First Look: Moto Z and Moto Mods

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

San Francisco - The Lenovo Moto Z was the biggest, most anticipated and leaked announcement here at Lenovo Tech World. The duo of flagship devices, which is composed of the ultra thin Moto Z and the more muscular Moto Z Force (not coming to Canada) represent the cutting edge of smartphone technology today.

What is interesting about the Moto Z is that it is completely different beast from the venerable Moto X line. That remnant from the days that Google owned Motorola Mobility, did provide a lot of the foundation for what the Moto Z has to offer.

The availability of various backplate materials in styles, colours and textures comes directly from Moto Maker, the customization option for previous Moto X and Moto G models. Same for the Turbo Charging technology and the long battery life and the much improved camera performance plus the various Moto software services.

The thin profile of the Moto Z is a new paradigm in smartphone design. Made of metal and glass, the Moto Z feels more luxurious than its predecessor and is really reminiscent of the Moto's RAZR in terms of its thin profile. The Moto Z doesn't even include a headphone jack because that would make it thicker (use a Bluetooth headset or hope a Moto Mods accessory with a jack comes soon).

Speaking of the Moto Mods accessories, they way they modularly and securely snap on is quite a revelation. Lenovo has created an elegant and fast solution that really opens up various possibilities. Snapping on a Moto Mods is dead easy and the Moto Z reacts by walking users via a series of on-screen instructions. Unlike the LG G5's modular approach, you don't need to turn off the phone to convert it to a projector, sound system and so on.

Personally, I think the elegant wood and leather backplates as well as the battery packs will be the most popular accessories for the Moto Z when it ships and I hope Canadians will have easy access to these add-ons. What Lenovo has done with the Moto Z is quite exceptional.

It is one smartphone that pushes the boundaries of how thin and light you can make a flagship smartphone, which is an impressive feat on its own, specially since it features top tier specs (Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, large battery). The same device also conveys myriad possibilities via motomods, which do a lot to expand the capabilities of what seems like an already  remarkable smartphone.