A Customizable Smartphone

Gone are those days when people used to buy a single branded desktop computer. Now they want an assembled one which has a Quad-core processor to go with a specific motherboard and a particular DDR5 graphics card to satisfy the gaming requirements. Thus, Customization led to Optimization! Now imagine you could do that to your Smartphone..!

Do you like to use your ‘Phablet’ exclusively for gaming? Well, go for a multi-core processor and a full HD display. Do you like to share your special moments on Instagram? Go for a high megapixel camera with better focus. Or do you like to use your phone simply as an IPod? Just go for Bluetooth 4.0 and a high mAh battery. Thus make your phone really ‘Smart’. Phonebloks came up with this idea in late 2013 where different components called ‘Bloks’ can be attached to the main board and thus the users can personalize their smartphones.

Phonebloks

Each component like the battery, processor, camera, screen etc will be a different Blok. The users can select their Bloks and build their smartphones. These Bloks will be available on ‘Blokstore’, an app store for the hardware, and can be replaced if the user wishes to upgrade the phone. You can imagine this as a smartphone made out of Lego bricks..! The idea behind this concept was that most of us want to change our phones after using them for over 1-2 years. And the reasons are increasing lag, low space, insufficient battery etc. But, in most of the cases, there is a single component that needs to be replaced. However, we end up discarding the entire device. Phonebloks came up with this effective solution of upgrading just that required component.

In September 2013, Phonebloks presented this idea to gather support from all over the world and on 29^th October 2013, using thunderclap they revealed its overwhelming response. Now Phonebloks is working on developing a phone platform that is modular and open source. And you can lend your support by donating to them or getting involved in their team. If you are good at hardware, software, designing, marketing or simply promoting, you can register yourself at www.phonebloks.com. Phonebloks have over 950,000 supporters as of February 2014 and a social reach of over 380 million people.

Project Ara

Now, Motorola is said to be working on a similar concept of modular phone called ‘Project Ara’ since last year. This project was originally developed by the Advanced Technologies group within Motorola Mobility. The initial design is similar to that of Phonebloks. Just like the Bloks, the components can be slid together to form a modular phone. Although Google is selling Motorola to Lenovo, it will be retaining the Advanced Technologies team to work on this project. And since Google, Motorola and Phonebloks share the same vision of a modular and open source platform; they will be working collaboratively on Project Ara..! Motorola will be keeping a follow up on the Phonebloks community, listening to the suggestions and ideas shared over there. Moreover, Motorola will soon be releasing a developer’s kit so that companies and individuals can start developing the prototype.

So, in today’s world where the mobile phones get outdated even before its warranty is expired, this concept can be the Next Big Thing..! And we can very soon have such a modular phone from the makers of the very first mobile phone. So let’s look forward to a concept which can help reduce the electronic waste, provide customization and a modular phone which is aptly tag lined “A phone worth keeping”.