Lenovo announced a new Moto device this evening at IFA 2016 that targets consumers seeking a more affordable device.
The third device part of the 2016 flagship family is the Moto Z Play, which is compatible with all current and future Moto Mods released by Lenovo and its partners. The phone is the same size as the other two in the family, so the company is avoiding fragmentation among its key selling point.
Lenovo's Moto Z Play features a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920×1080) Super AMOLED display, Qualcomm Sanpdragon 625 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, a 16MP rear camera, a 5MP front-facing camera, a 3510mAh battery, a USB Type-C port, and a fingerprint scanner. Everything is either identical to or slightly downgraded from the Moto Z and Moto Z Force.
While it's nice seeing Lenovo continuing with the Moto brand, it's tough to watch the company put the brand in territory that caused Motorola to sell itself to Google a few years ago. Back then, Motorola released way too many phones and no one could tell which phones were right for them or anyone else. Google stepped in and stripped Motorola down to the basics, but now Lenovo is starting to pump out Moto devices with greater frequency. The Moto Z Play is Lenovo's fifth Moto phone announced since mid-May.
The phone will, of course, be a timed exclusive that's available from Verizon first as that's the carrier who had dibs on the Moto Z and Moto Z Force earlier this summer. The carrier will begin selling the Moto Z Play DROID on September 8 for $408 before an unlocked model is offered to everyone else in October for $449.
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