First impressions of Lenovo’s Moto Z smartphones with add-on modules
Projector, Hasselblad camera, speaker and charger modules attach easily to the bodies of superslim, high-spec Android phones; the only gripe is that they don’t make photo sharing as easy as it should be
LG tested the modular smartphone market with its G5 model earlier this year, with varying degrees of success. By swapping in additional parts, or modules, users can turn their device into an enhanced audio system or camera/video recorder.
While the industry lauded the South Korean mobile phone company for its innovation at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, have you actually seen anyone using it here in Hong Kong? No, neither have I.
That is partly because swapping parts in and out is a very clumsy experience with the G5; you have to pull the battery out of the phone, and push that into the module, before slotting the whole thing back into the phone. Not very user-friendly to say the least.
The new Moto Z and the slightly cheaper Moto Z Play – the new flagship smartphones from Lenovo – are closer to what a modular phone should be. You only need to snap the module on the back of the phone and that’s it. The integrated magnets ensure the additional part is secured in place.
