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Motorola's modular smartphone dream may not have panned out the way the company had hoped, but it still produced some pretty novel hardware. The Moto Z3 Play was flatly too expensive at launch, costing $500 — but now, a year later, Motorola is offering it at a very steep discount: 9.99, with a free Moto Mod.
Motorola promised at least three years of Mod compatibility when it announced the first Moto Z phones in 2016, and we're about to go beyond that with the new Moto Z4. Good on Motorola for sticking with it and giving consumers some confidence their Mod purchases would not be in vain. Although, Mods still don't seem like a worthwhile purchase, and even Moto is phoning it in with the Z-series. This is the first Moto Z that doesn't even attempt to be a flagship device—Motorola has essentially merged the Z Play and flagship Z-series. It would be easier if the Moto Z4 were an objectively bad phone, but it isn't. It gets the fundamentals right, and it works with any Moto Mods you might have laying around. However, the Moto Z4 is boring, a bit too expensive, and still fails to make the case for Mods.
This may shock you, but the Moto Z4 is the latest phone from Motorola. Yes, you probably already know that after Amazon accidentally launched the phone early, but it's official now. This device represents the merging of the Z and Z Play lines with its Snapdragon 675 SoC, a step down from the 800-series chips used in past Z-series phones. There's a strong Verizon tie-in here, but it's not exclusive to Big Red.
Motorola has announced a new Moto Z phone, marking the fourth generation of devices with the same Mod connector. The new phone works with last year's 5G Mod on Verizon, but that's not the only new way to get 5G. Motorola also confirms that the Z2 Force will work with the 5G Mod soon.
Verizon flipped the switch early on its two-city mobile 5G network today, and has already started sending out the software those first users will need to access it. Moto Z3 owners are currently getting an update delivering support for the 5G Moto Mod, and if that weren't nice enough, the update also just so happens to bring Android 9 Pie to the phone.
We all wish our phones could do more from time to time, but you can't just add new features without buying a new device, right? Oh, you're forgetting about Moto Mods. You can add new hardware capabilities to your phone like a speaker, a zoom camera, or projector. It changed everything... actually, that's wrong. Smartphones are largely the same as they were in 2016, but Motorola is still at least going through the motions to pretend Mods are a good idea. The evidence is unavoidable at this point: they're not.Here we are almost three years after Moto's Mod platform launched, and Motorola has yet to offer any truly innovative Mods. In fact, Motorola's slavish commitment to modularity means that its phones have been stuck in 2016. At a time when smartphone design is getting downright boring (how many flat, glass slabs have we seen?), Motorola has managed to make modular smartphones even more yawn-inducing than phones that come in one piece.
Motorola had a strange 2018. After promising oodles of Mods, the company only launched a single Mod in 2018—the Moto stereo speaker. And then there's the Moto Z3, which only works on Verizon, runs on 2017 hardware, and is still waiting on its promised 5G Mod. It looks like Motorola isn't giving up on the Mods in 2019. Leaked renders of the Moto Z4 Play show the same Mod connector we've come to know and tolerate, and a water drop notch.
Smartphones have been around for over a decade now. In fact, the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, debuted 10 years ago today. It's not surprising that the category has seen some pretty horrible trends in that amount of time. We've compiled seven of the worst ones we could think of in this post, a couple of which are (unfortunately) still ongoing.
Modular smartphones haven't taken off the way we'd hoped they would back before Project Ara got canned. Motorola hasn't yet given up on the dream of an à la carte future, though, and for a limited time, you can snag a free Alexa smart speaker mod when you buy a Moto Z3 Play.The Z3 Play costs $499.99 (give or take), and on its own, the mod — an extended battery/Alexa speaker combo — is going for $112.49 just about everywhere right now, so it's certainly a nice incentive from a financial point of view. All the better if you're already invested in Amazon's virtual assistant.
Motorola is still pumping out successful mid-range and budget phones, but a smash-hit flagship device has eluded it for years. The Moto Z phones with their modular accessories have potential, but consumers aren't running out to buy many $200 projectors or $130 photo printers. If you ignore the Moto Mods, past Moto Z flagships have at least been top-of-the-line phones with uncluttered software and modern specs. That's what makes the new Moto Z3 so perplexing. It's specced like a phone from 2017. Plus, it's exclusive to Verizon.
The race to 5G is on with every carrier promising big rollouts of next-generation networks in the coming year, but what about the phones? The first wave of consumer 5G devices are likely to be Wi-Fi hotspots, but Motorola thinks it has a way to offer the world's first 5G phone with the recently announced 5G Moto Mod. It's a strange device that will require certain compromises, but it's still probably better than the way we transitioned to 4G. Remember the Thunderbolt? Yeah, that's a low bar, but still.
