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Do We Need The Moto Z Smartphones' New Add-On Modules? (hothardware.com) 56

Posted by EditorDavid from the adaptable-Androids dept.
This week saw the release of the Moto Z Droid and Force Droid, new Android smartphones from Motorola and Lenovo with snap-on modules. Slashdot reader MojoKid writes that the Z Force Droid "is sheathed behind Moto ShatterShield technology making it virtually indestructible." Motorola guarantees it not to crack or shatter if dropped... However, what's truly standout are Moto Mods, which are snap-on back-packs of sorts that add new features, like the JBL Speaker, Moto Insta-Projector and Incipio OffGrid Power Pack (2220 mAh) mods... Even the fairly complex projector mod fires up in seconds and works really well.
But the Verge has called it "a good phone headed down the wrong path," adding "this company is competing in the global smartphone market, not a high school science fair, and its success will depend on presenting better value than the competition, not cleverer design. Without the benefit of the value-projecting fairy dust of brands like Apple and Beats, Lenovo will have an uphill climb trying to justify its Moto Mods pricing with functionality and looks, and our review has shown that none of the company's extras are essential."
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Do We Need The Moto Z Smartphones' New Add-On Modules? More

Do We Need The Moto Z Smartphones' New Add-On Modules?

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  • ""this company is competing in the global smartphone market, not a high school science fair, and its success will depend on presenting better value than the competition, not cleverer design."

    Because there just aren't enough cheap, low-end Android phones with minimal features on the market, right? Surely introducing another of those is the path to financial success! /s

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by quenda ( 644621 )

      Not "low end" - the Moto-G and Moto-X represent good value mid and high-end phones.
      The X competed with the iPhone 6+ and Galaxy flagship at a substantially lower price. High hardware specs and unadulterated Android.

      The Z (Zee or Zed?) does not represent the same value.
      And the clip-on modules? The only one making the slightest sense over wireless accessories is the power pack, and they've never been hits compared to general-purpose portable USB power-banks. The Moto X fast-charge made it even less useful

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AuMatar ( 183847 )

        clip on accessories make a lot of sense from a mobile perspective. Only having one device to carry over multiple means you have less chance of forgetting or leaving it somewhere and an easier time carrying it. The projector sounds really cool. I'd never carry around a wireless one, I might do the clipon.

        • "Put all your eggs in one basket, and then WATCH that basket."
          - Mark Twain

        • clip on accessories make a lot of sense from a mobile perspective. Only having one device to carry over multiple means you have less chance of forgetting or leaving it somewhere and an easier time carrying it. The projector sounds really cool. I'd never carry around a wireless one, I might do the clipon.

          Seems to me that this device does have lots of stuff to forget or lose.

        • A projector that you can only use in a darkened room by yourself.....

          A great idea for the average Slashdotter...

      • The clip on backpack battery represents a throwback to the old StarTac (pre-RAZR) days where you could get a slimline battery (which was for chumps) or this mutant cancer battery bulge, which gave you something like a week worth of standby. It was ugly, but holy wow it was an official manufacturer-built battery backpack, not unlike what they're making now.

        Being able to buy a phone with a first party batter backpack puts Motorola on the radar of a lot of people who crave a true all-day phone. I'm cer

        • Amen

        • (on a charger)

          The battery add-on lacks its own charge port. It can only be charged when attached to the phone.

          • The battery add-on lacks its own charge port. It can only be charged when attached to the phone.

            I don't think that's correct. From the article:

            "Other useful Moto Mods are more straight-forward like the Incipio OffGrid Power Pack that offers another 2220 mAh battery in the simple snap of the mod. It's also wireless charging capable (all by itself as well)"

          • I thought it has wireless charging for the backpack built in.

            FTA.
            It's also wireless charging capable (all by itself as well)

            Guess you'd need the required pad then though.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by c ( 8461 )

          I can live with a thicker phone, but using ride share services as often as I do, I can't function without my phone these days.

          Keep an eye out for the Moto Z Play if you're interest in a less-than-flagship phone. The X Play has a 3650 mAh (or so) battery plus a fast charge, and I regularly get two full days out of it; I can't imagine what I'd have to do to run the battery down in less than a day.

