Moto Z Play | Mobiles365

Republic Wireless is now its own separate company, will offer big discounts on phones and plans soon

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Adrian Diaconescu

Bandwidth’s WiFi-first baby is all grown up and ready to take on America’s “big four” mobile carriers by itself, moving on from under the former parent company’s wing just six short months after graduating to T-Mobile support in addition to an older Sprint partnership.

Granted, Republic’s independence quest was still completed with a massive $30 million cash infusion from North Carolina-based communications technology business Bandwidth.com. But this is merely supposed to mark the beginning of an “even more exciting next chapter ahead” in the successful history of the now autonomous MVNO pioneer.

Don’t worry, Republic Wireless plans no changes to any of its “day-to-day operations or contracts.” That crazy cheap cellular service isn’t getting price hikes, limitations or monthly data downgrades. Quite the contrary, as purchasing the Moto Z Play between December 7 and 12 will net you both a cool $100 discount on the phone’s regular $449 charge, and half a year of no cost contract-free unlimited talk and text, plus 1GB cell data a month.

Yes, you read that right. The no-contract Moto Z Play shall set you back just $349 next week from Republic Wireless, including six complimentary months of service, typically worth a grand total of $120. Then, between December 13 and 19, you can get the as-yet unreleased Huawei Ascend 5W for $129 ($50 off list), with the same “unheard of” no cost WiFi-first service offer.

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Motorola takes $250 off its priciest Moto Mods bundled with Z phones for Black Friday

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Adrian Diaconescu

Friday can’t come soon enough for a wide range of US retailers and mobile device manufacturers operating stateside, with Motorola, aka Lenovo, the latest to jump the gun by slashing the prices of select Moto Z-compatible Mods.

Right now, you can score both the Insta-Share Projector and Hasselblad True Zoom snap-on accessories from motorola.com/us at $250 off list, but only if you buy either of them alongside a Moto Z, Z Force or Z Play phone.

Typically setting you back $300 apiece, the professional projector and “true” 10x optical zoom camera attachments will technically cost just $50 for a limited time, requiring you cough up a grand total of $674 on a Moto Z Droid bundle, $770 for the Z Force Droid with your Moto Mod of choice, or $458 if the lower-end Z Play Droid tickles your fancy, Insta-Share or Hasselblad appendage included.

Not a big Verizon fan? Not a problem, as the standard Moto Z and Z Play are on sale in GSM unlocked configurations too, going for $750 and $500 respectively, once again bundled with your favorite top-class Moto Mod.

If you’re lucky, you may also be able to get a second-generation Moto 360 smartwatch with a leather band at $250 instead of $350, though both elegant cognac and black flavors are currently listed as out of stock. Perhaps they’ll return in time for the actual Black Friday.

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All-new Mophie Juice Pack Moto Mod will snap on to your Moto Z for extra 3,000 mAh batery

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Adrian Diaconescu

Until Lenovo sifts through all your killer ideas for game-changing modular Moto Z accessories, hand-picking and helping fund the best of them, the upcoming holiday shopping season probably seemed like a good time to launch one more practical but far from groundbreaking Moto Mod.

Expect the Mophie Juice Pack to start shipping “by November 28”, i.e. Cyber Monday, from Verizon, with pre-orders already underway at $79.99 a pop. So, how is this any different from the Incipio offGrid Power Pack?

Well, it obviously works in the same simple way, easily snapping on to your Moto Z, Z Force or Z Play phone courtesy of integrated magnets, promising “more than 60 percent extra battery.” While that may not sound ideal (why not up to 100 percent?), Mophie’s “slim and light weight” attaching power bank actually hauls 3,000 mAh capacity, compared to the offGrid’s 2,220 mAh total.

Keep in mind that the Z Force and Z Play feature 3,500 mAh or so cells as standard, with the much thinner Z capping off at 2,600 mAh out the box, so Lenovo, Verizon and mobile accessory specialist Mophie are likely modest when advertising just 60 percent added autonomy.

