Do you need to buy a premium device for a premium experience?

I bought a mid range device when I bought the Motorola Z2 Play a few years back. I since sold that phone but I also just recently bought the Motorola Z Power phone. That is a mid range device with a lower price point. Both phones have decent hardware in them, can do lots of great things for taking photos and have great play back for sound and video. But what are they missing from a premium device like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+? Well basically, a stylus... maybe some performance improvements for playing graphic intense games on the phone.. maybe a touch more battery life thanks to Samsung's power management system. Both screens look vibrant with lots of color. Pictures look great on the screen on both phones and both take excellent pictures.

So why the Higher price tag for the Samsung? Well the Note 10 Plus is rated P68 for water resistance which means you could submerge it in fresh water for some time and retrieve it, dry it out and the phone will still function. As I found out this is not the case when it comes to salt water... anything goes if it goes in salt water. But the Motorola phone is not rated for water resistance like that so it only will be protected against splashes like from rain. Also the Motorola does not have NFC so no contactless payments from the phone. Plus you cannot wireless charge the Motorola. That is not a deal breaker for me. I rarely use wireless charging. I'm still not thrilled with it and feel like it's better for the battery to always charge with a cable. The motorola does have some things the Samsung does not, like an audio jack for headphones. You can use any headphones for that phone without needing a dongle to connect them in like you would with the samsung which is sans audio jack. One personal thing I like more on the Motorola is the fingerprint button on the back, it works 100 percent of the time! Samsung has the in glass fingerprint unit and it works but its 60/40 if it will read the print correctly. I hope they improve that design on future phones. Mid range inexpensive phones can offer great features but there are always trade offs that you have to look at when choosing a lower end device. But there are a wide variety of mid range devices that are affordable and will offer a user a great phone experience.

The Motorola Z2 Play. A premium device with an affordable price.

A few weeks ago I got the desire to try a different device. Not because of any issue or anything like that, I just decided I want to have a different phone. For some reason the thought of jumping between devices to try a few out is appealing to me. And now with the cloud holding most all of the data I use on the phone switching back and forth is easier than ever. I currently have an HTC U11 phone that has been a blast to use every day for the past 6 months. I never had an issue with it, everything runs smoothly and the battery life is great. I get a day to a day and a half if I’m conservative with my streaming. The phone looks awesome it’s a bright red metallic color that everyone notices. I have it enclosed in a clear case and put a shatter proof screen on it. I had a spur of the moment inkling to check out the Motorola phones again after they sent me an email with a large sale on some of their newer flagship devices.

I checked them out and decided on the Z2 play from Motorola. This is a nice thin lightweight phone with a 5.5 inch LCD which is bigger than the screen on the HTC. The phone is so light and easy to hold too. I forgot how much weight the HTC had to it till I picked it up to do this review. Its not a bad thing either its just different.

The Moto has a nice bright screen that is easy to see and everything looks vivid and sharp. The camera is a 12 MP shooter in the back with a 5MP in the front for great self portraits. Pictures look great on it and seem to capture a lot of detail. The phone is quick and responsive and everything is easy to find when looking for your favorite apps. This is an unlocked device that is carrier neutral so there is no bloat ware on it. I love this feature as the HTC was the same way and it is great not to be force fed apps that I cannot uninstall and will never use.

The phone being a bigger size is still easy to use one handed thanks to the thin sized footprint. It has a head phone jack which I like and it also has a usb C connector for the charger. I tried USB C headphones but they did not recognize on the phone so they cant be used unless you have the head phone jack adapter. The battery life has been outstanding I can push this and get a full day and a half out before I need to charge it again. There is also a Moto Mod add on that is an extended battery should you need more juice. I stream quite a bit and run different music apps like sound cloud and the Sirius XM app for on demand shows. I have more than 40 percent battery life left at night before I put the phone down to sleep. The included turbo charge will give it a 50 percent boost in 15 minutes so to get you through a long day should you need it. The phone has one downside when coming off the HTC, it is running Nougat of Android 7.1 and the 8.0 Oreo update is still pending. Moto seems to have an issue getting updates out quickly. This has not been an issue to me except I miss the nice emoji icons when doing text messages. I have not seen any major issues with the phone and it has been a joy to use. I have only seen one small issue and I am still testing to see if it happens on all audio apps or just one. What happens is after some time the volume just decreases half way. The volume is set all the way up on the phone and on the app but it just is a lowered volume. This happens on the
Sirus app and closing the app and restarting it takes away the issue. I have yet to test this on other apps and I am not sure if it’s a power saving feature or some bug. Either way I will keep testing and report back. This is a really great phone and for a less expensive price point it can be an affordable device for someone who just needs a phone and doesn’t need the latest and greatest. I will probably use this for a few weeks then I may switch back to my HTC device. Either way I have two great devices that can get me through a whole day without fail and they are both reliable and dependable. That’s all I want at the end of the day.