The mobile phone of the future?

Post by **LarsMac** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:45 pm

I think this idea has promise.

Is this a bandwagon you could join?

What do you think?

Phonebloks

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:49 pm

In many ways, it is a return to the past of electronics, where daughterboards plugged into a motherboard and could be individually upgraded. I like the concept although I could forsee a few technical problems with its implementation. I'd like to see them build one.

Post by **Chloe_88** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 7:50 am

Love the idea! wonder if it would actually work/catch on.. like wandrin said: i'd like to see them build one..

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:11 am

I doubt the electronics companies would go for it. They want to charge the maximum amount possible to pad their bottom line. They don't give a damn about the environment or people only the bottom line. Same with healthcare.

Týr · Post by **Týr** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:40 am

Wandrin's reference is sound but it turned out to be impractical. The nineties had the concept of the upgradeable PC. Buy it with today's technology and you'll be able to swap the processor and memory in a couple of years time for the latest. That was daughterboards. I never once saw anyone bother to try after a couple of years, it turned out that it would have cost more than getting in a new PC.

I get by with a phone that's ten years old but it still only does what it could do when it was bought new - SMS and voice calls. I reckon the modular proposal in the OP has the same fundamental restriction.

Besides, cellphones more than anything else you might carry around wear out physically. Mine manages because it's rubberized and has no glass to scratch. Few Androids will last that long.

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:15 am

After giving it more thought, I can foresee a couple of areas of potential weakness in the design. Since each module connects to the primary unit through electrical connectors (rather than solder), the wear and flexure on these connectors are its critical weakness since they would cause malfunction of the unit. The modules would also be more expensive to make, simply because there is more variety in modules and each must be made separately. Also, each module must be enclosed in an insulating material.

Having said that, diagnosing hardware problems at a store/shop that is set up for it would be faster and easier, since each module and the mother could be tested individually.

The phone would be more expensive to manufacture and slightly more prone to malfunction. I still like the concept though.

Týr · Post by **Týr** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:21 am

Do you not feel its design inherently increases its weight compared to any integrated alternative?

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:36 pm

Týr;1437919 wrote: Do you not feel its design inherently increases its weight compared to any integrated alternative?

I agree. All that extra insulation would make it heavier, plus it would need a front and back plate that is very stiff to avoid flexing the module contacts. I'd also expect it to be thicker than most modern phones.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 9:19 am

YZGI;1437913 wrote: I doubt the electronics companies would go for it. They want to charge the maximum amount possible to pad their bottom line. They don't give a damn about the environment or people only the bottom line. Same with healthcare.As well as every industry in the free market system including the NFL

- those are the consequences of that system.

A paradigm shift in American economics began in the mid-eighties with the emerging tide of the service industry becoming dominant. Since manufacturing had slowed and service grew the focus of how best to achieve the most profitable bottom line changed from the employee being the greatest asset a company possessed to the shareholder. When that shift occurred the employee became strictly a cost liability that needed to be trimmed while the corporation began to take the form of a person.

We're way off topic now and I beg the op's forgiveness.

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:34 pm

"Raising your voice" sounds to me like ...advertising without spending any money .

Týr · Post by **Týr** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:24 am

fuzzywuzzy;1438187 wrote: "Raising your voice" sounds to me like ...advertising without spending any money .

Commercial enterprises advertise. Group initiatives attract attention.

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:27 am

yeah and so does me saying I'm for sale. No difference at all, just different format.

Týr · Post by **Týr** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:33 am

fuzzywuzzy;1438193 wrote: yeah and so does me saying I'm for sale. No difference at all, just different format.

Maybe you could be a group initiative too. I reckon there's few parts of the world where you'd not attract attention.

fuzzywuzzy · Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:35 am

why too much of it ? ;0. which in essence is kind of my point.

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 7:45 am

Apparently, one of the big guys thinks that the concept is a good idea. Motorola (Google) has launched Project Ara to build modular customizable phones. They say that it is an open hardware platform, so it will be interesting to see what the designers come up with.

Motorola unveils Project Ara for custom smartphones | Mobile - CNET News

Post by **LarsMac** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 10:44 am

Týr;1437916 wrote: Wandrin's reference is sound but it turned out to be impractical. The nineties had the concept of the upgradeable PC. Buy it with today's technology and you'll be able to swap the processor and memory in a couple of years time for the latest. That was daughterboards. I never once saw anyone bother to try after a couple of years, it turned out that it would have cost more than getting in a new PC.

I get by with a phone that's ten years old but it still only does what it could do when it was bought new - SMS and voice calls. I reckon the modular proposal in the OP has the same fundamental restriction.

Besides, cellphones more than anything else you might carry around wear out physically. Mine manages because it's rubberized and has no glass to scratch. Few Androids will last that long.

I just got a new phone, the one I have been using for six years or so had become a bit unreliable, and the battery life was severely reduced. I could not go a whole day without re-charging, and my spare battery failed, entirely.

I have little hope that this new phone will last as long.

I am the kind of person that likes to buy a car and drive it until it begins to fall apart. I am the same with other things. A cell phone that I can simply upgrade components on, is very attractive to me.

Even if it is a little heavier, and at the prices the phone companies are asking for these things, now. I don't see the cost for this idea being all that out of line.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 3:25 pm

Týr;1437916 wrote: Wandrin's reference is sound but it turned out to be impractical. The nineties had the concept of the upgradeable PC. Buy it with today's technology and you'll be able to swap the processor and memory in a couple of years time for the latest. That was daughterboards. I never once saw anyone bother to try after a couple of years, it turned out that it would have cost more than getting in a new PC.

I get by with a phone that's ten years old but it still only does what it could do when it was bought new - SMS and voice calls. I reckon the modular proposal in the OP has the same fundamental restriction.

Besides, cellphones more than anything else you might carry around wear out physically. Mine manages because it's rubberized and has no glass to scratch. Few Androids will last that long.

How long did the Arc last? Bought in ?1989? it was still going strong in 2006 on it's third processor board and ?forth? set of OS chips (the only reason I added more memory was because I'd installed an Intel co-processor board that gobbled the stuff).