Motorola Launches Modular Moto Z and Moto Z Play Starting at Rs. 24,999; Moto Mods available starting Rs. 5,999

By Abhishek Joshi On Oct 5, 2016

The Moto Z and Z Play modular smartphones, launched 3 months back in US, have finally made their way to India. Unlike other high-end smartphones, these phone have the ability to transform into a media device with the clip of a Moto Mod, an attachable accessory.

The flagship smartphones have all the features that are desired from premium phones, and come with some striking features not available in the competition. The first and foremost, Moto Mods. These accessories can be simply snapped to the back of the phone, without modifying any function of the smartphone. Unfortunately, the phones do not come with a 3.5mm headphone jack, and only use USB Type C for all connections.

For example, a JBL Moto Mod can be just snapped on the back without restarting the phone, and the smartphone gets superpower in terms of the sound. There are similar Moto Mods that offer projectors, high-end cameras and power packs that improve the functionality of the phone.

Due to the sheer number of possibilities in this phone, accessory makers can start making specific mods like a storage box for money and cards, a super-zoom camera, instant photo printer and night-vision viewer. Moto Z is extremely slim at 5.19mm, making it very easy for consumers to attach and carry Moto Mods.

Moto Z Specifications

5.5” Quad HD AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 out of the box
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with up to 1.8 GHz quad-core CPU with Adreno 530 GPU, 4GB of RAM
64GB internal storage, that can be bumped up to 2TB using microSD cards
13 MP with f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilization (OIS), laser autofocus, zero shutter lag, color correlated temperature (CCT) flash with dual LEDs
5 MP with wide field of view and flash
2600mAh battery, which Lenovo claims can give upto 24 hours of battery life
USB Type C, TurboPower technology offers 7 hours of power in just 15 minutes of charging
Fingerprint reader, water-repellant, 4G LTE ready

Moto Z Play Specifications

5.5 Full HD super AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 out of the box
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor with up to 2 GHz Octa-Core CPU with Adreno 506 GPU, 3GB of RAM
32GB internal storage, that can be bumped up to 2TB using microSD cards
16 MP with f/2.0 aperture, optical image stabilization (OIS), laser autofocus, zero shutter lag, color correlated temperature (CCT) flash with dual LEDs
5 MP with wide field of view and LED flash
A massive 3,510mAh battery, which Lenovo claims can give upto 45 hours of battery life
USB Type C, TurboPower technology offers 7 hours of power in just 15 minutes of charging
Fingerprint reader, water-repellant, 4G LTE ready

Moto Z Play has slightly lower specifications, and that of a mid-premium range smartphone. However, the addition of Moto Mods make it an attractive device at Rs. 24,999. Moto Z, on the other hand, comes at a hefty price tag of Rs. 39,999. It’s a good deal as it is – either you get the Moto Mods, or just use your smartphone without any additions.

Moto Z is priced almost Rs. 10,000 lower than it’s rivals from Samsung, Apple and LG. However, it gets stiff competition from OnePlus Three, that could eat into its sales in India. Motorola’s high-end smartphones have not been very successful here either, so the company is banking on the modular part of the phone.

How do Moto Mods figure out?

With Moto Mods, you can transform your Moto Z and Moto Z Play into exactly what you need, when you need it Moto Mods magnetically attach to Moto Z and Moto Z play seamlessly adding advanced functionality and becoming one with the phones.

Give your smartphone a boost with powerful stereo sound from the JBL SoundBoost or enjoy a movie or your favorite show with the Moto Insta-Share Projector that turns your Moto Z into a 70-inch movie projector. Incipio offGRID Power Pack instantly adds up to 20 hours of life to your phone, by simply snapping the mod at the back.

There are also Moto Style Shells to choose from that come in real wood, leather or the nylon variants. The Hasselblad True Zoom is an attachable camera accessory that did not impress the critics much, considering it is expensive and boasts of some advanced features.

The JBL SoundBoost Mod is priced at Rs. 6,999 if bought as a separate accessory, or Rs. 5,999 if bought bundled with the smartphone. The Style shells are also priced a little over Rs. 1,000.

Even though Motorola has ditched the 3.5mm jack in these smartphones, the modular accessories compensate for that. These snap-on mods are very easy to use and improve the functionality of your smartphone vastly. The phones aren’t priced very high either, so they will definitely appeal to the masses.