Modular smartphone hardware may not have taken the world by storm, but we continue to see companies trying to make it work. While it's always nice to have newcomers like Essential taking a stab at it, the king of modular add-ons is still Motorola. Going back two years now, Moto Mods have offered owners of Z-series devices the chance to augment their phone experiences with everything from cameras with optical zoom to miniature video projectors. Back in June we were introduced to the mid-range Moto Z3 Play and today we get to meet its big brother, the new Moto Z3.
Motorola has changed a lot since the days when it was a Google company. Ah, what a time that was! With the glory days of the Moto X long behind us, it's all about Moto Mods now. The company has just launched its first 2018 Z device—the Moto Z3 Play, and it's pushing the modular angle even harder. When you purchase the Z3 Play, you get a Motorola battery Mod in the box, plus support for all the Mods released thus far. Unfortunately, that's not as strong a selling point as Motorola would have you believe.
Lenovo-owned Motorola hasn't exactly set the world alight with the modular accessories made for its Moto Z line, yet here is the first of the 3rd generation in the much-maligned phone range. For better or worse, Moto is going to make a real go of these Moto Mods, and in a bid to get them into people's hands, the new Moto Z3 Play will even come bundled with an unsolicited Moto Power Pack mod.
Motorola has been pushing Moto Mods for its Z-series phones over the last few years, but few of the Mods have been any good. Serial leaker Evan Blass just outed an upcoming Moto Mod that will most likely continue that tradition. The Motorola Virtual Viewer is billed as a Mod, but it'll probably just be another Daydream headset.
Lenovo-owned Motorola might have been onto something with its modular phone accessories for the Moto Z series, but a combination of slow development of compelling products and poor availability leaves them in a precarious position. Nevertheless, the company is pushing on with the project in 2018 and has some new Moto Mods coming soon, plus a new design competition.
Motorola is offering some nice discounts on several devices for an after-holiday sale, including a significant $100 savings on the Moto Z2 Play.Usually retailing for $499, an unlocked Moto Z2 Play with 64GB of storage is going for $399 at Motorola's website, in either dark gray or gold colors. Best Buy isn't offering the unlocked version, and even the unlocked version without a U.S. warranty is still $75 more expensive at Amazon.This Z2 Play also has a Snapdragon 626, 4GB of RAM, a 5.5-inch, 1080p AMOLED display, and a 3000mAH battery. It sports a 12MP rear camera and 5MP for selfies. It can also take advantage of the Moto Mod ecosystem of accessories, if that's your thing.In his original review of the Moto Z2 Play, AP's Ryan Whitwam evaluated the device as a decent phone, but not worth the price. With $100 off, maybe it feels even more decent.
Projector phones always seemed like an idea that made more sense in science fiction than in present reality, which is probably why the Galaxy Beam failed to gain much traction. Such as it is, the benefit of the Moto Mod design allows anyone with a compatible phone to add on a countless number of peculiar peripherals... one at a time. Now, at Verizon, you can get a free Insta-Share Projector Moto Mod for free when you purchase any other Moto Mod. At $300 off, it's quite the bargain.
The mass frenzy of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales has ended, but there are still a few deals popping up for holiday shoppers. Motorola has now discounted most of its product catalog on its online store, including the Moto Z2 Play, Moto G5 Plus, Moto X4, Moto E4 Plus, and the original Moto Z.
Motorola has struggled to come up with compelling Moto Mod accessories, and its latest attempt is a partnership with Polaroid. The new Insta-Share Printer Moto Mod plugs into your Moto Z device so you can print your snapshots instantly on 2x3-inch adhesive sheets. Does that sound vaguely fun? Well, you'll pay $200 for the privilege.The Moto Z camera gains a few new capabilities with this mod attached. You can take Polaroid photos with filters and borders, then print them immediately. However, the prints come out in front of the camera, so that's going to slow you down. You can also print older shots or grab images from Facebook, Instagram and Google Photos. The photos are small, but they're also stickers. I mean, who doesn't like stickers?[EMBED_YT]https://youtu.be/O23ISH8Fd0w[/EMBED_YT]The Insta-Share Printer uses the ZINK inkless paper system from Polaroid's other mobile printers. In fact, this Mod is really just one of Polaroid's existing printers that sticks to the back of your phone. It's twice as expensive, though. The paper is spendy, too. A 20-pack of ZINK paper is $9 on Amazon.The Insta-Share Printer Moto Mod goes on sale at Verizon this week. It'll be exclusive there for a while, but the printer will launch elsewhere at a later date. Motorola is taking pre-orders and will ship them at the end of the month.Source: Motorola