IFA 2016: Motorola’s back on the scene with two new products

It’s becoming the norm for global tech companies to start taking the shiny wrappers off their new stuff several days before the actual event proper. Motorola (and its parent company, Lenovo) did just that at this year’s IFA in Berlin, Germany and got us all excited about its smartphones and products again.

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Admittedly, we haven’t been keeping tabs on Motorola for a while now, and its brand-new Moto Z Play (the third smartphone under the Moto Z line) and Hasselblad True Zoom are making us root for the brand once more. Both also fall under Motorola’s Moto Mods range, conceptually similar to Google’s now-shelved Project Ara (R.I.P.) in that users can “modify” their mobile devices according to how they actually use them, but with compatible phones and accessories instead of specific hardware components.

On to the new toys! The Moto Z Play’s biggest attractions? An astounding 50-hour projected battery life, and TurboPower charging to get you away from the electrical outlet and power bank faster than usual—a promised 15-minute charging time for nine hours of battery life, if we’re going to be exact. Yep, you read that right: 50 hours of juice, and 15 minutes of charging for nine hours of use. Could it be true? We’ll see if and when we can actually get our hands on a commercial unit. Until then, we’re eager to get back to the good ol’ days of three to four days in between charges.

But wait, there’s more. The water-repellent Moto Z Play will also ship with octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 brains (2GHz CPU and 650MHz Adreno 506 GPU), 5.5-inch 1080p HD Super AMOLED display, 16-megapixel laser and phase detection auto-focus rear camera, 5-megapixel wide-angle front camera, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (expandable via microSD card), fingerprint reader, and Android Marshmallow.

And since the Z Play was made with Moto Mods in mind, you can also get any of Motorola’s compatible accessories: JBL’s SoundBoost Speaker, the Moto Insta-Share Projector, Incipio offGRID Power Pack, or any of Motorola’s Moto Style Shells. Or you can go for the Moto Z Play’s launch buddy, the Hasselblad True Zoom, which is geared toward the snap-happy folk. It works with any Moto Z smartphone; and offers up to 10x optical zoom and a 12MP sensor, 1080p Full HD recording, Xenon flash, and even RAW shooting capability. You can also share your photos while shooting, and even back up your previous shots through your phone’s storage or via Google Photos.

According to Motorola’s official blog, the Moto Z Play will be out this month. The unlocked version of the smartphone will be available in October in the US for US$449.99 (around P21,000). The Hasselblad True Zoom accessory will make its market debut this month as well for $299 (around P14,000) if you buy from Motorola’s website. Right now we don’t have any information on availability in Asian markets, including ours.