When you put modular capabilities, stellar battery life, and specs that can get the job done in a box and shake, you probably won’t find a Moto Z Play in the box – that’s not really how making a phone works. Those aspects are, however, exactly what make up the Moto Z Play’s appeal. The phone is a bit thicker than its flagship cousin, giving it room for a much larger battery. The modest spec sheet brings the battery life out even further, and you can still use all the nifty Moto Mods that were previously reserved only for buyers of the flagship Moto Z and Moto Z Force. If all of that sounds good, you’ll be glad to hear that the Moto Z Play DROID is live on Moto Maker and on Verizon’s web site, available for a reasonable $408 outright, or $18.83 per month with Moto Credit. Those wanting to buy it from Verizon can expect to throw an extra $17 Big Red’s way each month.
The Moto Z Play’s spec sheet includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor paired up with 3GB of RAM. The package is more than enough to get the job done for everyday use, but video editing and high-end gaming take a hit. 32GB of storage is on board, along with a MicroSD slot. As for cameras, the Moto Z Play sports a 16-megapixel back camera and a 5-megapixel selfie cam. The whole show is juiced up by a massive 3,510mAh battery, with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow calling the shots, with all the usual bells and whistles like Moto Voice and gesture controls.
Along with the newest member of the Moto Z family, a new module hit Verizon and Moto’s websites, it’s not available for pre-order. The Hasselblad True Zoom is a crazy accessory that turns any member of the Moto Z family into a respectable digital camera. The camera features xenon flash, 10x real optical zoom, and shooting in RAW image format. The module features a 1/2.3-inch, 12-megapixel sensor with an f/3.5-6.5 aperture and 1.55um pixel size, putting it on par with some of the more casual entries from the likes of Nikon and Canon. The accessory will make the original Moto Z more than twice its original thickness and add on 145 grams, but for photography buffs, that’s a small price to pay to not have to carry a separate camera and to have a decent piece with you everywhere. The Hasselblad True Zoom costs $299, and should begin shipping around September 19th.