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Moto Z3 Play leak reveals some fancy camera tricks, more specs

The upcoming device will offer cinemagraph support and portrait mode on both the front and rear cameras.
By
May 22, 2018
An apparent Moto Z3 Play render.
TL;DR
  • The latest Moto Z3 Play leak suggests the phone will have a Snapdragon 636 chipset, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB or 64GB of storage.
  • Lenovo’s phone will also pack several new camera features, including color pop functionality and cinemagraph creation.
  • It’s believed that the new phone will receive two major Android updates following launch.

We already know what kind of horsepower to expect from the Moto Z3 Play and now we have a much better idea of the spec sheet at large too.

XDA-Developers has seen an “internal Lenovo document” that sheds light on both the hardware and software side of things. The document details a mid-range Snapdragon 636 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB or 64GB of storage.

We also see more weight added to previous leaks, as the outlet lists a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The document doesn’t reference a headphone jack, which means the earlier renders could be correct in ditching the 3.5mm port.

However, the document has plenty of new information, such as a 3,000mAh battery, a 6-inch 18:9 aspect ratio Full HD+ AMOLED screen, and a thin aluminum body. In the camera department, the Moto Z3 Play is tipped to feature a dual-camera setup (one camera is set to be a 12MP shooter), with an 8MP front-facing snapper for selfies.

Plenty of camera goodness

The Moto Z2 Play.
The Moto Z2 Play.

Speaking of the camera experience, the XDA-Developers leak details a slew of camera-related software features too. The company will offer cinemagraphs, first popularized by Nokia’s Lumia phones and the shuttered Cinemagram app. Cinemagraphs essentially allows users to choose the moving, looping elements in an otherwise still photo. Think of it as a photo with a section of the photo being a GIF.

Another feature seen before is the spot color function, which lets you pick a color and turn the rest of the photo black and white. It seems less like the new Google Photos feature and more like the color pop function seen in the Lumia Creative Studio app. Google’s effort is automatic, keeping a subject/object in color and turning the background black and white — no color picking here.

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A third major camera-related feature is the cutout mode, which lets you take a photo of something and swap out the background with one from another image. Throw in portrait mode on both cameras, a manual mode, and a Google Lens-style ability to scan text from documents, and you’ve got a phone that certainly seems to put its cameras to good use (in theory, at least).

In a rather interesting move, Lenovo will apparently guarantee that the phone receives two major Android updates for “absolutely free”. As opposed to charging for updates, evidently. But if this means the Moto Z3 Play gets Android P and Q (or whatever the next version is), then it’ll certainly stand out from other brands.

Judging by the spec sheet and list of features, the Moto Z3 Play certainly seems like a worthy follow-up to previous Play devices.