We've seen at least a couple of modular phone concepts before, as well as a few projects by Dave Hakkens, but Phonebloks takes both to the next level. As a phone made of Lego-like modules that snap together, it's intended to be an upgradable phone with a longer lifespan than its competitors, something like the way one's identity persists even as his or her individual cells regenerate over time. Each element of the device (battery, camera, screen, etc) is a removable piece. The base holds everything together and electrical currents run through the pins that connect each block to the base. Break the screen, buy a new one and click it back on to the base. Upgrade separate elements instead of the entire phone, depending on your usage.
The cool thing about this design is the ability to customize. If you're a photographer, upgrade to a better camera and sacrifice some storage space. Movie aficionado who's always on the go? Upgrade the speaker. The design is spot-on—although the concept has been shared with skepticism. From a glance, it seems to fix a lot of problems. But is it too good to be true?
Doesn't seem so, seeing as Motorola (who was recently acquired by Google) announced a collaboration with Hakken to create the Project Ara—an entirely new open source phone design and experience. The viral video Hakken introduced a few months ago may be closer to reality than we think. We're excited to see what comes of this. From a UX point of view, it's a match made in customizable tech heaven. And the design isn't so bad, if you're into that whole building block look. What do you think—Can you see yourself ditching your iPhone for an Ara in the future?
Check out the video below for a look into Hakken's original plan for Phoneblok.
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Bluetooth antennas are pretty small as well, so the housing and interconnection would be a magnitude larger than the thing it was housing.
Computers used to be upgradable, now look at them. Macbooks and Microsoft Surface are no longer serviceable by consumers and this trend is only growing. Consumers might buy the phone initially because it's new and marketable, but when something breaks, what's stopping them from buying a new one outright rather than replacing the broken parts... or even being able to identify a failed part.
Honestly, it's about time to finish with programmed obsolescence.
Apple, as an example, launches a "new" phone every year, and people feel compelled to throw away their "old" phone to buy a "new" one. This is financially good for the company but is horrible for the environment and for the market itself.
In fact, while Apple could choose to launch a really NEW phone every five years or so, they launch the same old thing every year with a few minor changes here and there and convince people through heavy marketing that it's really innovative and that they really need it.
The modular approach could really be a real solution to this. It will motivate several companies to create really innovative parts with new functions, and the user could simply upgrade whatever aspect he needs, not buy a totally new phone because it has a better screen, or better camera, or more memory or whatever...Besides, you wont need to throw away the whole thing if just one part breaks.
This idea promotes a decentralized market, from where a lot of companies, including small ones, could highly benefit from.
If you look deeper into it, this strategy could really change the technology market as we know it, if other companies from other branches adhere to it.
I don't know if Motorola and Google are completely aware of it, but this is potentially paradigm shifting.
By the way, I'm guessing an intern did the above renders for motorola, no way an established designer would conceptualise something that bad. The Phoneblock guys pretty much nailed a concept render. No details that isn't needed a general gist.