I am looking at buying an unlocked GSM Motorola Moto Z3 Play. Does anyone have any experience with the phone on T-Mobile? I could not find it in the compatibility guide but it is a fairly new handset. Was just wondering if there were any issues.
Thanks.
Best answer by magenta5747260
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I found the below if this is the phone you are looking at.
https://m.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_z3_play-9003.php
It does not look like that phone would work on LTE for TMobile if it is the same device.
Thanks for that, that is the phone. From the link you sent, how can you tell it does not support VOLTE?
Based on the specs, the Z3 Play doesn't support any of the LTE bands that T-Mobile utilizes. T-Mobile mainly runs on bands 2, 4, and 12 - with other bands popping up in various markets. It looks like it'll at least pick up 2G and 3G (T-Mobile's "4G") though.
Oh, just realized you could expand the network tab to reveal all the bands. Not sure GSMArena has all the specs though. According to Motorola, the handset supports LTE on bands 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,13,14,17,20,25,26,28,29,30,38,40,41,66,71. According to the GSMArena review, it supports "4G VoLTE" but I would feel more comfortable if someone had real-world experience with the phone on T-Mobile.
It looks like the gsm arena is only covering the 9003 caring and none of the others that exist. You would need to be careful of which one you are getting. But sadly, I do not know anyone that has this device.
Hey --- I just got one of the amazon moto z3 play phones and it works flawless .. I'm pretty impressed .. the amazon version comes with 64gb and SUPER AMOLED screen .. my battery lasted almost 2 days with the moto mod attachment on the back. Lenovo's innovation and deep pockets are starting to show now that they own Motorola. I am an iphone guy -- I've owned every single launch product of the phone. I do not feel good continuing to support the huge price increases especially after they knowingly slowed down their phones via software in order to get people to upgrade. That kind of cheating is not cool - and as consumers we should be very careful about endorsing this behavior by continuing to buy phones. I had the iphone X and it had a LOT of bugs in it. I ran into a lot of issues with unresponsive touch on the screens -- I would have preferred the 8+. Recently I activated my iphone 6 plus 128gb on t-mobile and realized how good of a phone that was and how crazy I was to pay $1250 for my 256 gb iphone X. Dealing with the ATT and Tmobile locks drove me crazy though. For $450 on Amazon, you get a phone that works on ATT, T-Mobile, Sprint AND Verizon.. unlocked. The screen is larger than iphone plus ...Amazon.com: Moto Z3 Play – 64 GB – Unlocked (AT&T/Sprint/T-Mobile/Verizon) – Deep Indigo – Prime Exclusive Phone: Cell P… it's a "Prime exclusive phone"...but I already use Amazon for many things and those extras are built into this phone into a single folder .. there is no crazy amazon branding...it's simply an icon that opens to 15 amazon apps and a small revolving ad on on of the pages that you flip through on the homes screens. I would recommend the device ... if you happen to have verizon as well, the device is one of the only ones that will support 5G at launch via a moto mod attachment. Hope that helps!
Sonny
Sonny,
Thanks for the review. Glad to hear the Moto works well! I decided to try the new OnePlus phone after getting some strong recs. I really like the battery Moto mod idea but I was disappointed that I couldn't find a case that works WITH the mod. I like to use a wallet-style case and it would be great if there was a case that you wouldn't have to remove the mod.
Who knows? If the OnePlus doesn't work out, I may rethink the Moto.
I am getting rid of my LG G6. The only two devices I consider getting was the note 8 and oneplus 6
I'm pretty happy with the OnePlus 6 so far. The OS seems rock-solid, it is fast and smooth, nice screen and very good battery life. There was a glitch with the Waze app last week, but OnePlus and Waze fixed it within about 48 hours and it's been working fine since. The handset works fine with T-mobile so far, although I haven't used it internationally yet.
I have a small objection to the person listed as the Correct Answer, and I think it would make you think twice about the Z3 Play from Amazon.
Motorola Moto Z3 vs. Moto Z3 Play | Digital Trends
The fact that both phones had a different processor and camera while having other same specs, bothers me. So if I want an unlocked phone out of box, I get a slower processor?
Would unlocking the Verizon exclusive Z3 for T-mobile work? Will it have 4G LTE? I'm only buying this phone for the 4G LTE from T-mobile, but if I can't have this network speed, it defeats the entire purpose for my T-mobile plan
I have good news and now can say with confidence that I am against the Correct Answer by @
I got the Moto Z3 from Verizon, and it works great on T-Mobile, and I have 4G LTE connections. Plus, I got the power of Snapdragon 835 by my side.
So unless you are fine with the Z3 Play having a Snapdragon 636, a slower processor, get the Moto Z3 from Verizon, take the Verizon SIM card out, and insert your T-Mobile SIM card and manually enter the 4G LTE APN information for T-Mobile, and you will be all set. I read online that Verizon phones are unlocked for carriers by default, so you can use it on any network you wish out of the box. I had that initial fear that this won't work, but I think it is safe to say right now, if you want this phone, get the Z3, not the Z3 Play.
masterfu, thanks for that info! That is really good to know. It's really kind of strange how the two phones are almost identical. Really good info that you can use the Verizon phone on T-mobile.
The only annoyance is the message "SIM card is not from Verizon" everytime you turn on the phone, but you can ignore that. T-mobile publicly displays their APN setting for 4G LTE, and you can google it. The phone will have Verizon bloatware that you can't remove, as well as a Verizon themed boot screen, but that is not important. You can disable most of the Verizon bloatware, and force them to stop and install T-mobile apps, if you wish.
I didn't do any of the IMEI unlocking process by the way, the phone is still too new to be IMEI unlocked.
However, the bootloader of this phone can be unlocked, there is no custom recovery such as TWRP or custom ROM made for it yet, as this phone is still fairly new, it will be here in time, be patient. That is the only way to get rid of the Verizon bloatware since they are baked into the stock ROM.
I'm glad to be able to help.
I just placed an order right on Motorola's website for this phone for $449, got 18mo interest free financing through Affirm.
It supports every band T-Mobile uses.
See moto z³ play - buy now | motorola US then click on View all specifications then scroll down to connectivity.
The only decent mid-range phones TMO is offering right now are LG and I won't buy LG anymore for a host of reasons.
Also the Moto Z3 Play is Android Enterprise certified device: https://androidenterprisepartners.withgoogle.com/devices/ benefits of which are explained here: Android – Android Enterprise Recommended .
Yes this phone has a 6xx series Snapdragon instead of the 8xx series but the Antutu benchmark is faster than my Nexus 6P which had an 810. This thing is no slouch. The GPU isn't the best but casual games shouldn't suffer and if you aren't expecting to play FPS games at more than low quality you should be fine.
At the original price of $499 it is not competitive with the OnePlus 6 at $569. $449 changes that equation though, unless you need the extra graphics performance.
If you are with TMO and the Z3 Play at $449 isn't compelling, my suggestion is to wait for TMO to offer the OnePlus 6T at the end of the month.
I have a small objection to the person listed as the Correct Answer, and I think it would make you think twice about the Z3 Play from Amazon.
Motorola Moto Z3 vs. Moto Z3 Play | Digital Trends
The fact that both phones had a different processor and camera while having other same specs, bothers me. So if I want an unlocked phone out of box, I get a slower processor?
Would unlocking the Verizon exclusive Z3 for T-mobile work? Will it have 4G LTE? I'm only buying this phone for the 4G LTE from T-mobile, but if I can't have this network speed, it defeats the entire purpose for my T-mobile plan
I'm on 1 now it's so far flawless 4g lte
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