Today at the MWC 2017 in Barcelona, Lenovo-owned Motorola and Amazon announced a new Moto Mod powered by Amazon Alexa that brings the virtual assistant directly to your Moto Z.
Join us after the break for the details.
Moto Mods are attachable accessories that were introduced alongside the Moto Z series and brought some interesting additions to the user experience. From adding on a powerful JBL SoundBoost speaker to a Hasselblad-branded optical zoom lens, and even a mobile projector, Moto Mods helped the Moto Z stand apart from the competition in a unique way. Showing no signs of slowing down, Motorola and Amazon have partnered up to bring the virtual assistant Alexa to a brand new Moto Mod.
Amazon Alexa works like any virtual assistant and allows you to do everything from checking the news and weather, to controlling smart devices in your home, and ordering products from Amazon all by the power of your voice. Having a Moto Mod for this use will let you interact with Alexa whenever you want even if you aren't at home. It's a very interesting idea, although since the price hasn't been announced yet it's hard to tell how worth it this Moto Mod will be especially for such a specific and arguably niche purpose. Later this year, Alexa will also get directly integrated into Motorola's phones as the primary assistant, although it's unclear if this applies to current devices or new phones moving forward. It's interesting to see Motorola go with Alexa as the virtual assistant of choice, especially since Google just announced that its own Google Assistant will soon come to phones running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and higher.
The second Moto Mod announced today is the Moto Power Pack, which will add 50% more battery to your Moto Z smartphone and will automatically charge it as needed. This will be available starting in March for $49 and will be joined with several other new Mods such as a wireless charger, as well as a Turbo Power Mod.
And as if that wasn't enough, a new Gamepad Moto Mod is coming this summer and will transform your phone into a mobile gaming console complete with physical controls and its own integrated battery. Pricing for this Mod hasn't been announced yet.
Moto Z owners, are you excited for these new mods?
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Not excited enough to pay extra for what I’m already going to have on my phone. Nice idea though, I like that Amazon is keeping the pressure on Google though.