Moto Mods first arrived on Motorola devices three years ago with the debut of the Moto Z, and they’ve been a core part of Motorola in the time since. However, with yesterday’s debut of the Moto Z3, many expected Motorola to finally move on from Moto Mods. Apparently, that’s not the plan.
While Moto Mods haven’t proved as popular as many hoped, the technology does have some handy uses. One of the more popular mods has been JBL’s SoundBoost mod, and now Motorola has its own, more affordable version…
Motorola has remained relatively committed to modularity in recent years with the Moto Z3 rumored to again support Moto Mods, while a full-sized sliding keyboard complete with backlit keys was just announced at CES 2018. Following a flip case earlier this month, the Lenovo company is releasing new Moto Style Shells.
Motorola is pushing Moto Mods hard, unveiling new ones such as a keyboard at CES 2018 last week. The collection has been expanding for quite some time, but most are pretty expensive. Now though, there’s a folio mod that costs just $11 and change.
At CES 2018, Lenovo-owned Motorola is renewing its commitment to Moto Mods with two new accessories for the Moto Z lineup. The first is made by its parent company and meant for health sensing, while the latter is a full-sized sliding keyboard.
I like docks. My adoration dates back to Exhibition Mode in webOS and to a lesser degree the original Daydream screen savers on Android. Both have faded, but live on as ambient/always-on display features in modern flagships. Of those, my favorite is easily the Moto Display found on the Moto Z line of devices. Now, that feature has a hardware dock to pair that also acts as an Alexa speaker.
Motorola’s Moto Mods are very cool, but what’s really impressive is the potential. In theory, you could do basically anything with a Moto Mod, and now Polaroid is expanding what the platform is capable of, with a printer.
After Motorola’s official announcement event of the upcoming Moto Z2 Force, we got to go hands-on with the new device. Sporting a smaller battery, shatterproof guarantee, and new Moto Mods accessories, let’s dive into our first look…
The Moto Z2 Play just arrived at my doorstep, and it came with a couple of new Moto Mods. The original Z Play was celebrated for its excellent battery life and good performance for the price. A lot of people are worried about the smaller battery in the new model, but I’m hopeful that better software optimization will still offer similar performance.
Moto Mods are the headlining feature for the Moto Z family, and with today’s launch of the Moto Z2 Play, Motorola is launching four brand new Moto Mods, all debuting later this summer. As you might expect, they all work with the Moto Z2 Play as well as previous Moto Z devices.
Motorola got serious about building out a community of hardware makers for its Moto Mods platform last year, and there have been a few standout ideas so far: Amazon Alexa hardware, gamepads, and of course the trusty physical keyboard mod. Now, that last concept has hit its goal on Indiegogo, suggesting that maybe it will actually come to fruition in time for the 2nd gen. Moto Z… Expand Expanding Close
Modular smartphones haven’t taken off for a number of reasons, but one of the big ones is the fear that a year after purchasing your phone and bunch of mods, they’ll all become irrelevant with new hardware. Well, Motorola/Lenovo have just put those concerns to rest for Moto Mod owners.
Motorola isn’t giving up, however, as the company continues to assist some developers in building new options. One of those is the “Ultimate” Moto Mod, which aims to bring two highly desired features in a shell not much thicker than a Style Shell.
If you’re a recent Motorola customer, and in particular a happy one, chances are that today’s news will make you even happier. If you snagged one of the firm’s latest devices in their new Z line, you’ll be satisfied to hear that commitment to the Moto Mods program has been bolstered fully…
If you’re looking for a phone that’s compatible with Moto Mods on the cheap, this might be the one for you. Techno.trading.house (98% positive feedback from 17319 ratings) via eBay offers a brand new Moto Z Play in 32GB capacity for $370 shipped, which is $80 off its retail price of $450. The phone only first became available last month.
Motorola’s big feature with the Moto Z family is Moto Mods — easy to use “modular” attachments for the phone that add extra capabilities such as better speakers, extra battery life, enhanced camera capabilities, and more. However, that’s not all Moto had in mind…
The Moto Z is unique because it features the ability to attach different ‘Mods’ to the back of the phone to give it extra functionality. Moto has now put out two one-minute long ads showing off the JBL Soundboost and the Insta-Share Projector, both of which makes sharing media with others a snap.
As we said in our review, Moto Mods make enhancing your phone easy. Want better speakers? Slap on a JBL speaker mod. Want better battery life? Add a battery pack! Motorola’s current line up of Moto Mods include all of the fairly obvious use cases, but today the company has launched a new Moto Mod at IFA: a camera from Hasselblad.
Moto Z is the first Moto-branded flagship since Lenovo began phasing out the Motorola brand name, and the successor to the popular Moto X line. At the time of its unveiling, Moto X represented a new Motorola with a new, clearer vision under the influence of Google itself. The company ditched the heavy skins commonly found on Android handsets, built a solid phone that was a good overall experience, and added some features here and there that made it stand out from the crowd. It was the ideal prototype of what an Android OEM should do.
But the Moto X is gone now, and Motorola is now owned by Lenovo. Slowly but surely, we have seen Lenovo make its mark on the Moto phones of years previous, and this year things took another step in a new direction. Lenovo skipped over Y and has now launched the Moto Z, and deserving of its new name the device is indeed. The curved back and the Moto dimple of the X line are gone, replaced with an aluminum and glass surface that makes a bold attempt at a new super-thin sexiness. Is it a good phone, though? Let’s talk about that…
While Lenovo’s new Moto Z is grabbing attention for a lot of reasons, the main selling point for this new device is its design supporting modular backplates. With a few strong magnets and some pins, a special module called a ‘Moto Mod‘ can instantly expand the capabilities of the phone. At Tech World last week, the company showed off several mods that would be available at launch. It didn’t, however, reveal pricing. Thankfully, Verizon has.