Items tagged with moto mods
Motorola has just released its 2019 flagship device, and there aren't many surprises considering that the device leaked in full earlier this month. While the design aesthetic is familiar, the Moto Z4 actually shrinks the bezels compared to its Moto Z3 predecessor and adds a 19:9 OLED display with a small centrally-mounted teardrop notch. The Moto Z3 came to the market in 2018 with a year-old Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor when other devices had adopted the Snapdragon 845. The Moto Z4 also doesn't go with the latest and greatest SoC for 2019, which just so happens to be the Snapdragon 855. Instead, the Moto Z4 uses the Snapdragon 675, which is a mid-range octa-core SoC paired...
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Last month, we got our first glimpse of the Motorola Moto Z4 in the form of somewhat blurry images showing both the front and rear of the device. Today, we're getting high resolution images of the smartphone from every angle courtesy of Evan Blass. The first thing that caught our attention is that Motorola has brought back the headphone jack at the bottom of the device. Motorola unceremoniously ditched the headphone jack with the Moto Z and has since been absent on Motorola's "flagship" phones. Judging by the pogo pins on the back, we can also see that Motorola is still sticking with its Moto Mods system of add-on accessories (something that it promised from the onset of the Moto Z...
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Motorola is currently on its third-generation of Moto Z smartphones and the 2018 flagship is the new Moto Z3. The Moto Z3 still supports the growing family of Moto Mod accessories, and early next year it will be available with the 5G Moto Mod, making it one of the first smartphones on the market with 5G capabilities. Whereas Motorola's previous generation Moto Z2 Force was priced at $720 unlocked, direct from Motorola when it launched last year, the Moto Z3 debuts at a much more palatable $480 as a Verizon Wireless exclusive. You can also pay for the device using a Verizon installment plan for $20/month for 24 months. In addition, if you're a new customer switching...
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The original Motorola Z Play made a name for itself among users who champion smartphone battery life above all other features. It was not uncommon to hear of Moto Z Play users getting multiple days of power out of a single charge. In our review, Its battery life trounced every other phone we have ever tested by a wide margin. So, when the Moto Z2 Play was introduced last year, many lamented Motorola’s decision to slim the phone down and ultimately reduce battery capacity. While battery life was still exceptional, it fell far from eclipsing its processor. It is no surprise then that demands were high for the new Moto Z3 Play’s battery life to improve over the Z2 Play’s minor...
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Back in late June, we were alerted to a new product announcement on tap for August 2nd from Motorola. Luckily for us, we're here live in Chicago at Motorola HQ today to see what the company has in store for consumers, and it's quite interesting. The company launched the all-new Moto Z3, which serves as the follow-up to last year's Moto Z2. It has a 6-inch Full HD+ OLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio that takes up most of the front of the device. There are still notable bezels on the bottom and top, but it at least doesn't mar your viewing experience with a notch (if you’re not into those newfangled notched flagships). However, we do have a bit of mixed news on the processing front....
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Motorola has made modular smartphones "hip" thanks to its Moto Z family. The original Moto Z, along with its Moto Z2 Force successor, supports Motorola's Moto Mods systems, which allows you to attach various accessories to the back of your smartphone ranging from speakers to cameras to battery extenders. Today Motorola has announced a new addition: the Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa. Rather than integrating Amazon Alexa directly into the smartphone hardware and the Android operating system, the Moto Smart Speaker is its own self-contained device. Think of it as a miniature Amazon Echo that you can carry around with you all the time. It contains four far-field microphones so that it pickup...
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Last year’s release of the Moto Z family of phones introduced the world to Mods – magnetic accessory attachments that added features to the phones, like higher-quality speakers, a portable projector, or optical zoom camera. However, the US release of the Moto Z was limited to Verizon and unlocked customers only. This year Motorola is back with the new Z2 Force, packing support for the same Mods, but launching on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. While the latest Moto Z2 Force has all the makings of a flagship smartphone with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, Super AMOLED display, and dual rear camera setup, it’s up against some fierce competition from the likes of Samsung, LG, HTC,...
