IFA 2016: Lenovo Moto Z Play and Hasselblad True Zoom


Moto Z Play

During the press conference at IFA 2016, Lenovo presented the new Moto Z Play, a mid-range smartphones characterized by a design similar to the Moto Z and Z Force. With a thickness of 7mm, it’s big enough to ensure the presence of a 3.5mm audio jack, sometimes absent on the higher-end models.

Lenovo Moto Z Play: Specs

The Moto Z Play is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core clocked at 2GHz, along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (expandable to 2TB through microSD).

It sports a 5.5″ Full HD Super AMOLED display, a 3510mAh battery which will allow for 50 hours of usage (…Lenovo says) and will support fast charging, giving you 8 hours of battery life with only 15 minutes of charging. The smartphone also features NFC.

Moto Z Play

On the front we find the home button/fingerprint reader just like in the Moto Z series, a 5 mega-pixel front camera and a front facing LED flash.

Moto Z Play

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While on the back, we have a 16 mega-pixel f/2.0 shooter. But more importantly, we see the Moto Mods design, which will allow you to add different modules like the Hasselblad True Zoom, (also announced at the event).

Moto Z Play

Hasselblad True Zoom

The Hasselblad True Zoom is an add-on 12 mega-pixel camera module which features a 10x optical zoom, along with physical buttons to control zoom/shutter and the opportunity of shooting RAW. Hasselblad has also added a powerful Xenon flash to drastically improve photos taken in low light situations.

Moto Z Play

Google and Hasselblad also partnered up to give users unlimited space for their pictures on Google Photos (in the original format). The offer will expire after two years, though.

What do you guys think of the Moto Z Play and the Hasseblad True Zoom? Do you like the idea of a modular phone? Let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

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10 Comments

  1. MattD
    September 2, 2016

    So the camera add-on here is actually useful and not just a botton with a derp-shaped little power-bank?! Lg, I’m looking at you…

    • Pierre
      September 3, 2016

      I had the same thought.. 🙂

      • Don Conn
        September 3, 2016

        I may have to pick up the camera mod for my Droid Z Force. To be honest, had the Moto Play model been out when I got the Force, I probably would have opted for it. I’ve heard you don’t see much performance difference between the two and it’s half the cost of the Force. Being a long time apple user who converted to Android this year, I’ve found that Motorola offers the smoothest software interface for Android I think. I’ve tried all the latest Samsung and found its software interface to be rather choppy if that makes sense. Another great software experience by Android is Sony. Currently my devices are the Moto Z Force and Sony Experia X. I’m even tempted to to upgrade to the the Sony Experia X performance now. Lastly, Motorola’s biggest downfall is that it stays exclusive to Verizon with most of its high end initial releases. This is a terrible decision by this company who makes a awesome phone but then cuts out 3/4s of their potential market by being Verizon exclusive. Either cell phone carrieries need to all go GSM or Motorola needs to wake up and offer their premium product to the entire market. Economics 101.. Verizon must line their pockets double what they would make if they opened up their phones initially to the entire potential market base of buyers. Is Verizon really that powerful or is Motorola really that bliss of economics??. . Whatever the case, I’m with Verizon bc I wanted the Moto Z Force and I use just a monthly carrier such as Cricket for my Sony GSM who ironically runs off of AT&T towers. Back on the subject, the camera mod is something I’ll be picking up as it seems to be a really nice and we’ll though out mod for the Moto Z line.

  2. MattD
    September 2, 2016

    So the camera add-on here is actually useful and not just a botton with a derp-shaped little power-bank?! Lg, I’m looking at you…

    • Pierre
      September 3, 2016

      I had the same thought.. 🙂

    • Don Conn
      September 3, 2016

      I may have to pick up the camera mod for my Droid Z Force. To be honest, had the Moto Play model been out when I got the Force, I probably would have opted for it. I’ve heard you don’t see much performance difference between the two and it’s half the cost of the Force. Being a long time apple user who converted to Android this year, I’ve found that Motorola offers the smoothest software interface for Android I think. I’ve tried all the latest Samsung and found its software interface to be rather choppy if that makes sense. Another great software experience by Android is Sony. Currently my devices are the Moto Z Force and Sony Experia X. I’m even tempted to to upgrade to the the Sony Experia X performance now. Lastly, Motorola’s biggest downfall is that it stays exclusive to Verizon with most of its high end initial releases. This is a terrible decision by this company who makes a awesome phone but then cuts out 3/4s of their potential market by being Verizon exclusive. Either cell phone carrieries need to all go GSM or Motorola needs to wake up and offer their premium product to the entire market. Economics 101.. Verizon must line their pockets double what they would make if they opened up their phones initially to the entire potential market base of buyers. Is Verizon really that powerful or is Motorola really that bliss of economics??. . Whatever the case, I’m with Verizon bc I wanted the Moto Z Force and I use just a monthly carrier such as Cricket for my Sony GSM who ironically runs off of AT&T towers. Back on the subject, the camera mod is something I’ll be picking up as it seems to be a really nice and we’ll though out mod for the Moto Z line.

  3. G'n'T
    September 3, 2016

    That looks awesome. So glad to see a Xenon flash back on a smartphone. Take note you brands out there looking for something ‘different’. Can’t wait to see some reviews on this. Looks like Motorola could be my next device. 😀

    • Pierre
      September 3, 2016

      Yeah, it seems like Motorola is really investing in R&D and that’s always exciting!

  4. G'n'T
    September 3, 2016

    That looks awesome. So glad to see a Xenon flash back on a smartphone. Take note you brands out there looking for something ‘different’. Can’t wait to see some reviews on this. Looks like Motorola could be my next device. 😀

    • Pierre
      September 3, 2016

      Yeah, it seems like Motorola is really investing in R&D and that’s always exciting!