      • Since you failed to actually read my comment and took one phrase out of context, I shall explain it in detail to you:

        I didn't say that either of those phones were low-end.

        I started by posting the quote from the reviewer who said that Motorola should concentrate on value rather than features (i.e. make cheap, low-end phones).

        I then used sarcasm to bring up the fact that the market is already flooded with cheap, low-end phones. It would be impossible for Motorola to make one and capture any significant porti

        • so it would make more sense to try to give as many High end features for a mid range (keeping things realistic) price.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by quenda ( 644621 )

          took one phrase out of context,

          If you want context, don't quote without attribution.

          I didn't say that either of those phones were low-end.

          No, you equated "better value" with low end.

          should concentrate on value rather than features (i.e. make cheap, low-end phones).

          There! You just did it again.

  • The Verge is 100% wrong (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xeno ( 2667 ) on Saturday July 23, 2016 @07:09PM (#52568203)

    The Verge's advice focuses on value in a packed market, and explicitly recommends against attempting novelty. This is crap advice, the kind of numbing pablum that Walmart gives to reps with a new product. "You want to make jeans? Sure, you have to make them in a way that fits on the existing shelving and matches the existing pipeline of ass-coverings, and don't come to us in the spring without lighter weight stuff and shorts." The message is that innovation doesn't sell, which is completely wrong, you can still sell the hell out of yoga pants (high volume/moderate margin) and utilikilts (high margin low volume) if you are careful. Innovation doesn't sell in volume right away. Was Tesla thought to be a competitor to the big automakers? Puhleez. But they put out an innovative niche product and did it goddamn well, and now as they ramp production and solve nontrivial production problems, they are becoming a serious threat to a super-defined market dominated by a few big players.

    Also, the Verge article mixes up the use of the word "value" between low-cost+performant product vs premium product, and implies you must choose one end of the spectrum or you are fools. This is also complete BS; it's entirely possible to put out a mid-market device that eats the premium product's lunch (with the exception of the 1% of the market that buys Kardashian-style gold-plated iPhones just because of the logo and the gold). This is how Samsung arrived at its current market position. Let's not forget that along the way to it's current dominance, Samsung put out versions of the Galaxy phone that had stylii, projectors, card slots, display adapters, etc etc. Some of those are still highly profitable products at high volume today, and there's certainly room for improvement -- particularly with respect to flexibility. To dismiss as "high school science fair" and unaware of the global market is profoundly ignorant of the history of this market.

    Not only is this a viable play-book for Moto, it's exactly what they should do in order to not become part of the "value" market on the clearance shelf.

    • Not only is this a viable play-book for Moto, it's exactly what they should do in order to not become part of the "value" market on the clearance shelf.

      History has shown us that statistically nobody buys expensive accessories for electronic devices, not least because they are never compatible for long. So no, it's a stupid waste of time. Also, Moto is already part of the value market. They make cheap-ass Motos as tracfones.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hey! ( 33014 )

        History has also shown us that most new ideas fail. Even good ideas.

        I agree that the idea of accessories per se, attractive as it is to me, isn't enough to make a product a success these days. However I should point out that back in the day of PDAs it was normal for mobile devices to have a CF or SD slot that could also be used to add features. This was in the day when mobile devices didn't have cell data connections, GPS or even wi-fi, and it was quite common for people to add memory cards, wi-fi, bluet

      • History has shown us that statistically nobody buys expensive accessories for electronic devices, not least because they are never compatible for long.

        Statistically - yes. Companies could create wonderful Moto-mods for niche markets: field or medical testing for example. But niche market = tiny market, and if Lenovo is involved who knows what kind of spyware they would be burdened with.

    • I concur. The definition of "value" that the Verge is using reflects the attitudes of marketeers who are incapable of original thinking.

      In reality, there is no "need" to have anything beyond a basic smart phone. People rarely use all the possible bells and whistles in their existing high end phones. This is highlighted by recent statistics showing that most downloaded apps are used less then five times. What people really do on smart phones consists of calls/texting, games, photos/video, navigation and sea

  • It least it's fun and different from everything else on the market. Speaker mod would be useful for impromptu parties and projector for mobile salespeople. Apple and Samsung should get off their butts and innovate.

  • A smart phone is not essential either but that probably won't go over well. I am not sure if a cell phone even really qualifies as essential but they sure are firmly in the useful Dept.

