BARCELONA—Among the fanfare of the Moto G5 and G5 Plus announcements, Motorola also gave a large space in its presentation here at MWC to Moto Mods.
For those unaware, Moto Mods are the removable backs that first launched with the Moto Z Droid and Moto Z Force Droid. Both phones had a slew of accessories like the JBL Soundboost, which gave them thundering speakers, and the TUMI power back, which extended battery life. Newer mods have since been released, like the Hassleblad True Zoom Camera (above), which our own senior mobile analyst Sascha Segan uses with gusto.
At MWC, Motorola suprised the crowd with a number of prototype Moto Mods it and third-party developers are working to bring to market.
By far the most exciting of the bunch is the Amazon Alexa Moto Mod. From a brief video we saw, this mod functions as an Alexa-enabled speaker into which you can snap your phone. It uses the Moto Z's processing for Alexa functionality, letting you use voice commands to check the news, get rides from Uber, and control smart home functions. It's certainly a less bulky option than a full-size Amazon Echo and is sure to have better reliability and functionality than an Echo Dot.
Here's our first glimpse of the new Alexa #motomod #hellomoto pic.twitter.com/xEsYveP6nP
— PCMagLIVE (@PCMagLive) February 26, 2017
Other mods include the brightly colored Moto Power Pack, which effectively doubles the battery life of compatible devices, and uses a special Efficiency Mod, which automatically and intelligently charges the phone in a way to maximize battery lifespan. The Power Pack is closest to market, with an expected release in March for $49.
Other Moto Mods offer similar functionality; there's the wireless charging Moto Mod made out of glass and designed to give your phone compatibility with Qi (and possibly PMA) wireless chargers. There's the Turbo Power Moto Mod, which lets you use the magnetic attachment clips on the back in order to fast charge your phone with Motorola's proprietary charging adapter.
And a Turbo charger back #MotoMod #hellomoto pic.twitter.com/J3GlugnmAd
— PCMagLIVE (@PCMagLive) February 26, 2017
Motorola also promised a variety of different back covers, some for style and others with LED interactive back covers, and one that might even give your device 5G connectivity.
The more esoteric mods are ones like the Gamepad Moto Mod. It turns your phone into a gaming handheld that vaguely resembles the Nintendo Switch by adding physical control buttons and an integrated battery. Others offer multi-SIM functionality, letting you take advantage of numerous SIM cards and manage multiple phone numbers on your device. There's a VR headset attachment, a travel case that also charges your mods, a mod that lets you turn your phone into a robot, a mod that lets you dock the phone with a larger display to turn it into a tablet, and one that lets you print out your snaps like an old Polaroid camera.
A neat idea, a charge and carry case for #motomods pic.twitter.com/trThS8bIRS
— PCMagLIVE (@PCMagLive) February 26, 2017
What makes all this interesting is that technically, the Moto Z series isn't the only modular phone available. LG had a similar idea with the LG G5 and the Friends, which consisted of various add ons that could work with the phone to add a camera grip, extra battery, a DAC, and other accessories. Where LG failed is that almost none of its Friends ever reached market, and the company was never able to attract third-party developers to design additional Friends. The result is the LG G6, which has no compatibility with Friends and likely never will.
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Motorola took this lesson to heart. The best way to understand the announcement of new Moto Mods is to take it as an open declaration that this is a platform the company is dedicated to, and will continue to support. That means currents phones like the Moto Z Droid, Force Droid, and unlocked Moto Z will have new mods, and any new flagship phones that are released will have backward compatibility with previously released mods.
The creation of an ecosystem is vital to Motorola's projects, and if the company can convince consumers and developers that Moto Mods are here to say, we could see the first truly successful line of semi-modular smartphones. We'll have to reserve judgment on the functionality and added value of future Moto Mods, but from where we're sitting, the future looks bright.