When it showed up at the tail end of 2016, we loved the Moto Z Play and its weird yet wonderful take on the modular mobile. It had fantastic battery life, too, but couldn’t quite edge out the cheaper OnePlus 3 as our go-to phone below £350. Now that the OnePlus 5 has upped the budget to £450, though, Motorola’s second try looks a lot more appealing. And not just because the price has only gone up by a Brexit-beating tenner here in the UK. It doesn’t have the most powerful parts, the battery might not be quite so long-lasting any more, and the similarly-priced Honor 9 might have a more comprehensive dual-camera setup, but there’s something undeniably cool about those Moto Mods. Ignore the optional upgrades and you’re still left with a keenly-priced handset that feels quick to use, looks great and takes a decent picture. Unless you’ve got the extra cash to splash on the OnePlus 5, or don’t mind Honor’s overbearing spin on Android, it’s a great buy.

Premium build and quality screen - even at 1080p; Silky performance and great battery life; Nifty modular accessories ;

Camera lacks colour punch; Moto Mods quickly get expensive; Phone still looks weird without a Mod in place;

Premium build and quality screen – even at 1080p; Silky performance and great battery life; Nifty modular accessories ;

Camera lacks colour punch; Moto Mods quickly get expensive; Phone still looks weird without a Mod in place;

So, it looks like the Moto Z2 Play passes with flying colours. Compact design, good camera, good battery life, good performance, neat motion sensing controls, but some might not like the huge camera bump, and the panorama is still underwhelming.

If you've read any of my reviews of Motorola's phones then you may remember that I'm a really big Moto phone fan. I love the way that Motorola typically takes the vanilla Android experience and pumps it up a bit with some cool features.

Z2 PLAY. Moto has a solid mid-ranger in their hands with this high-endurance unit. All photos by Kyle Chua/Rappler The Z2 Play takes a few steps forward, introducing a thinner and lighter design; but, it also takes a few back, trading away battery size to achieve this.

Motorola's mod-friendly smartphone, the Moto Z, is back. It's back in Z2 Play form, refining the original idea a little and bringing one of 2016's most interesting - if not exactly compelling - phones into late 2017.

Moto Z2 Play is recently launched in India and boasts off a modular design. It isn't just ultra slim and light in weight, there's more about this modular phone. In a nutshell, the Moto Z2 equips a compelling camera 12 MP (IMX362) on the rear side, an AMOLED display alongside a midrange Snapdragon...

Ultra Slim (5.99 mm) Modular Design | Hooks Up Moto Mods; Vanilla Android Experience; Commendable Camera Quality; AMOLED Screen is a Plus; Decent Battery Life | Fast Charging – 50% in 30 minutes; Fast Fingerprint Scanner | Gesture-Based Home Key is Addictive; Front Camera Records Slow Motion Videos,...

Not The Best Low Light Camera; Expensive Moto Mods

Last year's Moto Z Play was widely considered as one of the best devices in the company's line up. A perfect balance between performance and stellar battery life, the phone also served as a showcase for the Moto Mod ecosystem at a lower price point.

Motorola has yet to truly make the case that Moto Mods are a good idea. We were promised monthly mod releases, but that didn't happen. The Moto Mods we do have range from quirky and overpriced to mediocre... and overpriced.

Performance The Moto Z2 Play is optimized very well, despite the mid-range specs; Basic tasks won't cause a bit of lag, Battery life The battery life is above average, and it charges incredibly fast with Moto's premium charger, Software Motorola's version of Nougat is clean and efficient.

Battery life again While it's good compared to other phones; the Moto Z2 Play gets poorer battery life than last year's phone; Moto Mods I'm still not convinced that Moto Mods make sense; Design The same flat back and giant camera hump seen on other Z phones; thanks to the Moto Mod connector.

Following a pretty popular and well-loved predecessor, the Moto Z2 Play isn't trying to fix anything that ain't broken. It takes a certain level of confidence and self-awareness to go about an update the way Lenovo's Motorola division has done.