Motorola announces the Moto Z3 Play

The Moto Z3 Play is here, but is it anything special?

Motorola has announced the latest in the mid-range Z Play line of phones, the $499 Moto Z3 Play. Motorola is still pushing its "MotoMod" modular system, and for that $499 price, the Moto Z3 Play will come with an extra battery backpack. But what else is there accompanying Motorola's latest device?

The specs of the Moto Z3 Play are pretty much exactly as everyone thought. There's a 6.01-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 636 chipset and 4GB + 32GB RAM and storage combo. Powering stuff is a 3000mAh battery. There's a dual-camera setup on the back with one 12MP sensor and a 5MP depth sensor.

In terms of design, we're looking at basically the same design as the Z2 Play. That means you get a glass front and back with aluminum sides. There's also a USB-C port on the bottom, a microSD slot, and once again, there is no headphone jack. The most interesting part of the device is that the fingerprint scanner is now on the side, under the volume rocker.

While the Moto Z3 Play is not Motorola's flagship phone for 2018, it should be a good indicator for the direction of the Z3 Force. It's not a terribly interesting device, especially considering other great mid-range devices are much cheaper. It's not even all that good once you factor in the smaller battery and lack of headphone jack. Nice effort from Moto, but you're better off getting a mid-range device elsewhere.