The $80 juice pack also comes with a USB-C port for 15W fast recharging, an LED power indicator and “unmatched efficiency and build quality”, though there’s no mention on Big Red’s product page of wireless charging support. At $80, that sounds like a possible deal breaker.

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Moto Z joins the million-unit sales club, according to Lenovo CEO

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Adrian Diaconescu

Lenovo’s Mobile Business Group, including both self-branded and Motorola smartphones, just posted another quarterly loss for the July – September period, likely contributing to Apple’s record-breaking, almost math-challenging share of the global industry’s profits.

But the hope is at least the recently revised Moto lineup will finally be able to make the Chinese tech giant a little bit of money next year, as it banks on unrivaled affordability, as well as unique modularity.

Yes, truly unique, outmatching the LG G5 as far as add-on convenience goes, and soon enough, in terms of the sheer number of available snap-on accessories also. The question is how efficient has Lenovo’s “Skip the Sevens” campaign proven, and how many people have been convinced to embrace this latest modular experiment?

Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang conveys his official answer on Twitter, thanking the first one million customers helping “drive innovation forward.” Yes, 1,000,000 units of the Moto Z have been “sold around the world” so far, although it’s unclear if the tally counts all three Z variants.

It probably does, which makes the box-office score feel decent but not exactly impressive. Granted, the Z Force is still a Verizon exclusive stateside, the lower-end Z Play has barely launched commercially last month, and even the unlocked standard Z took its time before hitting online and offline stores. Then again, the LG G5 is widely considered a flop, and it still reportedly sold 2.5 million copies between April and June.

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Lenovo 2Q17 earnings continue sliding, net income achieved

Posted on November 3, 2016November 3, 2016 by Jules Wang

The challenge for Chinese manufacturer Lenovo is progressive. PC and tablet sales continue to sag worldwide while the smartphone market seems to be peaking at this point. But it has been able to struggle through its second fiscal quarter with multiple innovative if somewhat gimmicky product launches.

Revenue compares 8 percent poorer from a year ago to $11.2 billion. While the number is up 12 percent from the sequential quarter, that number compares to a 14 percent gain from last year. There was net income of $157 million, compared to a loss of $714 million last year.

Income from PCs in North America bucked the market trend, growing 14.7 percent year-to-year and 5.2 percent worldwide. Gaming sales jumped 36 percent, detachable solutions rose 52 percent while so-called “millennial” or affordable PCs tripled.

The company was happy to proclaim that Motorola is now able to make some major stat gains including sequential volume — up 25 percent in general and 39 percent for Moto-branded phones. Operating margins inched up by 4 percent from last quarter while average sales price stepped up by 18 percent annually. Units-wise, 14 million smartphones were sold, a 25 percent annual improvement with most of it in the Asia Pacific and Indian regions.

While the Mobile Business Group reported a 12 percent decline in revenues, the unit is expected to “turn around” by mid-2017.

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GSM unlocked Moto Z Play available from multiple US retailers now, headphone jack and all

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Adrian Diaconescu

Even though it came to light a couple of months after the high-end Moto Z and Z Force, with minimal fanfare, arguably humbler specs and the same annoying initial Verizon exclusivity, the Moto Z Play is starting to feel like a very compelling purchase.Not just for Big Red subscribers too, as a GSM unlocked variant is now in stock and ready to ship ...

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Motorola publishes full list of Nougat-eligible phones, third-gen Moto G notably absent

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Adrian Diaconescu

It seems old habits die hard over in Motorola’s decimated Illinois camp, as Lenovo’s daughter company likely tried to send this subliminal message its Google relations remain close by issuing an important public announcement virtually simultaneous with the Pixel event.At first glance, the “full list” of Moto smartphones with Android 7.0 Nougat on the way feels rather lengthy, but don’t let appearances fool you. El Goog no ...

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Moto Z Camera VS Hasselblad True Zoom MotoMod: Is this really an upgrade?

