Smartphones are exciting again.
Like all products that reach maturity, modern smartphones as we know them today — rectangle glass touchscreen slabs — have become boring. Each new device iteration usually brings modest feature upgrades and industrial designers are playing it safe. Just look at the OnePlus 5: It's not even trying to hide its iPhone 7 Plus-like looks.
It's felt for some time like there wouldn't be much more meaningful innovation to come, but now we have a contender to shake things up.
The next big feature
in phones is a magnetic connector for quickly attaching and enabling accessories. And surprisingly, Apple's not leading the charge here. It's Motorola
Motorola was the first to get modular right with its early concept, and this year it's doubling down on modular phones and snap-on accessories.
Tough sell
Modular phones have always been a tough sell. On paper, they're a fantastic idea. Why pay an exorbitant amount of money for a brand new phone when you could just buy new parts — like a processor, or camera module, or more storage, etc. — and swap them in as needed? It'd be good for the environment, too, since it'd help reduce the amount of e-waste that ends up in landfills because of consumerism.
This modular system works beautifully for desktop PCs, so why wouldn't it work for phones?
Well, it turns out phones are very different than desktop computers. We carry our phones everywhere in the heat and in the cold, toss them around in our bags, drop them, and just all around handle them all day long. Our phones are lovingly abused, if you will. Desktop PCs, on the other hand, just sit there and never move.
How we use these two types of devices is crucial to how designers and engineers can realistically improve and evolve them.
Modular phones are hard
Google wisely shelved its ambitious Project Ara modular phone project for many reasons, but none more so than the fact that all of the individual components kept falling apart from the body's skeletal frame.
LG's semi-modular G5 failed for a different reason: the phone was ugly and the "LG Friends" modules such as the wonky camera grip and Bang & Olufsen Hi-Fi audio DAC weren't compelling enough to buy. But what really sealed the G5's fate was that third-party companies didn't hop onboard with building modules. Without an ecosystem of accessories, there is no point to the whole modular phone.
The only company that got modular phones right was Motorola. After being jockeyed at Google and then finally landing in Lenovo's arms, the company put a bold stake in the ground last year with the modular Moto Z series.
The winning formula
Sadly, the Moto Z went largely ignored unless you went looking for something other than an iPhone or Samsung. In the U.S., you couldn't even buy into the modular future unless you were on Verizon since the phones were exclusive to the carrier.
But that didn't stop Motorola's push and its new all-in strategy around modular phones and snap-on accessories could really pay off. For starters, the new Moto Z2 Force will available on five major U.S. carriers.
Secondly, there's now an even larger ecosystem of Moto Mods to choose from, including the new Moto GamePad, which turns your phone into a Nintendo Switch-like handheld, and the excellent Moto 360 Camera, which captures 360-degree photos and videos.
Like all products that reach maturity, modern smartphones as we know them today — rectangle glass touchscreen slabs — have become boring. Each new device iteration usually brings modest feature upgrades and industrial designers are playing it safe. Just look at the OnePlus 5: It's not even trying to hide its iPhone 7 Plus-like looks.
It's felt for some time like there wouldn't be much more meaningful innovation to come, but now we have a contender to shake things up.
The next big feature
in phones is a magnetic connector for quickly attaching and enabling accessories. And surprisingly, Apple's not leading the charge here. It's Motorola
Motorola was the first to get modular right with its early concept, and this year it's doubling down on modular phones and snap-on accessories.
Tough sell
Modular phones have always been a tough sell. On paper, they're a fantastic idea. Why pay an exorbitant amount of money for a brand new phone when you could just buy new parts — like a processor, or camera module, or more storage, etc. — and swap them in as needed? It'd be good for the environment, too, since it'd help reduce the amount of e-waste that ends up in landfills because of consumerism.
This modular system works beautifully for desktop PCs, so why wouldn't it work for phones?
Well, it turns out phones are very different than desktop computers. We carry our phones everywhere in the heat and in the cold, toss them around in our bags, drop them, and just all around handle them all day long. Our phones are lovingly abused, if you will. Desktop PCs, on the other hand, just sit there and never move.
How we use these two types of devices is crucial to how designers and engineers can realistically improve and evolve them.
Modular phones are hard
Google wisely shelved its ambitious Project Ara modular phone project for many reasons, but none more so than the fact that all of the individual components kept falling apart from the body's skeletal frame.
LG's semi-modular G5 failed for a different reason: the phone was ugly and the "LG Friends" modules such as the wonky camera grip and Bang & Olufsen Hi-Fi audio DAC weren't compelling enough to buy. But what really sealed the G5's fate was that third-party companies didn't hop onboard with building modules. Without an ecosystem of accessories, there is no point to the whole modular phone.
The only company that got modular phones right was Motorola. After being jockeyed at Google and then finally landing in Lenovo's arms, the company put a bold stake in the ground last year with the modular Moto Z series.
The winning formula
Sadly, the Moto Z went largely ignored unless you went looking for something other than an iPhone or Samsung. In the U.S., you couldn't even buy into the modular future unless you were on Verizon since the phones were exclusive to the carrier.
But that didn't stop Motorola's push and its new all-in strategy around modular phones and snap-on accessories could really pay off. For starters, the new Moto Z2 Force will available on five major U.S. carriers.
Secondly, there's now an even larger ecosystem of Moto Mods to choose from, including the new Moto GamePad, which turns your phone into a Nintendo Switch-like handheld, and the excellent Moto 360 Camera, which captures 360-degree photos and videos.
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