Why You Can Trust CNET Moto Z Play hands-on: The headphone jack is back, Jack
The more affordable Moto Z Play arrives September 8 with more battery, and yeah, that headphone jack is back.
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Motorola's Moto Z is a premium phone that made its mark with magnetic snap-on accessories that make a lot of sense. The new Moto Z Play uses those same Moto Mods, but costs less. It wants to be your modular midrange friend. It's arriving September 8 in the US as a Verizon phone for $408 (or, $17/month), or GSM unlocked in October for $450 (versus the Moto Z, which will cost $700). Internationally, it arrives in September for "about 499 Euros.")
As a midrange phone, its specs vary from those of the Z and Z Force. For one, it brings back the headphone jack! The Z made waves for ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of just having USB-C, plus an included adapter dongle. Well, miracles happen: USB-C and a headphone jack exist on the Moto Z Play, side by side, together and happy. Maybe there's hope for your old pair of headphones in this cruel post-headphone-jack world, after all.
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Moto Z Play works with all the MotoMods.
The Z Play is also a bit thicker and heavier than the big-battery Z Force, packing a slightly larger battery. Motorola says this is the "longest-lasting phone battery" on a Moto phone. Fast-charging powers the phone up to about 9 hours of use in 15 minutes of charging. We haven't run full battery tests on the Z Play we have here at the office.
The headphone jack...has returned. See, it was gone on the Z and Z Force.
You probably won't notice the other differences right off the bat, but there are a handful of spec alterations. It looks a bit like the Z Force -- which is a US-exclusive phone for Verizon -- with a less durable screen and some stepped-down specs. Or, well, it's a different phone. The 5.5-inch AMOLED display is 1080p, instead of the 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution of the other Zs. The Qualcomm processor's a little different. There's a bit less RAM. The camera, at least, seems nice: 16 megapixels, but it lacks optical image stabilization.
Moto Z, Z Force and Z Play compared
| Moto Z | Moto Z Force | Moto Z Play | |
| Size | 153mm x 75mm x 5.19mm | 155.9mm x 75.8mm x 6.99 mm | 156.4 mm x 76.4 mm x 6.99 mm |
| Weight | 136g | 163g | 165g |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 |
| Display | 5.5-inch 2,560 x 1,440 AMOLED | 5.5-inch 2,560 x 1,440 AMOLED | 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED |
| RAM | 4GB | 4GB | 3GB |
| Rear camera | 13MP, f/1.8, OIS, | 21MP, f/1.8, OIS | 16MP, f/2.0 |
| Battery | 2,600 mAh | 3,500 mAh | 3,510 mAh |
| Headphone jack | no | no | yes |
| Storage | 32/64GB, microSD | 32/64GB, microSD | 32/64GB, microSD |
Most importantly, this is a more midrange phone that still has that funky 16-pin MotoMod connector. It works with all the magnetically swappable Z Moto Mod accessories unveiled this summer with the Z, like a personal projector or the a Hasselblad TrueZoom camera lens.
The Moto Z Play will cost about $400 in the US as a Verizon-only phone, but will be available globally like the Moto Z. (Converted, that's about £305 or AU$530.) Motorola says the phone will be available unlocked by the end of the year. Stay tuned for a full review soon.