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Motorola's new Moto Mods include a gamepad, Amazon Alexa speaker and more
As you probably already know, one of the biggest draws to Motorola’s Moto Z lineup is support for first- and third-party Moto Mod accessories. For instance, you can buy a bigger speaker if you’d like to listen to music with your friends, or buy a snap-on battery pack if you’re constantly running out of juice. Today, as part of its 2017 Mobile World Congress press event, Motorola announced plans to launch a variety of new Moto Mods this year, including a gamepad that will turn the Moto Z into a portable game console and another that will add support for using Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant.
The gamepad Moto Mod may be the most interesting of all the ones that were revealed today. Motorola said that it will snap onto the back of its Moto Z phones and will include features found in portable consoles. The image of the gamepad that was displayed during the press event showed it will have console-like like buttons, triggers, and a D-pad. It will have its own speakers and will offer some extra battery life, too. The gamepad Moto Mod is due to be released this summer, but pricing has yet to be revealed.
The upcoming Moto Mod with Amazon Alexa support will allow Moto Z phones to access the voice command-based AI assistant to handle tasks like controlling smart home devices, requesting a ride with voice support and much more. Pricing and a specific release date for this Moto Mod were not announced. Motorola added that it plans to fully integrate Alexa inside its smartphones later this year, with no need for a Moto Mod accessory, but no other details were provided. This news comes just a few hours after Google announced that Google Assistant is coming to most Android devices sometime this week.
5 new Moto Mods and 7 new concepts in all were shown off today
The other new Moto Mods that are in the works include a new Power Pack that will quickly add 50 percent more battery life to the Moto Z, but without adding any extra bulk. It will be launched this March for $49. The company will also launch a new Turbo Power Moto Mod that will add 8 hours of battery life with just 15 minutes of charging. A wireless charging Moto Mod and a small charging adapter Moto Mod are also in the works. No release dates or price points for those last three accessories were announced today.
Motorola also showed off a number of Moto Mod concept designs during its press event that may or may not be turned into real products one day. They include one that adds a VR headset to the Moto Z phone family, along with a photo printer add-on, a Moto Mod that lets you add multiple SIM cards to your phone, and even one that will turn a Moto Z into a big tablet with speakers, similar to the old ASUS FonePad. There was even a Moto Mod concept shown that could turn your phone into a robot. Motorola has been encouraging third-parties to create their own innovative Moto Mods via a partnership with the Indiegogo crowd funding site.
What do you think of Motorola continuing to launch new Moto Mods for the Moto Z? Which one do you want the most? Let us read your opinions in the comments!