Moto Z Series' First MotoMods Detailed

[dgstorm]

Despite the annoying lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, the just announced Moto Z series is the "new hotness" in the realm of mobile phones. Lenovo and what's left of Motorola created an impressive series of devices with the Moto Z line. The most stand-out feature is obviously the slick new magnetic attachments called MotoMods.

The MotoMods attach to the back of a Moto Z phone through a series of 16 small magnetic connectors. The purpose is to add extra functionality above and beyond what the phone is capable of, like a more powerful camera, speakers, battery and more. Motorola even opened up the development of this concept to third party vendors so that a wide variety of useful and creative add-ons will be designed for the device in the future.

In the mean-time, they demoed the first devices that their in-house collaborative teams have made, and here they are detailed below.

• JBL Soundboost Speaker - huge speaker attachment with its own 10 hour battery pack built-in, and a handy kickstand.
• Moto Insta-Share Projector - projects your display up to a 70-inch field of view, and also includes built-in 1 hour battery and a kickstand
• Incipio Off-Grid Powerpack - a large extra battery pack designed to give the phone a 22 hours boost of juice.
• Moto Style Shell - these are simply a small array of custom backplates to jazz up your Moto Z with a new look on the fly. There are a variety of different colors and textures, and there will even be a real wood and real leather option available.

This all seems pretty nifty, if standard fare. It will be really interesting to see what other crazy attachments third party OEMs can come up with. Sound off and let us know which of these are most interesting to you.

For further discussion, check out our dedicated sections for the various Moto Z phones:

• Moto Z (Moto Z & Moto Z Force)
• Droid Moto Z
• Droid Moto Z Force

Be sure to check out the images of these various MotoMods in the thread below.

 

[dgstorm]

Here are pics of the various MotoMods for the Moto Z:

 

[Sydman]

I really can't tell how I feel about this phone. My first thought was, meh. Second thought was, meh? And now, I can't decide.

 

[hammerhead13]

Ultimately It will take holding it in your hands and trying on the different Mods to decide if it will be worth it. I want to know Pricing on the Phones and Mods. Might be my X-Mas Present.

 

[liftedplane]

Wonder what quality that projector is going to be, and how much..... my TV is 65" I doubt this will compare, but it would still be cool for a bunch of different reasons.

 

[FoxKat]

Wonder what quality that projector is going to be, and how much..... my TV is 65" I doubt this will compare, but it would still be cool for a bunch of different reasons.

(Edited for clarity)

I believe I remember reading it was 70" suggested maximum screen projection size, and the native resolution is 854x480 WVGA 480P, (16:9 aspect ratio). Although it is considered HD (High Definition), it's the lowest on the scale. Higher resolutions will likely follow with future Pico projector iterations, either from the same manufacturer or competing ones I'm sure.

It's also rather dim at only 50 lumens. With the light being led driven it should be surprisingly crisp and focused at shorter distances (smaller image size), though viewing in a well lit room will be somewhat washed out. Going any larger than 70" would result in such a low light image that even with the room lights off it would still be too dim to watch comfortably.

Geez, it's even got;

Keystone correction
-40º to 40º

This means you can go from projecting level to as much as a 40 degree upward or downward angle and it will adjust to square up the picture! THAT is AWESOME. It's a feature usually reserved for only higher end projectors.

The future could bring us to higher standards such as;

720P (1,280 X 720) or
1080P (1,920 X 1,080). Getting much higher resolutions in a projector this small will be a few years out at best.

There are several various ratios and intermediary resolutions before you go to the next higher standards at 17:9 aspect ratio
2K video (2,048 X 1,080), and then
4K video (4,096 X 2,160).

After those we could only hope to move into the super high resolutions of 8K video (7,680 X 4,320 and beyond). To get to those incredibly high resolutions from that tiny aperture we will probably have to have pure direct 3 color laser engines, a technology reserved for incredibly expensive theatre projectors at present.

 

[liftedplane]

I believe I remember reading it was 70" suggested maximum screen projection size, and the resolution is 854x480 WVGA 480P, (16:9 aspect ratio). Although it is considered HD (High Definition), it's the lowest on the scale. Higher resolutions will follow next - both at 16:9 aspect ratio by;

720P (1,280 X 720), and - skipping 1080I you have
1080P (1,920 X 1,080), and ignoring several various ratios and intermediary resolutions you have - again both this time at 17:9 aspect ratio
2K video (2,048 X 1,080), and
4K video (4,096 X 2,160), soon to be moving to
8K video (7,680 X 4,320), which can be 16:9, 16:10, 17:10 or as high as 21:9 aspect ratios ranging from 33.2 MP to 44.2 MP, and even 1:1 aspect ratio of an amazing 8,192 X 8,192, or 67.1 MegaPixels.

Geez, it's even got;

Keystone correction
-40º to 40º

This means you can go from projecting level to as much as a 40 degree upward or downward angle and it will adjust to square up the picture! THAT is AWESOME. It's a feature usually reserved for only higher end projectors.

