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Amazon has the Moto Z’s back.
Lenovo’s Motorola unit on Sunday unveiled a number of new Moto Mods — replaceable backs to the Moto Z that add new capabilities like extra battery life, a projector or better audio. One of the more notable additions is one coming from Amazon, which plans to build a Moto Mod with Alexa.
Jon Kirk, director of Alexa services with Amazon, said it would come later this year.
With LG and even Google abandoning the idea of customizing your phone with different bolt-on parts, Moto is the last brand standing when it comes to embracing the concept of a modular phone.
Dan Dery, vice president and global product leader at Motorola Mobility, boasted that consumers can adopt new technology through a mod rather than buy a new phone.
For example, Moto showed off 5 new Mods and 7 concept designs, like a gaming rig that reminds us of the Nintendo Switch, and a wireless charger.
But having a strong digital assistant on the phone is one of the hottest trends in the mobile world. From Google Assistant to Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana, there’s a lot of attention being paid to these assistants and to which one eventually gains the strongest foothold. With an Alexa Mod, Moto would be the second brand after Huawei to integrate Alexa capabilities onto a phone.
Lenovo’s Moto division and Amazon showed off a concept video of a Moto Mod that uses Alexa to respond to your questions. The concept video also teased that the Mod could be a speaker built by Harmon Kardon, into which Alexa is integrated.
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