Future of Moto Mods?

[markabele]

Are they on life support? Need to get a new phone soon and am wondering if I need to jump ship to a non Moto Z line of phones.

 

[Scott337]

There have been a few new rumors, and the new Moto Health Mod ( or whatever it's named) has made the news recently. There hasn't been as many new Mods as some folks hoped for, but I don't think the project is dead. I bet when the Z3 line is announced later this year we see some more new Mods.

 

[kmf1]

I'm hoping that there's life. I'd like a Z Force 3, which hasn't been announced yet. Time will tell I guess.

 

[Ry]

Probably not dead but won't be as extreme. I expect more battery mods now.

 

[cjreyes666]

https://www.droid-life.com/2018/03/09/motorola-virtual-viewer/

 

[krisguy]

I'm kinda interested in the Moto Mod dev kit from Moto and Element 14. I'm a Arduino and RasPi tikerer, so this might have some fun possibilities, especially with NFC and GPS access.

 

[Ry]

I'm kinda interested in the Moto Mod dev kit from Moto and Element 14. I'm a Arduino and RasPi tikerer, so this might have some fun possibilities, especially with NFC and GPS access.

After year 3, I don't know if this goes anywhere.

 

[kingstu]

I think the future of mods from Motorola's standpoint will feature more personalizing your phone and less on radical uses for your phone. I think the Gorilla Glass style shells are just the beginning. I got the Expressive Curves one when it was first released and it was the first to go out of stock and it hasn't been back in stock since then. Perhaps they will produce more of them or they could just have produce a different style and people will jump on that. They use the Vibrant Gorilla Glass and could in the future be customized to where you could upload a photo and have it printed on your style shell similar to how DYIThinker does. They could probably do the same thing with the Wireless Charging Shell and start selling Gorilla Glass versions of those or even include one in the box for the Z3 series.

I would love to see a gimbal for the Z series. It could use the magnetic mount to hold the phone in place instead of the generic cradle. It could use a direct connection to the phone instead of Bluetooth for the buttons. It could make use of the design decision where the Moto Z2 series doesn't have OIS, which is a plus when using a gimbal.

If the Keyboard Mod is successful hopefully future 3rd parties will learn from their example and be able to create more niche products with a targeted audience. In any case, I think they will keep the mods and perhaps make them less backward compatible by allowing new functionality only on new phones and perhaps added wireless KISS connectivity in the future.

 

[Scott337]

I think the future of mods from Motorola's standpoint will feature more personalizing your phone and less on radical uses for your phone. I think the Gorilla Glass style shells are just the beginning. I got the Expressive Curves one when it was first released and it was the first to go out of stock and it hasn't been back in stock since then. Perhaps they will produce more of them or they could just have produce a different style and people will jump on that. They use the Vibrant Gorilla Glass and could in the future be customized to where you could upload a photo and have it printed on your style shell similar to how DYIThinker does. They could probably do the same thing with the Wireless Charging Shell and start selling Gorilla Glass versions of those or even include one in the box for the Z3 series.

I would love to see a gimbal for the Z series. It could use the magnetic mount to hold the phone in place instead of the generic cradle. It could use a direct connection to the phone instead of Bluetooth for the buttons. It could make use of the design decision where the Moto Z2 series doesn't have OIS, which is a plus when using a gimbal.

If the Keyboard Mod is successful hopefully future 3rd parties will learn from their example and be able to create more niche products with a targeted audience. In any case, I think they will keep the mods and perhaps make them less backward compatible by allowing new functionality only on new phones and perhaps added wireless KISS connectivity in the future.

What do you think about the Glass Style Shell? Like it? That's the one I wanted and it's always out of stock. I have all 3 "wood" Style Shells and rotae through them every few weeks, and the nylon gray wireless Style Shell for when I need it. I have been debating on whether or not to buy a glass Style Shell so I have it when I buy a Z3 Force later this year. How is the in-hand feel?

 

[kingstu]

What do you think about the Glass Style Shell? Like it? ... How is the in-hand feel?

The Glass Style Shell feels very tough and almost like a rigid plastic. It looks that good also, not like I would imagine glass would look like. It feels slick but not slippery. It seems like it would last a lot longer than the wooden shells and I hope they have more of them to offer and will offer a wireless charging shell with the same material.

I really hope they can do some licensing with the style shells so people can get more meaningful choices and more reasons to keep with the Z series of phones. Most manufacturers change the dimensions of their phones so you have to buy a new set of covers when you upgrade but the Z series lets you keep the covers (and mods) as you upgrade.

 

[Scott337]

The Glass Style Shell feels very tough and almost like a rigid plastic. It looks that good also, not like I would imagine glass would look like. It feels slick but not slippery. It seems like it would last a lot longer than the wooden shells and I hope they have more of them to offer and will offer a wireless charging shell with the same material.

I really hope they can do some licensing with the style shells so people can get more meaningful choices and more reasons to keep with the Z series of phones. Most manufacturers change the dimensions of their phones so you have to buy a new set of covers when you upgrade but the Z series lets you keep the covers (and mods) as you upgrade.

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm going to go with my plan of ordering one of the Glass Shells when the Z3 Force is released, and I buy a Z3 Force. New phone & new Style Shell all at the same time.

 

[recDNA]

Does the big moto mod camera take better pics than Pixel 2xl ?

 

[cjreyes666]

Does the big moto mod camera take better pics than Pixel 2xl ?

Not really, it helps when you are zooming in.

 

[recDNA]

Not really, it helps when you are zooming in.

So better zoomed in at a distance.. less pixelation?

 

[cjreyes666]

So better zoomed in at a distance.. less pixelation?

Here are some samples, can't recall how much I zoomed in.

 

[recDNA]

Thanks. We'd really need you to immediately take the same shot at the same mag to compare them. Also not full res here.

 

[Ry]

Does the big moto mod camera take better pics than Pixel 2xl ?

For zoomed shots....

Maybe?

 

[benjamminh]

For regular shots the camera mod doesn't even take as good a picture as the 2016 Z Force. But zooming is significantly better fwiw.

 

[Ry]

For regular shots the camera mod doesn't even take as good a picture as the 2016 Z Force. But zooming is significantly better fwiw.

It's pretty well established that the Hassellblad Zoom camera is only good for zoomed shots. Not sure at this point someone would ask if it took better photos that any phone. lol.

 

[Ry]

So better zoomed in at a distance.. less pixelation?

At this point, you're talking digital zoom (which is a crop) vs. optical zoom.