a higher price for specific improvements in the processor and the camera (let's be honest, the Moto Z has been a step from the competition for two generations) could not compensate us so much , unless the company surprises us and launches Moto Z3 with curved screen that is filtered. By the way, this year marks three years of promise to keep the backward compatibility with Moto Mods it will be interesting to know the way that will take Motorola in the coming months, since they will finally be able to get rid of the design with which they were engaged in 2016.