  • Without the benefit of the value -projecting fairy dust of brands like Apple and Beats

    Ha?

  • I own the first generation and second generation FLIR IR camera for the iphone. They are pop on modules that give extra functionality to the phone (in FLIR's case an IR camera).
    The first gen units were a pain to have around if they weren't mounted to the unit. And when they were mounted to the unit they doubled its thickness and added 3/4" in length so if was a pain to keep in a pocket. I would use the camera and then throw it back in my bag because it made the phone to big.

    The second gen units are th

  • QWERTY Keyboard slide-out "mod"? (Score:3)

    by Peeet ( 730301 ) on Saturday July 23, 2016 @08:36PM (#52568465)
    I feel like a battery + slide out keyboard (and maybe a headphone jack if they really aren't including one on the phone) would be a game changing "mod" accessory for this phone. I know I personally would drop my Google Fi subscription (which I love for many reasons) and switch back to Verizon solely because of a 5 row slide-out QWERTY keyboard that is backlit and easy to type with thumbs and feels solid. I don't care how much it would cost or how thick it makes the phone in my pocket.

    Who ARE these people constantly asking for thinner and thinner phones??? Or is "Well... we can make it 0.001mm thinner?" the ONLY answer the engineers have when the marketing people are hounding them for the "next big thing"...
  • Years ago Apple had a laptop that let you switch out an internal module. You could add a device, such as high capacity drive, without changing the form factor. The advantage was high speed and plug and play. It was not a success because these were not good values and you still had to carry all this stuff around with the added mass of casing and connectors.

    I can't imagine what the benefit of this would be. USB is fast, the connector small. You can probably get all this stuff cheaper, maybe even lighter, a

  • it wasn't locked to a carrier I'm not going to use.

    And when it's released unlocked it won't have the shatter proof tech.

    My personal choice is the extra battery capacity. Not sure how it works but how I'd like to use it is two with an external charger and then swap them out daily with the modules charging wirelessly on a pad.

    I would also be receptive to a mod for a better camera but I can see myself using the speakers. Some people just need their external tunes and it would be one less thing to carry around.

  • I think modular addons for phones and tablets might be the next wave, simply because a phone without additional hardware bits, (such as a keyboard), is a shitty replacement for a desktop or laptop. So what I see happening is that phones will continue to manage locally-stored data and 'cloud' data, (basically all of a user's computer data), in a pocket-sized device. To do serious work, (requiring a keyboard, mouse, larger screen, longer battery life, a projector, bigger local storage, etc), you'll add the ap

  • either or do I see it wrong?

  • Need? No. Want? Yes (Score:3)

    by just another AC ( 2679463 ) on Sunday July 24, 2016 @03:21AM (#52569609)

    The worst article in a long time. No smartphone is about what is needed, it is about what is wanted (even if that want is just to feel superior because you have the latest model from $Company).

    In fact smartphones in general are not NEEDED, nor are tech sites reporting on them.

    Their goal is to attract consumer interest, and this will do it. I just wish their connector was open source, so there would be a 0.00000001% chance of other brands following suit - lets go down the line of things like ara or PC type ugrades

  • I remember buying a camera attachment for my Ericsson T68. Not long after that, every phone had a camera.

    So if I rush out to buy this thing because I can clip a projector on it, there'll be better phones with better projectors built in long before my phone's out of contract.

    Speaker module, though... Those things should come with a built-in shaped charge to take out the asshat who doesn't understand what headphones are for.

    • So if I rush out to buy this thing because I can clip a projector on it, there'll be better phones with better projectors built in long before my phone's out of contract.

      Even if, there will not be actual good projectors, only slightly better toy projectors. This just isn't a thing remotely good to bolt or embed in a phone.

      Speaker module, though... Those things should come with a built-in shaped charge to take out the asshat who doesn't understand what headphones are for.

      Well that was harsh! Good idea though!

    • There have been top of the line phones with projectors in them. They did not seem to do terribly well, but they were insanely expensive.

  • The mainstream media seemed to have missed this, but this is the first production phone to be using the Project Ara [google.com] module interconnect using the Greybus [modularphonesforum.com] Protocol.

    More information about how the thing actually works and what its good for here [motorola.com]

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