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Juan Carlos Bagnell

We’ve seen numerous camera experiments where a traditional smartphone manufacturer partners up with a photography company to improve the cameras on our phones. Most famously, the long term relationship between Carl Zeiss and Nokia. More recently, we reviewed the P9, which publicly kicked off a relationship between Leica and Huawei.Circling back to a product we were very excited to hear about when it was announced, Motorola’s first MotoMod relationship with a camera company aimed for the stars in landing ...

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Motorola says to expect Nougat on the Moto Z family and Moto G4 ‘beginning in Q4’

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Adrian Diaconescu

The year’s final calendar quarter is right around the corner, and in addition to booming holiday sales jacked up by the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deal bonanza, mobile hardware enthusiasts can also look forward to a (timid) start to Nougat updates for non-Nexus Android devices.Every self-respecting OEM should really have at least one flagship model initially launched with Marshmallow brought up to build 7.0 by the end of 2016, and

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Moto Mods Development Kit expands availability

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Jules Wang

More developers and manufacturers can now get their hands working on circuit boards for potential Moto Mods and, less potentially, getting $1 million from Ashton Kutcher.The Mods Developer Kit, available in the US, are now in China, Europe and South America. Canadians will get the MDKs starting October 5.The

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In comparing Moto Z, Lenovo claims iPhone 7 Plus optical zoom is rated at 4x

Posted on September 6, 2016September 6, 2016 by Jules Wang

Lenovo took the chance today to launch the Moto Z and Moto Z Play in China. It was a pretty big event with strobe lights and the usual larger-than-life screens to impress the tech press.It also took the time to compare both devices with some competing devices. Which ones? Weibo’s Reviewer_Xiaokang reports those were the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and

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Moto Z Play Hands On: Hello headphone jack

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Jaime Rivera

Even though we have quite an extensive review of the new Moto Z and Moto Z Force, IFA 2016 received us with the surprise of the Moto Z Play. We actually already have a review unit as part of Adam Lein’s recent Hasselblad True Zoom MotoMod Review, so expect our full review of the Moto Z Play coming separately very soon.Still, when at IFA, you can’t help but give this new smartphone a little spotlight. It might just be the Moto Z that many have been looking for, and it is a very compelling package for some.Watch our hands-on video to learn more.Sponsored by

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Hasselblad True Zoom MotoMod Review

Posted on August 31, 2016August 31, 2016 by Adam Z. Lein

What’s the most important feature in a smartphone? We’ve asked you that before, and usually one of the most popular answers is the camera. There hasn’t been very much innovation in terms of really good high-quality smartphone cameras ever since Nokia released the Lumia 1020 and Pureview 808 over 3 years ago, though that’s not for a lack of trying. We were kind of hoping for a nice camera attachment expansion pack for the

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The Moto Z Play brings back the headphone jack and the Moto Z goes unlocked

Posted on August 31, 2016August 31, 2016 by Adam Z. Lein

You may have already seen our extensive review of the new Moto Z and Moto Z Force flagship Android phones from Lenovo only about one month ago. It’s the end of August and we’ve already got a 3rd version of the Moto Z! This one is called the Moto Z Play and it’s got some significant yet subtle differences. The Moto Z Play is about 1mm wider and taller than the Moto Z, and it’s almost 2mm thicker. That gives you room for a much larger 3510 mAh battery. The Moto Z Play also uses a ...

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ZUK forums show off leaked Hasselblad Moto Mod

Posted on August 24, 2016August 24, 2016 by Jules Wang

Hasselblad usually makes some maddening medium-format camera gear. But with whispers of the company shrinking its workspace a bit for the sake of a Moto Mod, we have something new to stare at.A photographer with a preference for Hasselblad products on Weibo has snapped a picture of what looks to be a camera grip Moto Mod. And it is a meaty one with variable aperture (minimum f/3.5-6.5) with a zoom range ...

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