Moto Z series of Smartphones gone

[Rob. S. 1,647]

Some of us here came to Fxtec after having shown an interest earlier for a product of a former venture of the Fxtec entrepreneurs – the "Livermorium Keyboard Mod" that was supposed to come out for Lenovo/Motorola's Moto Z series of smartphones, an attachable slider keyboard specifically designed for those phones. (Due to several problems some of which were caused by Motorola themselves – it was exactly during that time when Lenovo had decided to shrink Motorola, laying off many employees and causing quite some friction specifically in the Moto Mods area – the release was stopped just before mass production was supposed to start, and everyone who already had paid was offered a refund.)

So it might be of some interest to some that on Motorola's websites every trace of the existence of a "Moto Z" series smartphone has disappeared.

I guess the "Mod" concept was doomed right from the start, as the potential market volume of an accessory product for just one line of phones within the lineup of just one manufacturer had a hard limit before someone even started to think of such a product. Also, because the add-ons had to fit the phone's size, the phone's size and shape was predefined right from the start with no option to ever deviate from it. Me, I somehow liked the concept. I had two such phones and, for some time, used attachable "Mods" which served as battery packs, loudspeakers (JBL-branded) or cameras (the Hasselblad-branded "True Zoom Camera Mod")... 

Perhaps they should have tried to get other manufacturers into the boat, creating kind of an open standard for attachable smartphone accessories, like Panasonic and Olympus did for cameras...

[VaZso 1,997]

1 hour ago, Rob. S. said:

the release was stopped just before mass production was supposed to start, and everyone who already had paid was offered a refund.)

Just for clarity, instead of refund, another option was to get some discount later on a phone they just started to develop.
Initially, they have called it Q-Device (which name was subject to change later) and they have received a lot of critics on Keyboard Mod Indiegogo site and also at maemo forum. A lot of users were in doubt they will ever able release a phone.

So a lot of users went for a refund instead, which they have received.

As of others, they were waiting for Q-Device which became F(x)tec Pro1.
So that is the connection with Pro1 here. 🙂

As of Moto Z, that was an interesting concept but I lost my interest when Keyboard Mod was kicked.

[Rob. S. 1,647]

26 minutes ago, VaZso said:

As of Moto Z, that was an interesting concept but I lost my interest when Keyboard Mod was kicked

I had jumped on the Moto Z too early – just when availablity of the Keyboard Mod seemed to come around the corner, because my BlackBerry PRIV had just officially stopped getting security updates after only a few months of usage (and, as the most secure Android device ever invented, couldn't get a newer, up-to-date free ROM). So I stayed with the Motorola, hoping that the Q-Device would materialise one day... 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Rob. S.

[EskeRahn 5,427]

5 hours ago, VaZso said:

instead of refund, another option was to get some discount later on a phone they just started to develop.

Just to clarify further. We could all choose to either get a full refund, or a voucher for a $100 discount on the upcoming phone. The second option was thus especially interesting for those of us that supported the Mod early on. If I remember right we paid about $60, so a rather good deal, even if it took quite a while before we got our devices.

[VaZso 1,997]

2 hours ago, EskeRahn said:

Just to clarify further. We could all choose to either get a full refund, or a voucher for a $100 discount on the upcoming phone.

Just to clarify even further, they promised we (who applied the voucher based on Keyboard Mod) will have priority in receiving the phone which was mostly happened.

[FlyingAntero 869]

HMD Global (used to be known of Nokia Android phones) is now trying similar thing what Motorola did with Moto Mods.

• https://www.hmd.com/en_int/hmd-fusion
• https://nokiamob.net/2024/09/05/ifa-2024-introducing-the-modular-hmd-fusion/

Maybe we see keyboard mod as well? 

 

[CornholioGSM 309]

5 hours ago, FlyingAntero said:

HMD Global (used to be known of Nokia Android phones) is now trying similar thing what Motorola did with Moto Mods.

• https://www.hmd.com/en_int/hmd-fusion
• https://nokiamob.net/2024/09/05/ifa-2024-introducing-the-modular-hmd-fusion/

Maybe we see keyboard mod as well? 

 

It will be good, but i mean too thick due size of rear camera 😞

 

[EskeRahn 5,427]

On 9/8/2024 at 9:57 PM, CornholioGSM said:

It will be good, but i mean too thick due size of rear camera 😞

Well, we COULD hope that the camera module in this - or a later version - is not fixed, so we can have a keyboard back-module, at the cost of an inferior camera

[FlyingAntero 869]

On 9/8/2024 at 10:57 PM, CornholioGSM said:

It will be good, but i mean too thick due size of rear camera 😞

 

 

On 9/10/2024 at 1:41 AM, EskeRahn said:

Well, we COULD hope that the camera module in this - or a later version - is not fixed, so we can have a keyboard back-module, at the cost of an inferior camera

The size of the HMD Fusion is actually so huge that full size Pro1 keyboard fits to the area next to the camera bump. Check the illustration below (it is not perfectly scaled but pretty much correct). Also, since the back cover is removable you could theoretically design the whole back cover from scratch with keyboard. But that would be more expensive of course.