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Here it is, folks. After months of leaks and teases, Motorola has officially pulled the wraps off its flagship Moto Z2 Force. Given how much of the device has already leaked, there’s not much left for Motorola to announce that we didn’t already know. But in case you’ve missed all of our previous articles on the Moto Z2 Force, here’s the rundown. The smartphone features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage and a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED display that’s nearly indestructible thanks to its ShatterShield design. Other features include dual 12MP f/2.0 rear cameras (one shoots in color, while the other is monochrome), and the smartphone runs Android 7.1.1. For those...
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If you were a fan of the first-generation Moto Z Play, it appears that Lenovo/Motorola isn’t straying too far from that formula with its successor: the aptly named Moto Z2 Play. The original Moto Z Play wowed us with its epic battery life, which was attributed to its power-sipping Snapdragon 625 processor and its large 3510 mAh battery. According to leaked renders that are making the rounds on the internet, the Moto Z2 Play differs ever so slightly from its predecessor appearance wise. You’ll need a keen eye to spot the changes, which include a more oblong-shaped home button (which doubles as a fingerprint reader). And if you squint, it also appears that the Moto Z2 Play incorporates a dual LED...
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Motorola Throws Shade On Google’s Failed Project Ara Modular Smartphone, Touts Moto Mods Superiority
Google’s initial plans for Project Ara modular smartphone concept were ambitious, with the company hoping to allow consumers to swap out their displays, processor and even RAM. However, “refinements” made to the program over the course of its development led to prototypes that had all of those aforementioned components integrated into the base smartphone, greatly diminishing the usefulness of the modular concept. After years of development, Google finally pulled the plug on Project Area in early September. According to the folks at Motorola, Google’s decision to eventually abandon the endeavor didn’t come as a surprise. To their eyes, Google went about the modular approach the wrong way from...
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Lenovo is making a pretty big push for Moto Z Mods, those snap-on accessories that extend or otherwise improve the functionality of the Moto Z handset. And why not? As one of the company's television commercials points out, the smartphone form factor has remained relatively the same for about the past decade without too much innovation to get excited about. The question is, are Mods the answer?Motorola's newest daddy seems to think so. Lenovo, which acquired Motorola from Google for $2.91 billion in early 2014, indicated a bit of buyer's remorse earlier this year when it said that it's "integration efforts did not meet expectations." That was after a previous quarterly report indicating that...
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LG dipped its toes into the modular smartphone arena with the G5 flagship, but it was arguably Lenovo/Motorola that made the concept easy to use and incorporated useful integration into the Android operating system with Moto Mods. The Moto Z, Moto Z Force and Moto Z Play support the hot-swappable Moto Mods, which snap onto the back of the smartphone with the help of magnets. Official Moto Mods available for the Moto Z family include include the Insta-Share Mod pico projector, Incipio Power Pack Mod, JBL SoundBoost Mod and the Hasselblad 4116 True Zoom Mod. But what about people who want to create their own Moto Mods for the Moto Z? Motorola is making it easier for developers to build and fund...
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Moto introduced the Moto Z family back in July with the launch of the Moto Z and Moto Z Force. Packed with flagship worthy hardware like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, both phones made a serious statement (click for full review) thanks to their modular capabilities, by way of Moto Mods. Moto Mods tune the already premium smartphones to a whole new level when attached. We were impressed by the Moto Mods we played with, including JBL's SoundBoost and the Moto Insta-Share Projector. Unfortunately, these phones were tied to Verizon at the time of our review, but unlocked variants are now trickling onto store shelves. Today, however, we take a close look at the newest sibling in the Moto Z family...
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If you’re a regular HotHardware reader, then you already know that we came away mighty impressed with Lenovo’s Moto Z and Moto Z Force smartphones (you can read Dave’s review of the pair here). The smartphones look good, have respectable performance, and are expandable using the versatile Moto Mods accessories system. But while the Moto Z and Moto Z Force beat their chests with 5.5-inch QHD displays, Snapdragon 820 processors and 4GB of RAM, there’s definitely enough room in the family for another, less expensive model. That brings us to the Moto Z Play, which Lenovo announced today for the U.S. market. Like its overachieving siblings, and for compatibility reasons (as you’ll see later), the...
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