Motorola’s Moto Z line of phones tend to have decent specs on their own… but what really makes them stand apart from other phones is their support for modular add-ons called Moto Mods. Right now you can buy a speaker that snaps onto the back of the phone, a 360 degree camera, a gamepad with physical buttons, or battery packs, among other things.
Soon you may also be able to add a photo printer and/or a speaker with support for Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.
Motorola announced those two upcoming Moto Mods earlier this year. Now Evan Blass has shared two of the first pictures.
The Alexa-powered speaker makes sense, since it’s basically a better speaker than the one built into the phone, and it presumably has microphones or other features to make it easier to interact with Alexa by voice.
The Polaroid Insta-Share printer, on the other hand, is just weird. I mean, I guess it’s nice that you’d be able to print photos directly from your phone. But you can already do that buy purchasing a Polaroid ZINK printer that lets you print from an Android or iOS smartphone app.
I mean, most Moto Mods are basically custom versions of existing products. The ability to attach them to the back of the phone could make them more convenient, especially if you buy something like a battery module that you’re likely to leave connected for an extender period. Niche items like projectors and printers? I have a hard time imagining using them enough to need a Moto Mod-specific version instead of a general-purpose version that you can use with a range of devices including phones and PCs.
Anyway, I guess it’s nice that now we know what the printer and speaker look like thanks to Blass.
I think a Polaroid could be quite a novelty at parties…. but only if its around US $50.
Otherwise, if its US $100 or more, people will think its too expensive because it is…. and it won’t get sold in high quantities.
What a gimmick. There sub par phones, you can get much better for the price. Moto just can’t seem to make a good camera. Had a G4+, will never buy anything from Moto again. Very very poor quality, so cheaply made, had problems after only 3 months. Support was terrible, no English speaking reps, very frustrating to deal with. Never again!!!
Ok, but the real question is why the Amazon Alexa MotoMod doesn’t have a cutout for the phone’s camera. Every other Mod (except the Camera Mod, for obvious reasons) has had a cutout so you can use the camera while the Mod is attached. But with the Alexa Mod you have to take off the Mod to take a picture?? Bad design.