Amazon's Alexa is making its way to the Moto Z phones by way of a new Moto Mod.
Aptly called the Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa, the accessory can do what anyone can imagine: provide the user with a smart assistant on the go.
Moto Mods: Moto Smart Speaker With Amazon Alexa
Back in February, Motorola announced a Moto Mod that brings Alexa to the Moto Z phones, and to point out the obvious, it's the Moto Smart Speaker.
Just like the other Moto Mods, it snaps onto the back of the handset, and once it's in place, it essentially turns any compatible device such as the Moto Z2 Force into an Echo device. As a testament to that, it even sports the Echo's iconic blue LED ring.
Now Motorola crammed four far-field mics into it to make sure it can pick up what the user is saying even in noisy environments or from afar and two 8-watt speakers to deliver stereo audio.
It's also packed with a 1,530 mAh battery pack that's touted to last up to 15 hours, which means that users can keep talking to Alexa for hours on end without draining their phones quickly.
One notable design cue here is the dock in which it can double as a charging stand. Motorola says this is just the thing for nightstands. On top of that, it's splash proof to boot.
Moto Smart Speaker Price, Availability
Across the board, the Moto Smart Speaker gets a thumbs-up, meaning users won't go wrong with nabbing one. There's a slight problem, though: it's pricey, holding customers back by $149.99.
That's not the only issue here too. The Moto Mod is heading only to the United States and other markets that have official Alexa support, or in other words, availability is pretty much limited. At any rate, it's set to roll out sometime in November.
Wrap-up
The Moto Smart Speaker simply does what it says it does, which is to give Moto Z owners a portable version of Alexa. Put differently, though, it's sort of like a love child between the JBL SoundBoost 2 and an Amazon Echo device.
For the record, if the combination of a Moto Z phone and the Moto Smart Speaker just doesn't fit the bill, then the Moto X4 is the perfect alternative. It's a recently announced phone that has Alexa built in, and it's scheduled to launch on Oct. 26 with a $399.99 price tag, with preorders going live on Oct. 19 for the U.S. market.
