How are you and wife liking the z phones? Do y'all use mods?
Are they nice gimmicks or game changers?
I use the Z, she uses the Play.
We have two mods, both were free, the Incipio battery pack and the JBL speaker one. She does not use any, I use the Incipio non stop. We use the speaker occasionally.
For one, the battery on the Z is great and it would get me through the day with 15-30% left. But adding the pack makes it so that I never worry about battery. I can go 2-3 days and never worry. If I forget to plug it in at night, I just don't care. But even more importantly for me, it adds weight and thickness to the phone. With nothing, the phone is too thin, and edges too sharp to use comfortably. With a mod on the back it's just right so the phone is clearly designed to have something on it. in that sense, it's a game changer, it makes the phone feel right and perform incredibly long.
Her Play's battery goes for days as it's so much more efficient and she is a lighter user than I. She has a case because similarly she wanted more substance when holding the phone, and to protect it in her purse.
The JBL speaker mod is nice but nothing to write home about. It's super thick, so it's not a pocketable device at all. You can listen to music, but it's no substitute for a car stereo, home stereo or anything like that. What is cool about it is that it incorporates a big battery and a kickstand that's a great handle. This sounds weird at first. We do a lot of video chat with our parents so they can see the kids. So the speaker adds both a nice handle and loud speakers for the chat so the kids can hear and talk without issue. Plus it adds weight so they don't shake it around when talking, it makes the thing feel substantial. And you can use the kickstand on a table for a good speaking angle.
Overall, I would highly recommend the phones. The Z play is fantastic and she can do anything she needs without issue. It's thicker and feels better in hand than the Z. In retrospect, I would have gotten the same for me, but we got them at launch in the fall so specs was all we had to go on. The higher resolution on the Z is largely useless and the added thinness is defeated by losing out on battery life and using a mod. My gripe still stands that I cannot find decent bumpers that allow for mod use. I'd like a bumper to add grip (the phone sides are metallic and slippery) but I'd like to continue using the mod. The Incipio bumpers are super bulky, and the Verizon ones are always out of stock, and $30 when available.
The Play is a fantastic phone, and Z is great, but not as well balanced. If the top and bottom bezels were reduced 1-2 more mm, they would be near perfect phones.
