
Modular Moto Z Android phone supports DIY and RPi HAT add-ons - leephillips
http://hackerboards.com/modular-moto-z-android-phone-supports-diy-and-rpi-hat-add-ons/
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dharma1
I looked into adding GPIO to an Android/Ubuntu phone a while ago.. Something
like this should work with many phones for about $20 -
[http://www.ebay.com/itm/Geeetech-IOIO-OTG-development-
board-...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Geeetech-IOIO-OTG-development-board-with-
USB-OTG-cable-for-Android-device-PC-/222215803989)

I think mobile phones could be really nice for robotics - they have 4G/wifi/bt
connectivity, large battery, touch screen, sensors, IMU, camera, gps, fast
CPUs - and they are cheap and often surplus. Especially once mobile GPUs get
better and start getting support from machine learning frameworks

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JBiserkov
Read this instead if you are interested:
[https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-82850](https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-82850)

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digi_owl
Ah, so there are actual contact points between the mod and the phone.

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Vexs
That's neat- I was in the phone store the other day and saw the "moto mods"
and thought to myself how it would be neat to hook into it- looks like this
would make it quite a lot easier.

Some of those moto mods are pretty cool too- big giant speakers, pico
projector, etc.

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asimuvPR
I've been waiting for the smartphone to become expandable for a while. This is
very interesting and might be that middle step between a portable pocket
computer and a low cost computing environment (Rpi).

~~~
tdicola
Why wait, check out PocketCHIP for a neat handheld low cost computing
environment.

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daveloyall
This isn't exactly the expansion port on the bottom of an NES... it's a
mainstream (albeit new) line of accessories for a flagship product--a $700
dollar phone!

Since it's 2016, we can presume that this phone will ship with something like
a secure enclave, right? ...AND hardware attachments? How's this going to
work?? :)

~~~
daveloyall
Er, I mean.. the NES expansion port gave you a direct electrical connection to
the pins on the CPU.

According to the "system architecture" document[0], looks like the only way to
access the cool stuff will be through a microcontroller.

0: [https://developer.motorola.com/explore/system-
architecture](https://developer.motorola.com/explore/system-architecture)

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brokenmachine
I was semi-interested in this until I saw the $125 price for the Mods
Development Kit.

I'll stick with IOIO because who has the time and money to invest in another
proprietary system that only works with a single phone from a single
manufacturer, and will probably end up abandoned?

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jshevek
The one thing Lenovo needs to do to make Moto Mods the killer hardware
ecosystem is license the mod _hosting_ side of the equation to other hardware
manufactures. I want to be able to use mods with other devices, even if I need
to use an adapter plate to do it.

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digi_owl
The last time Motorola tried something similar (webtop), they could never
stick to a single device design across releases.

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aw3c2
Much better source (linked as "via" on hackaday) and a much less clickbaity
title: [http://hackerboards.com/modular-moto-z-android-phone-
support...](http://hackerboards.com/modular-moto-z-android-phone-supports-diy-
and-rpi-hat-add-ons/)

~~~
sctb
Thanks, we updated the link from [http://hackaday.com/2016/08/15/turn-your-
motorola-android-ph...](http://hackaday.com/2016/08/15/turn-your-motorola-
android-phone-into-a-raspberry-pi/).

