What’s the point of a big, fancy phone if it runs out of juice? But not all mAh ratings are created equal as the Moto Z Play demonstrates.
I baulk when I see the price of smartphones. Especially as many of the phones with the kind of specs the average web and social media savvy phone user craves are stuck behind a self-imposed ‘paywall’ of Rs.20,000.
I was conditioned to do so thanks to Lenovo’s brilliant P780 that was available with a 4,000mAh battery that would last for two days on a single charge and the kind of features one expected in a smartphone.
Many phones advertise power figures like that now but I have come to learn that it all comes down to how that power is utilized. Which is where the 3,500mAh rated Moto Z Play shines.
In my opinion, it is the smartphone worth having if anyone is looking for a neatly designed, feature filled, solidly built phone that has a brilliant battery to keep your pocket computer going. At Rs.25,000, you get a lot of bang for your buck although it is advisable to get a sturdy case to improve the ergonomics of the phone and save it from damage.
Clearly buying Motorola has been a good investment for Lenovo as the phone has the kind of smooth UI and build one would expect from a slick product. An Android 6.01 Marshmallow OS is supported by a 2 GHz Octacore Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor with a 650 MHz Adreno 506 GPU. It also sports 3GB RAM and 32GB internal memory that is expandable to 2TB. As well as dual micro-SIM with dual standby where you can put two 4G compatible SIM cards.
And the battery life? Well, it has turbocharging that gives you four hours worth of battery life in just 15 minutes and getting to full charge takes around a hour and a half. At just 84% battery life, I downloaded over 100 apps, six books and three movies over WiFi despite which the phone kept running for 22 hours. On normal usage this was stretched to around 36 hours.
The one-touch finger print reader start feature on the phone works intuitively and the 5.5-inch, super AMOLED 1080p, full HD display with 403 ppi is at par with the best displays out there. You can even play with 4K video recording at 30fps, which includes slow-motion recording on its dual 16MP autofocus camera. There is also a 5MP front facing camera.
All of these features are not enough to get someone to ditch the perfectly serviceable phones that are available in the Rs.13,000 to 17,000 range. But for someone looking to break into the loaded smartphone segment, the Moto Z Play is worth spending money on.
