Lenovo & Moto at IFA 2016: Moto Z Play and Yogas hands-on

Moto Z Play hands-on

The Moto Z Play is the latest member of the Z lineup this year complementing the Moto Z proper and Moto Z Force (add a 'Droid' moniker to those if you're in the US). The Moto Z Play carries a lot of the family traits, including the magnetic connectors on the back and a sizable camera hump.

Lenovo chose to announce a new Hasselblad-branded MotoMod alongside the Moto Z Play and that's the big news this time.

But first things first. The Moto Z Play is a midrange smartphone that looks a lot like its more upmarket siblings with one notable difference - the back panel isn't made of metal, but glass.

The Play is as thick as the Force at 7mm, and therefore thicker than the regular Moto Z's 5.2mm. In terms of weight, its 165g are virtually identical to the Force's 163g, both substantially heavier than the Moto Z (136g) - it's not just the numbers, the difference can be felt in hand.

5.5-inch FullHD AMOLED on the front • Glass panel on the back

The control layout is the same as the other Moto Z's and that means a textured power button on the right with volume up and down above it. The SIM/microSD card slot is on the top, and at the bottom next to the Type-C port there is a pleasant surprise - a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is missing on the higher-end models.

Bare left side • Buttons on the right • Card slot up top • Type-C USB and a 3.5mm jack on the bottom

On the front you have a fingerprint sensor below the display (not a Home button, mind you), which isn't too attractive, but does work quickly. The front-facing camera and the flash that accompanies it have traded sides on the Moto Z Play, compared to the other two models, but other than that, they're the same.

Square fingerprint reader • Front-facing flash

Hasselblad's True Zoom snaps onto the back of the Moto Z Play (or any other of the Moto Z's, for that matter) just like the other MotoMods - via the magnetic connectors on the phone's back. Note that the add-on covers the handset's own camera completely - you need to remove the True Zoom in order to use the built-in shooter.

True Zoom detached

With the Hasselblad on, the ensemble looks and feels a lot like a dedicated point-and-shoot camera, only with a very large display. It's quite hefty - the True Zoom is 145g on its own and simple math gives us a total of 310g.

The thing feels very well put together and handles nicely - the experience is miles ahead of single-handedly taking photos with a phone. The two stage-shutter button is also a boon to photography enthusiasts.

The 10x zoom lens extends when powered up, and zooming all the way to maximum telephoto makes it stick out even further, but that's to be expected. The 25-250mm zoom range is very useful, stretching from wide-angle for landscapes well into telephoto when you just can't get closer to your subject.

Even with a small 1/2.3" sensor such a range comes at the expense of aperture and the True Zoom is quite dim - f/3.5-6.5 means you'd better have plenty of light. The optical image stabilization should help, but even so outdoor in bright daylight sounds like the best environment for the Hasselblad.

Moto Z Play + True Zoom

We snapped some photos with the Hasselblad of course, and had a Galaxy Note7 for comparisons. The two have obviously exposed somewhat differently, but the Note7 benefits from its wider aperture, allowing it to use a faster shutter speed, thus minimizing the possibility for camera shake and motion blur.

The first set of images was shot at medium distance with no flash, while for the second pair we went up close and turned on the flashes.

Photo comparison: Hasselblad True Zoom • Note 7 • Hasselblad True Zoom • Note 7

We also shot a bunch of other things with the Hasselblad to try and get a feel for its capabilities, but we're not exactly thrilled. That said, venue floors are never the best spot to examine a camera's performance, so we won't be judging it harshly for now.

Hasselblad True Zoom samples

That's all we got from the Moto Z Play/Hassleblad True Zoom pair. Join us on the next page for some Yoga action.