3 months with S9- compare to Moto Z2 Play

[Angus Repper]

I don't get it.

I've been using Z2 Play for about 9 months as my personal phone... and the Samsung S9 as my work phone. Both are very adequate. In fact, they do everything I need well.

However, while I am somewhat flummoxed by the high S9 adoption rate given the comparative performance of my daily personal phone... a much lower cost Z2 Play.

Honestly, when needing to do a task that blurs between business and personal, I inevitably reach for the Z2. Mainly because of the software experience and overall fluidity of routine tasks

Motorola's active display is and has been much better than Samsungs.

The one button navigation in the Z2 works flawlessly and allies the experience to be much more smooth.

The fingerprint reader functionality is much much better on the Z2

Moto actions for flashlight, camera and do not disturb are awesome.

Battery is much better on Z2

Everything else like web surfing, YouTube videos, standard applications all work very comparably.

I am not a big camera person and based on other folks opinions, I am sure Samsung is better...

Is the camera the only distinguishing feature from other phones? What am I missing with the Samsung?

 

[Fred98TJ]

Samsung is a “big” name that’s why larger user base, just like Apple is a “big”. There are “better” phones than Samsung’s but Samsung knows how to market and how to pull people’s strings. ??????

 

[Velenoso]

I don't get it. What am I missing with the Samsung?

Can you dex with your Z2?

Dexing is sick and probably the only reason I own a S9+ , because I don't really need such a powerful device, but buying a computer/laptop and a phone doesn't make sense when the phone can do both.

I've created power point presentations with the S9+ and dex.

 

[Ry]

Marketing money.

 

[chanchan05]

Apart from the obvious (marketing and such). There's also software. You mention having to reach for phone when you need to do something with it. I don't have to. Samsung Flow let's me see and control all my notifications (including 3rd party ones) right on my PC. Even mirror the screen so I can basically use my phone without reaching for it. Motorola doesn't have a comparable service that I know of.
Samsung also allows fingerprints saved even if fingerprints are disabled for unlocking the device so you can use it for app authentication. This isn't available on other Android builds I've found.
As for the performance, it's already a given nowadays that performance issues between flagships and mid-rangers have blurred. For most intents and purposes, the flagships can do things a little bit faster, load things a little bit faster and all that. It's kind of like buying a gaming laptop and a regular laptop. Let's say you don't game, and you bought a 1000 USD laptop that does everything you want perfectly. You'd be in the same spot you are now trying to justify why you would want a 2000 USD laptop with purportedly better specs when everything you could do is possible cheaper. On your Z Play, you can run PUBG at low or medium settings at decent FPS. On an S9+ in game mode, you can run it at high with high FPS as well. That's one use case scenario where the S9 is better.
Another is using a remote desktop program to control your PC from somewhere else. The more powerful processor helps this to be smoother.
There's also the issue of futureproofing. The chip on the Z2 play isn't 5G speed capable, the one on the S9 is. So that goes towards its price.

 

[Angus Repper]

Got it... Thanks for replies everyone.

Seems a fantastic camera, dexing capabilities and hardcore gaming could provoke someone to reach for an S9 other than a Moto z2 but since I don't game, take artsy photos or use my phone to compose PowerPoints...then I guess it makes sense I reach for my 5g capable (Moto mods) Z2 that cost a fraction.

Just wondering what the hell Motos marketing department is doing. This is a great phone.

Happy Holidays all

Oh and I have Dell cellular Connect for my Moto and Samsung... Thus I have ability to see my phone, sms, compose email or use any of my apps on the PC... I think someone said Samsung software does that natively, so that's another reason.

 

[Adam Frix]

As with any technology, it starts in the basement and spends time ramping up. It seems that new incredible advances happen daily and weekly.

And like any consumer product, people want it--but they don't want to pay for the leading edge product that will just be obsolete in 3 months anyway. So a middle and low level market pops up to provide that demand.

Moving forward, as the high level moves forward, so do the middle and low levels.

And then we reach peak product. It takes A LOT of effort to make the top level product move. For people already there, it's simply not worth switching up to the next thing.

In the meantime, those middle level products are now at a level that, two years ago, was a very high end product.

So yeah--a mid level product today meets ALL of your goals, because of the nature of consumer good technology advancement. A mid level product today is a fantastic product. Not that the high end products aren't better, but rather the bulk of people stopped needing the advancements that came about. They parked themselves with their old phones and waited while the entire train moved upward and they got the "all new" mid level phone which is WAY BETTER than their older mid level phone.

We've really reached peak phone. The biggest reason to change up is to get new communication frequencies and technologies; T-Mobile is a great example of why you don't want a two year old phone, even if the computer part of it meets your needs perfectly well. You will need an all-new phone just to get the under the hood radios and whatnot that allow it to communicate with the ever-growing infrastructure of new antennas and frequencies and whatnot.

But if all you use your phone on is wifi, and you rarely use it out and about for anything crucial, you probably have all the phone you'll need for a long, long time.

Now let's talk about the elephant in the room: batteries, the things that make all consumer electronics disposable...