DailyDirt: Does Anyone Really Want A Modular Smartphone?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The US smartphone market is currently dominated by Apple and Samsung for hardware, but that could change pretty quickly if consumers were offered something a bit more innovative than a bigger phablet. One concept that's been floating around is a modular phone that allows its owner to swap out various components -- making a customizable phone that could have a bigger battery or a better camera, depending on user preferences (instead of Apple or Samsung's upgrade cycle). If you haven't been following the modular phone projects out there, here are a few links -- if you think you can wait a year (or forever) to buy one.

• Finland has not one, but TWO startups trying to build modular smartphones. Vsenn and Puzzlephone (from Circular Devices) are both trying to launch products in 2015, and these modular phones will run on Android (if they run at all). [url]
• In 2013, Dave Hakkens released a video that demonstrated what a modular smartphone might look like. The video has inspired plenty of other folks to try to bring an open phone platform into the real world, but it's not on Kickstarter because it's not exactly easy to build a functioning prototype that actually lives up to the hype. [url]
• Motorola also introduced its Project Ara in 2013, and it had been in development for over a year by that point. The project lives on under Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group -- working towards a limited market pilot launch sometime in 2015. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: atap, crowdfunding, gadgets, modular phone, phablet, phonebloks, project ara, puzzlephone, smartphone, vaporware
Companies: apple, circular devices, google, kickstarter, motorola, samsung, vsenn