DAMN if it can really do all that, that's extremely impressive for a phone projector, wonder what the price is gonna be... I'm definitely interested in this device now...

 

[FoxKat]

DAMN if it can really do all that, that's extremely impressive for a phone projector, wonder what the price is gonna be... I'm definitely interested in this device now...

Perhaps my message was misleading. It is only capable of 480P which is 854 X 480 pixels or .4MP (4/10 of a Megapixel), the native resolution. The rest is what other resolutions are common in the industry and what we can expect going forward as the technology advances.

What it does do which I am impressed with is the keystoning.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[xeene]

just thought i'd share more specs on incipio power pack:

Dimensions
152.7 x 73.5 x 6.2mm
Weight
79 g, 85 g (wireless charging version)
Battery size
2220 mAh
Battery life
Up to 22 hours
Charge rate to phone
4-6W varies based on phone battery level
Charge rate from phone via wall charger
2.2A, 11W
Wireless charging (exclusive to wireless charging version)
Qi 1.2.1, PMA 3.0"
Wireless charging rate (exclusive to wireless charging version)
5W

so combined with moto z force phones vanilla specs that would give us 5720mah combined battery capacity, wireless charging, 13.19mm(0.52") thick, 248g(8.75oz) weight for wireless charging version.

 

[liftedplane]

Perhaps my message was misleading. It is only capable of 480P which is 854 X 480 pixels or .4MP (4/10 of a Megapixel), the native resolution. The rest is what other resolutions are common in the industry and what we can expect going forward as the technology advances.

What it does do which I am impressed with is the keystoning.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Ah yes, not horrible, good enough to watch some movies with friends... The keystone feature is crazy nice.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

[FoxKat]

just thought i'd share more specs on incipio power pack:

Dimensions
152.7 x 73.5 x 6.2mm
Weight
79 g, 85 g (wireless charging version)
Battery size
2220 mAh
Battery life
Up to 22 hours
Charge rate to phone
4-6W varies based on phone battery level
Charge rate from phone via wall charger
2.2A, 11W
Wireless charging (exclusive to wireless charging version)
Qi 1.2.1, PMA 3.0"
Wireless charging rate (exclusive to wireless charging version)
5W

so combined with moto z force phones vanilla specs that would give us 5720mah combined battery capacity, wireless charging, 13.19mm(0.52") thick, 248g(8.75oz) weight for wireless charging version.

Exactly what I was saying. Thanks for clarifying.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Sajo]

Ultimately It will take holding it in your hands and trying on the different Mods to decide if it will be worth it. I want to know Pricing on the Phones and Mods. Might be my X-Mas Present.

The JBL speaker Mod is already for sale on the Verizon website, for $79.99. That's a little steeper than I was expecting.

 

[hammerhead13]

The JBL speaker Mod is already for sale on the Verizon website, for $79.99. That's a little steeper than I was expecting.

Thats not bad considering most bt speakers by jbl are around there. Going on my list. Thanks for the info.

 

[FoxKat]

The JBL speaker Mod is already for sale on the Verizon website, for $79.99. That's a little steeper than I was expecting.

It may be a little pricy, but a Bluetooth speaker can easily cost that. Granted the Bluetooth speaker will be louder and have a wider frequency response - especially in the lower registers however it's another thing to carry, it's bulky and requires the Bluetooth radio to be on and communicating. So you also have extra power being used by the phone to transmit the sound to the Bluetooth speaker.

I for one can easily see the benefits of the JBL speaker back instead. First, it doesn't need Bluetooth so less power consumed by the phone. It is always there, attached to the phone and ready without "pairing". Yes it may be not nearly as loud and won't have quite the bass response but I don't have to carry another device. Also if I'm watching a video I don't want to have to place the phone on the table and then position the Bluetooth speaker either behind or in front of it to get the stereo imaging. In many situations I'll be just carrying the phone and have to forgo the better stereo sound that the JBL Mod could give.

So is it really that expensive given the convenience?

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[Sajo]

It may be a little pricy, but a Bluetooth speaker can easily cost that. Granted the Bluetooth speaker will be louder and have a wider frequency response - especially in the lower registers however it's another thing to carry, it's bulky and requires the Bluetooth radio to be on and communicating. So you also have extra power being used by the phone to transmit the sound to the Bluetooth speaker.

I for one can easily see the benefits of the JBL speaker back instead. First, it doesn't need Bluetooth so less power consumed by the phone. It is always there, attached to the phone and ready without "pairing". Yes it may be not nearly as loud and won't have quite the bass response but I don't have to carry another device. Also if I'm watching a video I don't want to have to place the phone on the table and then position the Bluetooth speaker either behind or in front of it to get the stereo imaging. In many situations I'll be just carrying the phone and have to forgo the better stereo sound that the JBL Mod could give.

So is it really that expensive given the convenience?

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

No, I suppose not. Just more than I was expecting. I can still see myself buying this phone and the speaker mod.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk