Z Play or Z Force for $100 more?

ASD Dad

Well-known member
Mar 23, 2015
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Just as title asks. Would you still buy this over the Z Force if the Force was only $100 more?

Best Buy is running their $200 off sale still and you get a free JBL Mod with purchase. You can get a $200 gift card if you go with the payment plan. That makes the phone $524.00 after the gift card or only $99 on a 2 yr contract if you have that option (I dont). I was pretty set on trying out the Play when I saw the sale going on at BB.

I am not a power user but I do use my phone a lot all day and battery life along with lag are my two pet peeves. Third is it needs a decent camera since I have 3 little kids and we like to travel a lot with them, mainly camping, but I still want nice photos of the trip.

I have a Moto X Pure now and the battery is less than stellar after several months of use. The camera is decent but just OK. My wife is a pure Apple person and her old iPhone 6 seemed way better for photos let alone her 6s. I actually shelved the MXPE recently for my backup Nexus 5x. With Nougat the 5x has a new lease on life. Battery is waaaay better and my lag is almost all gone on that phone.

I was going to hold out for the Pixel phones but I do like Moto as I have had many. I know they are now Lenovo and updates are going to be few and far between (my MXPE is way behind just security updates) so that is a concern but I have always liked the Moto Actions and their cell radios always seemed to be better than others. I live in a fringe area and my 5x will send calls straight to voicemail vs. the MXPE.

So - would you still get the Play over the Force if the Force was just $124 more? Oh, you also get a free JBL speaker mod with the Force at Best Buy. I really dont see myself using mods often if ever if that matters.
 

mstrblueskys

Q&A Team
Dec 21, 2011
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So - would you still get the Play over the Force if the Force was just $124 more? Oh, you also get a free JBL speaker mod with the Force at Best Buy. I really dont see myself using mods often if ever if that matters.

If lag is a pet peeve and you're using apps, you have to ask yourself is the $124 more worth the added daily happiness. The Force is clearly the beastlier phone, but the play should be able to do most things and will probably have a better battery life.
 

azdmelani

Well-known member
Jul 16, 2010
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To me, no.

I hear you though, My MXPE has become so incredibly laggy I'm ready to throw it out the window.
 

benjamminh

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Apr 12, 2012
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For me, yes. Better camera, better processor, shattershield (feel comfortable not paying for insurance every month), still excellent battery life, versus amazing battery life, headphone jack, good, but not as good camera, good, but not as good performance. Plus the Force has the mostly metal back versus glass back of the Z Play, but I could be wrong about that.
 

ASD Dad

Well-known member
Mar 23, 2015
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To me, no.

I hear you though, My MXPE has become so incredibly laggy I'm ready to throw it out the window.

Mine too! That is actually one worry I have about another Moto. My past Motos including the original Moto X remained pretty lag free for a long time. The MXPE is horrid lately and I even resorted to a full factory reset. That helped a lot but the lag came back in short time. The battery also barely lasts a day now after several months of use.
 

dby2011

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2014
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That's funny, I'm in the same predicament. I have a MXPE and Nexus 5x too. The battery is poor on the Pure but I like the sdcard for my music. The Nexus is just butter smooth with Android N but has no expandable storage. I am considering the Z Play for the long battery life, sdcard slot and headphone jack. I'm concerned the camera is worse on the Z Play then both the 5x and Pure. Also, just like already stated, the software updates are very lacking on the Pure and I'm not sure I trust Motorola anymore. I saw the $200 gift card at BB for the Z Force. It is tempting.
 

ASD Dad

Well-known member
Mar 23, 2015
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That's funny, I'm in the same predicament. I have a MXPE and Nexus 5x too. The battery is poor on the Pure but I like the sdcard for my music. The Nexus is just butter smooth with Android N but has no expandable storage. I am considering the Z Play for the long battery life, sdcard slot and headphone jack. I'm concerned the camera is worse on the Z Play then both the 5x and Pure. Also, just like already stated, the software updates are very lacking on the Pure and I'm not sure I trust Motorola anymore. I saw the $200 gift card at BB for the Z Force. It is tempting.

It's a $200 gift card And a free JBL speaker Mod... I'd sort of prefer the battery Mod but free speaker is cool too.
 

Wobblin30

Well-known member
May 20, 2011
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Having had the Force and now the Play, I would go with the Force if camera is one of your main must haves. Lack of OIS on the Play will will result in low light shots to suffer and blur will be an issue snapping pics of kids running around. I'm not a gamer at least on phones so I can't speak to lag but I can say that I really could not tell a difference in day to day use with these phones. I will say that the 625 processor in the Play is ridiculously efficient and destroys anything out there today. Take a look at the Android Police review (double digits in SOT on a single charge).

You can always pick a battery mod with the Force which should match the Plays battery and you'll come out with a more powerful phone and better camera. If you do go with Force, grab a screen protector right away. With Shattershield being plastic, scratches will come on fast under normal use.
 

huungryshark

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2014
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Better battery life, better Camera ( 16MP ) plus energy efficient 14nm SoC speaks for the Play.

Plus Headphone Jack and it's ergonomically better.

All that and 250€ cheaper ( 449€ vs. 699€) , so it's a no brainer for me.
 

benjamminh

Well-known member
Apr 12, 2012
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I think people might be overstating the better camera for the Play over the Z based on one review. In low light my guess is the Z might be better. There is no argument with the Force camera; that's clearly better than either it would seem.
 
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YAYTech

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2012
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How does the best buy phone plans work. Two year contract?

They're a reseller for Verizon, so it's mostly the same as if you were in a Verizon store, except that they've been offering $ off and free mods.

With the 2 year contract, you'll pay $40/mo line access fee for that phone. This wasn't made clear to me when I bought my Z Force from Best Buy. I'd been using a phone I owned outright, and was paying $20/mo line access fee. So I paid $100 for the phone (and free JBL speaker mod) + $30 activation fee, plus I'll be paying an extra $20/mo for the next 2 years. There might be some discount on that from my wife's work, not sure. Even though it's a "2 year contract", I can still switch between Verizon's plans freely (just switched from the old 6gb/mo plan to the new 4gb/mo plan the other day). The line fee stays the same $40 no matter the plan. My wife did not upgrade her phone, and her line fee is still $20.

Or you can do device payments, spread over 2 years. Just have to figure out which approach has numbers that work out more in your favor. There's not much difference overall, I suspect there are just folks who are more used to the idea of a 2-year contract and discounted device upgrade.
 

ASD Dad

Well-known member
Mar 23, 2015
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Well I ended up picking up the last Force my local BB had. They said the promo has been quite popular especially with Note 7's coming back in. There was a couple in front of me that got two normal Z's.

So far I am quite impressed with this phone. I have used 33% battery after 12 hours and 39 minutes with 1:55 screen time. My MXPE would be well under half used up by now. There is zero lag so far. Screen is nice. Camera is way better in low light but is slower than the 5x due to slow shutter speeds. The OIS helps with blur issues though.

I have to admit I am still a bit jealous of those crazy battery stats being posted by the Play! Headphone jack is nice on the Play but I have one pair of favorite headphones and I just left the Moto adapter attached for now. The Force has a lot stronger and better sounding amp vs. the 5x. When doing yard work I had to crank the Nexus up even with isolating IEM's.

I do miss some Nougat features but the Play doesnt have Nougat yet either. I plan on running this phone hard for at least a week to see how it goes.
 

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