Motorola has announced a new Moto Mod for its Moto Z phones.
It's a $149.99/£99 speaker attachment with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. In other words, it turns your phone into a little Echo device. Called the Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa, the new Moto Mod looks similar to the existing Soundboost 2 speaker mod. But, because it has Alexa, there is a blue glowing LED ring on the backside, which we're guessing is directly inspired by Amazon's Echo devices.
It'll be interesting to see how this device works, considering the phones that it can attach to already have Google Assistant. Those of you who are hooked on the Alexa platform, however, will likely love the ability to have Alexa constantly in your pocket. However, for the same price, you could get an Echo with an Echo Dot, or even an Echo Plus or Echo Spot. See our guide here for how all these devices compare.
Anyway, with this mod, you can do all the usual Alexa-type things, such as play music, get news, ask questions, and more. You can even use it to adjust the temperature and turn your lights on in your home as you leave work. Just remember that, while you're out and about, Alexa will draw on your cellular data in order to work. If that doesn't matter to you, the Moto Smart Speaker will be out in November.
You can get it from Motorola, Best Buy, Amazon, and others.