Plenty dismissed modularity (the concept of making a phone’s innards swappable and upgradeable) the first time around. And for good reason. Like just about every other gimmick in smartphoneland, the idea has been tried and abandoned more times than anyone cares to mention. With the announcement of the second generation Moto Z[1], however, the Motorola is not only committed to the idea of modular smartphones – it’s making the line its flagship.
It’s a pretty gutsy stance from the company. The idea of the first one was laughed off by some on arrival, but Motorola changed minds with what turned out to be a really good phone, Mods or no. I reviewed it a while back, and I liked it. A lot more than I thought I would.
The device’s hardware was solid and the execution was there. The super-thin phone, coupled with the magnetic backing that powered the devices. If there was any major downside on that first generation Z, it was the lack of Mods at launch. The promise was there, but the execution was limited. But after LG’s badly fumbled execution with the G5[2], the phone was breath of fresh air.
The company added a few more in the intervening months and announced plans to release an average four a quarter this year – a commitment it tells me it plans to keep. It’s also opened up prototypes to third-parties and had a handful of hackathons across the globe in hopes of getting developers more interested in creating for the platform. Here’s one with a breathalyzer and a baby monitor[3].
The Moto Z2 Play ups the ante, but only slightly. In addition to a better looking, cloth-covered version of the SoundBoost...
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