The main differences between the Z2 Rio and the original Z2 are the the 3GB RAM and 32GB of native storage in the Olympics model. By comparison, the Z2 opted for 4GB RAM and 64GB of native storage when it was announced in May.
Unfortunately, the Z2 Rio does not feature any special design on the outside to commemorate the occasion, but that’s for a good reason — Samsung is the only official mobile partner for the Olympics. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Olympic Edition, announced on July 18, features the official Olympic Games logo on the back, with the volume rocker, power button, main camera and flash outlines, and home button trim colored green, red, blue, and yellow, respectively.
Just about everything else between the Z2 Rio and the original remains the same, though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As a refresher, the Z2 features a 5-inch, 1,920 × 1,080 resolution display, an 8-megapixel selfie shooter, and a 13MP main camera. A 2.15GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset powers the phone, with the 3,500mAh battery boosted by quick-charge capabilities.
Elsewhere, the Z2 features a home button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner, with the phone embracing the still-nascent USB Type-C port. Finally, the phone runs a clean version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow, thanks to the Z2 running Cyanogen’s flavor of Google’s mobile operating system. That means the Z2 supports deeper customization than regular Android, such as a theme engine.
As for the Z2 Rio Edition, the phone runs Zuk’s own ZUI user interface (based on Android 6.0.1); it comes in either black and white and is available for pre-order for 1,500 Yuan, which roughly translates to $225. The Z2 Rio Edition will hit store shelves on August 2, with no mention of international availability.
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