The first half of 2016 was dominated by the OnePlus 3 in the upper mid-range segment, and it continued until the arrival of its successor, the OnePlus 3T in December 2016. The OnePlus 3T was the de-facto option for many customers who looked out for a smartphone in the sub-Rs. 30,000 price point. And rightly so, because it has high-end hardware and a standout design.
Now that the OnePlus 3T has become slightly old and there's a gap of a mere two weeks for the OnePlus 5 to arrive let's take a look at the other upper mid-range options available right now in the market.
Samsung is one such brand which covers every price range in the country, and the South Korean smartphone giant has the Galaxy C7 Pro in the upper mid-range segment. The Lenovo-owned Motorola yesterday unveiled the second generation Moto Z Play in India. Both the phones are available at a similar price point of nearly Rs. 30,000. Which one is the best amongst the two? Let's find out.
Design and Display
Design wise, both the smartphones look extremely premium. The Galaxy C7 Pro and Moto Z2 Play both has a unimetal body design, but the latter is thinner at 5.9mm than the former's 7mm thickness. However, the C7 Pro looks gorgeous in the Navy Blue colour option, whereas the Z2 Play stands out in the Lunar Gray colour version.
Coming to the display, the C7 Pro features a 5.7-inch screen, while the Z2 Play has a slightly smaller 5.5-inch display. Both the panels are Super AMOLED and have a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. The screens have 2.5D curved glass on top and are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass technology.
Hardware
The hardware is almost similar on both the phones. The C7 Pro and Z2 Play comes with a 2.2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 chipset, clubbed with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The storage is expandable upto 256GB via a dedicated microSD card slot.
Both the phones have a fingerprint sensor integrated into the home key, which helps in unlocking the smartphone. The hardware section ends up as a tie between both the phones. The Moto Z2 Play is a modular smartphone, and you can attach Moto Mods to enhance the device usage.
Camera
The Moto Z2 Play has a smaller yet powerful 12MP sensor at the back with f/1.7 aperture, laser autofocus, and dual-LED flash. The Galaxy C7 Pro, on the other hand, has a 16MP sensor at the back with f/1.9 aperture, PDAF, and dual-LED flash. However, it lacks the laser autofocus technology used in the Z2 Play.
The selfie camera section belong to the Galaxy C7 Pro because it has a 16 MP camera with f/1.9 aperture. The Z2 Play has a smaller 5MP selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture and dual-LED flash. The C7 Pro misses out on the LED flash, but it arguably has the better camera sensor.
Connectivity and Software
The Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro and Motorola Moto Z2 Play comes with all the standard connectivity options such as Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, USB Type-C port, and NFC.
In the software department though, the Moto Z2 Play comes on top because it runs the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat with some Motorola customisations on top. The Galaxy C7 Pro comes laden with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow based TouchWiz UI on top.
Battery
The Moto Z2 Play has a 3000mAh battery unit, while the C7 Pro houses a larger 3300mAh battery. Both the phones have support for fast charging technology. The C7 Pro has an advantage in the battery department due to the slightly larger battery.
Pricing and Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro is priced at Rs. 27,990, but it is currently selling at Rs. 25,990 in the country, exclusively via Amazon India. The Moto Z2 Play costs Rs. 27,999 and will be available for purchase from June 15.
Both the Galaxy C7 Pro and Moto Z2 Play offer almost similar benefits, but the Z2 Play has the upper hand in the software and camera sections. It is also a modular smartphone, which tunes the device's usage with the Moto Mods. The Galaxy C7 Pro has a bigger battery, but it is just another smartphone with no appealing feature.
