Written By Ben Sin Forbes Contributor


Motorola will unveil two new Android smartphones this year, and like LG, it’s gone metal and modular. While the LG G5′s bottom bezel can be removed for additional add-ons, The Moto X Vertex and Moto X Vector Thin incorporates modularity into the entire back of the phone — meaning, we’ll be able to pull out the phones’ back plates and insert different ones that bring additional functionality. According to the very, very reliable Evan Blass of Venture Beat, these add-ons will be called “Amps” (LG calls them “Friends”), and Motorola already have six ready for launch. Blass says each Amp brings the following additional feature: stereo speakers, extra battery, a camera grip with optical zoom and additional flash, a wide-angle lens attachment, and a projector.


As is the case with many Android manufacturers now, the dual-phone release includes a “premium” top-of-the-line flagship phone and a less powerful phone aimed at the mid-price market. The Vector Thin is the top dog here, with a 5.5 inch Quad HD AMOLED display and a Snapdragon 820 processor. The Vertex runs Snapdragon 625 and a “lesser” 1080p HD display. The Vector Thin also rocks a 16-megapixel camera to its smaller brother’s 13-megapixel. Both phones have fingerprint scanners on the front of the phone.

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In an unusual choice, the more powerful phone is the thinner phone here, at just 5.2 millimeters thick, compared to the Vertex’s 7 millimeters. That’s because the more powerful Vector Thin has a much smaller battery (2,600 mAH) to the Vertex’s (3,500 mAH). I wonder about Motorola’s decision here, since most phone makers give the more powerful phone the bigger battery, for obvious reasons.
The holes in the back on the phone may look like speaker grills, but no, they’re connector ports to hold the modular back plates in place. Blass said Motorola has developed a magnetic system to hold the plates securely, while still leaving it easy to remove.
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There’s no word on pricing yet, but Android Police reports that The Moto X Vertex and the Moto X Vector Thin will be officially unveiled on June 9 at Lenovo’s Tech World event in San Francisco, so we’ll know more then. But so far, this is looking like a very exciting phone. As I’ve written before, I’m tired of every phone going for the safe iPhone clone route — any attempt to at something new should be applauded.

Source: Forbes Tech