Motorola Z2 Force & Play, and new MotoMods launched in the UAE

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A few months ago I praised the Motorola and its Moto Z for bringing about a ‘much-needed revolution’ in smartphone innovation.

Despite being a decent flagship, last year’s flagship Moto Z was also the first device to feature attachments that snap on to the back of the unit and transform it into different types of devices.

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You could snap on the Hasselblad True Zoom mod and you have yourself a powerful camera, the moto insta-share projector projects your phone’s display up to 70-inches on any surface and the JBL speaker mods snap on to your device for amazing and incredibly loud audio.

The concept behind these mods are interesting. The new batch works on last year’s Moto Z, while the mods released last year – works on the new Z2s as well. What’s more is that Motorola claim that mods will be compatible on newer smartphones for the next three years.

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Recently Motorola Middle East announced the latest versions of the Moto Z family – the Moto Z2 Play, the flagship Moto Z2 Force and with them, a new crop of Moto Mods.

Now, I’m not here to talk about the smartphones themselves. If you’re curious – their stats are prices are below. I want to talk about these new mods.

The GamePad

Let’s start with my favourite – the Moto GamePad. This mod was a rumour last year and I’m quite pleased to finally see it metal/plastic. Snap on your Moto Z device and you have yourself a full-fledged gaming controller. The mod features a D-pad, four action buttons and two joysticks. There are four trigger buttons as well, on the top left and right of the unit. It measures about 8.5-inches which is slightly longer that the PlayStation Portable. It is fitted with its own 1035mAh built-in battery so you don’t have to worry about the mod draining your smartphone’s battery.

I liked the addition of four mini vents at the rear of the mod – which makes sense because hard-core gaming tends to heat up your smartphone. The GamePad weighs a non-existent 140gm so carrying it around is quite easy, when the phone’s snapped in – it doesn’t get too heavy and feels just right. While the Moto Z family have done away with the 3.5mm headphone jack – the GamePad has a jack for your headphones, right next it a USB Type-C port for power.

The Moto GamePad is priced at Dh399

Moto 360 Camera

2018 is shaping up to be a year of 360 media. Almost every major brand have their 360 cameras and it makes sense that Moto have come up with a 360 Camera Moto Mod as well. This mod lets you capture 360-degree images and high-res 360-degree 4K video as well.

Moreover, it helps you record 3D multi-directional immersive audio too which follows the direction you’re viewing. Technology is amazing! You won’t need a specific app to view your 360-degree media, since it’s all stored right there in your Google Photos app. If you pick up a Moto Z Play, you would get one for free.

The Moto 360 Camera is priced at Dh999

TurboPower

One of the best mods you could ever own with the Moto Z. The original battery pack boosted your smartphone’s life with an extra day. However it did have its drawbacks – you could only charge it while the mods was connected to your smartphone.

The new battery pack features an additional, with for it, 3490mAh of power. The Z2 Force has a 2730mAh battery, that coupled with the TurboPower battery mod ups it to an eye-brow raising 6220mAh of power. K

The TurboPower mod is priced at Dh299