Lenovo Introduces a New Modular Approach to Smartphones with the Motorola Moto Z

Lenovo has taken the wraps off its latest Moto flagships – the Moto Z and the Moto Z Force. These are two extremely interesting additions to the Moto series. Both of these products deserve a separate post all their own so in this post I am going to cover the Moto Z. Let’s start by taking a look at the specifications on this phone.

Specification – Motorola Moto Z

The Moto Z comes with a 5.5 inch AMOLED display that has a screen resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels, which translates to a pixel density of 535 ppi. The display is protected from any accidental damages thanks to the Corning Gorilla Glass 4 technology. The phone comes with a 2.2 GHz Quad Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor along with an Adreno 530 GPU. The 4 GB RAM certainly helps boost processing power on this device.

In terms of internal storage the phone comes in two variants – 32 GB and 64 GB. The storage capacity is expandable up to a mammoth 2 TB using a microSD card slot. The Moto Z has a good camera configuration. It comes with a 13 megapixel primary camera which supports dual-tone LED flash, OIS, and laser autofocus. The secondary camera on the phone is a 5 megapixel unit. This is a single SIM phone that is 4G enabled, which is kind of expected from a modern smartphone.

More from iSpyPrice: Check out the expected India price of the Motorola Moto Z mobile

The Moto series phones pride themselves on being some of the thinnest and lightweight phones of their generation so it is no surprise that the Moto Z, despite its form factor, weighs a mere 136 grams. That is lightweight in every sense of the word if you consider the dimensions and the overall size of the phone.

The battery capacity on the Moto Z is 2600 mAh and it supports Turbo charging. At first glance that sounds like a disappointing battery spec from a top flagship phone and it is just that but there is more to the Moto Z then the usual and I will come to that in just a bit. The phone is powered by Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS. Once again, no surprises there as one has come to expect a Moto series phone to be equipped with the latest Android version over the years.

The Moto Z comes with a new modular approach to smartphones

There is one very interesting, if not peculiar, feature in the Moto Z and indeed in the Moto Z Force. These phones support what Lenovo, Motorola’s parent company, calls – Moto Mods. Moto Mods are basically Lenovo’s attempt at a modular phone. Modularity is something that a number of brands seem to think of as the next evolutionary stage in smartphones. Google’s Project Ara has been in the news forever and will offer highly customizable smartphones via modularity. A few other brands have also tried their hands at introducing modularity in their phones.

Lenovo’s modular approach for the Moto Z and Moto Z Force is different in the sense that these Moto Mods are snap-in components that will attach to the phone via magnets. So if you need extra battery capacity you can opt for a snap-in battery pack. The battery pack simply snaps-in but it will make your phone thicker.

Other brands are working with Lenovo to offer various kinds of Moto Mods. For example, the JBL Soundboost speakers are available as a Moto Mod. You can simply attach the speakers to the back of the phone just like the battery pack mod and it won’t drain your phone’s battery because it comes with its very own 1000 mAh battery capacity.

Then there is a projector mod which comes with its own battery capacity and attaches to the phone in the exact same way as the other mods. So your phone transforms into a projector when you want it to. At the moment the resolution of these projector mods might not be great but it will not to be too bad either. Let’s remember that these are the very first set of Moto Mods being introduced. They can only improve over time, if Lenovo’s modular approach catches on.

The phone will likely be available in the US in September 2016 and the India launch is expected to be in the same time frame.

Check out this short introductory hands-on video of the Moto Z and the Moto Z Force from Android Authority: