Not so long ago, Motorola announced the Moto Z Play in India with mid-range hardware. However, several foreign top blogs claimed that the smartphone offers one heck of incredible battery life. And, Motorola priced the smartphone aggressively at Rs. 24,999.
That being said when looking at the smartphone’s hardware, it doesn’t stand a chance against the competitors such as OnePlus 3 and Xiaomi Mi 5. But, it has its tricks under its sleeves- Moto Mods. Let’s take a quick look at how the new entrant makes against the already existing champs!
Design
Regarding design, Motorola devices don’t inspire confidence, but that isn’t the case with the Moto Z Play. Motorola has come a long way ever since their re-entrance. The Moto Z Plays has some design cues taken from the company’s flagship Moto Z and Moto Z Force, so it does look premium. There is glass on both front and back with a metal rim on the sides.
On the other hand, the OnePlus 3 has an all-metal unibody design, and it looks premium than the previous iteration of OnePlus devices. The Xiaomi Mi 5 looks a lot like the Galaxy S7 with the same glass on both front and back. All the three phones look premium, but the OnePlus 3 wins this aspect due to its sleek and excellent build.
Display
Both the OnePlus 3 and Moto Z Play comes with a 5.5-inch display with a pixel density of 401 PPI and 403 PPI respectively. Motorola has improved the display on Moto G (4th Gen), and that impressed many. Also, we expect the same display on the Z Play as well. The display on the OnePlus 3 impressed us with its deep inky blacks.
On the flip side, the Xiaomi Mi 5 comes with the same 1080p display panel, but the screen size is much more compact that the other two in this comparison. It has a 5.15-display. We liked the show on OnePlus 3, but certainly, we are hoping that Motorola won’t disappoint us.
Hardware
The Oneplus 3 wins this segment hands down because it has the most powerful hardware in this section. The OnePlus 3 and the Mi 5 has the flagship Snapdragon chipset under-the-hood. The OnePlus 3 comes with 6GB of RAM, whereas the Mi 5 has only 3GB of RAM.
The Moto Z Play has a relatively less powerful Snapdragon 625 chipset along with 3GB of RAM. So, this round goes with the OnePlus 3.
Camera
All the three smartphones have 16MP of rear camera, but the OnePlus 3 and Mi 5 does have Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS), and they capture better low-light shots. The Moto Z Play, on the other hand, does not feature OIS, but the Lenovo-owned Motorola does a great job this year in terms of camera performance.
Up front, there is a 5MP front-facing camera on the Moto Z Play, an 8MP snapper on the OnePlus 3, and a 4MP shooter on the Mi 5. One paper, the OnePlus 3 wins this segment as well.
Battery!
In terms of battery capacity, the Moto Z Play wins when compared to others in this list because it has a 3,510mAh battery. Both the OnePlus 3 and Xiaomi Mi 5 has 3,000mAh battery, but the Mi 5 boots heavily skinned MIUI 7, which drains much faster than the OnePlus 3’s Oxygen OS. And the Moto Z Play comes with almost stock Android running Marshmallow.
Verdict
On paper, the OnePlus 3 wins the race, but not to mention that the Moto Z Play is rated as the best Android battery smartphone. The Mi 5 does offer some incredible hardware, but it failed to impress many with its underwhelming battery life and buggy software.