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Moto's Alexa-powered Smart Speaker will arrive November 7

The Moto Smart Speaker brings the power of an Alexa speaker to your Moto Z series phone. But do you really want or need it?
By
November 6, 2017

When Motorola announced its Smart Speaker Moto Mod last month, we knew it would arrive sometime in November. Apparently that ‘sometime’ is November 7th. The Amazon Alexa-powered Moto Mod speaker will set you back $149.99 when it hits store shelves. The  big question for owners of a Moto Z series device is whether or not you should actually bother. Honestly, we’d lean towards no.

The idea of a quality speaker on your phone that doubles as a full portal to Alexa sounds intriguing, but the execution is more than a little questionable.

First, let’s talk price. At $149.99, you could buy an actual Amazon Echo and still have $50 to spare. If portability is really what you were after, the Amazon Tap likely has much better speaker quality and yet still functions as a fully portable Bluetooth speaker.

If price isn’t a deal breaker to you, how about the the fact the attachment blocks the camera? This is a design decision we just don’t fully understand. If you want to use your camera you have to remove the mod every time, which is bound to get tedious fast.

The Moto Smart Speaker seems like a solution in search of a problem. If you want portability, there’s Amazon Tap. If you want Alexa on your phone, the Alexa app or the Amazon shopping app both have it incorporated.

What do you think, is the Moto Smart Speaker a good idea or just another excuse to use that Mod slot with little real return in value? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.