Moto fired some well-aimed shots over the bow of Apple’s new iPhone 7 pending its release of what it says is amongst the only true innovation shown by any smartphone maker this year.
It says, (iTWire report here) and this iTWire journalist and smartphone reviewer heartily agrees, “Brand loyalty and habit is no excuse to accept a “new” phone that’s not very different from the old one.”.
Of course, it is referring to the yet to be released “Moto Z + Moto Mods” (US link here) and at first glance, this is both a spectacular smartphone but the optional Mods could start a real trend.
The Mods are magnetically attached “backs” that turn it into a Hasselblad True Zoom 10x Camera, a JBL SoundBoost Speaker, an Insta-share PICO projector, and Incipio offGRID power pack - that is just for starters. Moto will be working with major lifestyle brands to extend the Mod family adding a large degree of future-proof to the Moto Z family.
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Australia will see the phone towards the end of October and from what we can tell there will be three models – the Moto Z-Play (from US$408), Moto Z-Droid (from US$624), and Moto Z-Force (from US$720).
As you can see all have impressive specifications, use AMOLED screens and on paper the Droid and Force Droid meet or exceed flagship specifications and the Play punches well above its weight in the mid-market.
The mods are a reasonable price too.
JBL SoundBoost by Harman, is US$79.99 and have 2 x 27mm diameter, 3W speakers, 20Hz-20kHz frequency response, 80dBSPL volume, an additional 1000mAh battery with USB charging for 10 hours play, and a natty fold out stand. It also has a hole to allow the use of the camera and it is hands-free speaker phone as well.
The Insta-Share projector is a great idea for business use as well as travel. It costs US$299.99 and will projector up to a 70”, 16:9 image. It has an 1100mAh battery and USB-C charging for about one hours use.
The Hasselblad brand means a lot to professional photographers and in essence, it is a 10X optical/4x digital Zoom, 12MP, f/3.5-6.5, large 1.55 um pixel, Optical Image stabilised, Xenon flash, camera. It costs US$299.99.
The Incipio offGRID battery adds Qi and PMA wireless charging as well as an additional 2200mAh life for US$59.99.
In all cases, it is using the “computer in your pocket” to provide compute power for the Mod, and that is the beginning of a really useful ecosystem.
OK, there is only so much you can do with a “glass slab” but this portends the beginning of clip-on things like medical monitors (think Star Trek tricorders), Dr Who Sonic Screwdrivers, additional screen options, digital radio, storage, connectors to other devices – just limited by imagination.
iTWire will be attending the briefing and launch later in October.