The Motorola brand is not new in Kenya, but it has been really long since we saw these devices on the shelves. Starting with the Moto Z and Moto Z Play, Lenovo, through its subsidiary Motorola, hopes to recapture its smartphone market locally, betting on Nostalgia and brand recognition. At an event today, Lenovo officially introduced the Moto Z and Z Play to the Kenyan market and the phone would be available at various stores through their distributor, Krishna International.
Speaking to Techweez, the technical product manager at Lenovo East Africa, King’ori Gitahi, said that he believes that the Moto Z and Moto Z Play, offer a lot more than similar phones (that sometimes cost even higher) at the same price range. He also stated that the smartphone market was big enough to accommodate everyone, and was not really worried about the competition.
Mr. King’ori also mentioned that Lenovo is very passionate about innovation and the company is open to supporting local innovation through their Moto Mods Developer platform. With the Moto Mods, consumers can transform their Moto smartphone by adding features that otherwise are not available on your standard smartphone.
The Moto Mods range include the JBL SoundBoost speakers, an external loudspeaker retailing for KES.15,000, the Insta-Share Projector which retails for KES.26,000 will enable content sharing and projection of the screen upto 70″, power packs from Incipio to extend your battery life (KES.15,000), and the Hasselblad True Zoom (Retails for KES.26,000), that will enable one to shoot more like a professional with its 5x optical zoom.
The Moto Z comes with a 5.5″ QHD AMOLED display, Snapdragon 820, 4GB RAM, 32/64 GB internal storage, a 13MP main camera, 5MP front camera and no headphone jack! The Moto Z Play, comes with a 5.5″ Full HD Super AMOLED display, Snapdragon 625, 3GB RAM, 32/64 GB internal storage, 16MP main camera and a 5MP front camera and yes, you have the 3.5mm headphone jack with this one. Below is a complete list of specifications:
| Moto Z | Moto Z Play | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 5.5" (2560*1440) QHD AMOLED covered in Gorilla Glass 4 | 5.5" (1920*1080) FHD Super AMOLED covered in Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 |
| Memory | 4GB RAM with 32/64 GB internal | 3GB RAM with 32/64 GB internal |
| Micro SD support | Yes, upto 256GB | Yes, upto 256GB |
| Camera | Main: 13 MP with f/1.8 aperture, laser autofocus, OIS, and dual-LED flash Front: 5 MP, f/2.2, 1.4 µm pixel size, LED flash | Main: 16 MP with f/2.0 aperture, phase detection and laser autofocus, dual-LED flash Front: 5 MP, f/2.2, 1.4 µm pixel size, LED flash, 1080p |
| Battery | Non-removable Li-Ion 2600 mAh battery capable of fast charging | Non-removable Li-Ion 3510 mAh battery capable of fast charging |
| Software | Android OS, 6.0.1 (Marshmallow) upgradable to 7.0 (Nougat) | Android OS, 6.0.1 (Marshmallow) upgradable to 7.0 (Nougat) |
| Features | Fingerprint reader, USB Type-C 1.0, Moto Mods compatible | Fingerprint reader, USB Type-C 1.0, Headphone jack, Moto Mods compatible |
The Moto Z, which is the premium of the two, will be retailing at KES.69,999 while the slightly less spec’d Moto Z Play will be retailing at KES.54,999. If you think these prices are too high, Lenovo says that the less expensive mid-ranger Moto G4 Plus is already in the market, the recently announced Moto G5 and G5 Plus will be coming some time Mid-May and they are also expecting the entry-level Moto E series to make its way into the market.
