Modular accessories aren’t going away

The idea of adding features and functionality to existing smartphones isn’t new – Google themselves pursued the idea via Project Ara, Korean outfit LG put out the G5 with the idea of detachable accessories, and Lenovo subsidiary Motorola released their own interpretation of the concept with their Moto Mods. Of the three, only Motorola is staying the course with their modular idea – and despite the lukewarm reaction of the public to the Moto Z and Moto Z Play, the company’s still sees them as the future moving forward.

So it’s not surprising to see the company release a bunch of new Moto Mods for their newly released Moto Z2 Play. Today in Bangkok we’ve seen quite a few new mods that the company is releasing, which we’ll be going through briefly in this post.

First off, the new 3,400mAh battery pack dubbed the Turbo Pack. It works essentially like the Incipio power pack that was available when the Moto Z and Z Play launched last year, only now it obviously has more battery capacity and charges your phone quickly via Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0. Speaking of the Incipio power pack, there’s new color options available for it as well as wireless charging capability.

There’s a new version of the JBL Speaker add-on that has more juice and substantially bigger sound that has better color options as well.

For ADDA compliance freaks, there’s also a car dock that’s available as well, which attaches to either your aircon grill or via an optional suction cup accessory. Plugs behind the dock allows you to charge the phone while it’s sitting there and even tap to your audio system via a 3.5mm jack, and slapping the phone into the accessory automatically starts Android Auto for hands-free driving.

The most interesting mod that Moto put out is the game adapter. It essentially allows you to play Android games with physical controls, complete with thumbsticks and trigger buttons on both sides. It snaps quickly onto the back of the phone, and also charges the device while you’re playing. There’s Lenovo Legion branding on the back, though we’re not a fan of the overall aesthetic.

Motorola says that it’s not the final version of the add-on since it’s merely an engineering device, but we found that it did give us better control for compatible games (like Asphalt 8) while it was attached.

Motorola Philippines is looking to bring most of these new mods into the Philippines when the Moto Z2 Play launches later this month.