Project Ara is a Modular Smartphone from Motorola

[JMcEntegart]

Motorola wants to build a phone that you can upgrade and update yourself with detachable hardware modules.

Project Ara is a Modular Smartphone from Motorola : Read more

 

[southernshark]

OK that would be awesome. And they said the PC was dead...

 

[eroshima]

this looks very promising! altough many manufacturers will likely not cooperate first hand. This could really bring cost down (in the long run) when buying a new phone, increasing ram or local storage, swapping out the gpu for a faster one, or radio modules (wifi, bluetooth, etc), and camera module. Keyboard and screen can be swapped out (on most devices) and battery too. one of the biggest concerns (issue) will be a standarize form factor for deployment.

 

[g-unit1111]

Man that would be awesome when Corsair, Mushkin, and EVGA start making 3rd party cell phone components. Please let it happen!

 

[jhansonxi]

I want an A/D input for use as an oscilloscope.

 

[teh_chem]

This is not going to go mainstream.

For items/instruments that don't need to take into account space-efficiency; great. You can have big bulky modules for each individual component. For phones where space is key, this would only yield larger and poorly-integrated devices.

 

[billgatez]

I am interested in what kind of interface they will use.

 

[renz496]

this looks very promising! altough many manufacturers will likely not cooperate first hand. This could really bring cost down (in the long run) when buying a new phone, increasing ram or local storage, swapping out the gpu for a faster one, or radio modules (wifi, bluetooth, etc), and camera module. Keyboard and screen can be swapped out (on most devices) and battery too. one of the biggest concerns (issue) will be a standarize form factor for deployment.

Except you cant sweep for faster gpu since in mobile device like this both cpu and gpu comes under one package.

 

[clonazepam]

I wouldn't go near it with a 10 foot pole if I had to provide any kind of warranty support.

 

[dgingeri]

I thought it would be better to just have all the parts loose in various pockets: a low power wifi or BT like "hub" that bridged the components to the internet with modules that would connect to it for storage, a watch for a display, a small keypad for making calls, an earpiece for listening to music and talking on phone calls, a small badge to just tap to answer incoming phone calls, a separate camera module if needed, a separate screen for the other uses, etc.

 

[TwoBridges]

Most of consumer electronics should be built with recyclable materials and have modular components. This is the wave of the future. The amount of wasted tech and thrown away tech around the world is unsustainable. Companies love planned obsolescence but the consumer hates it! TIME TO CHANGE THE WORLD FOLKS! DOWN WITH THE BANKS AND THE CORPS!

 

[TwoBridges]

Most of consumer electronics should be built with recyclable materials and have modular components. This is the wave of the future. The amount of wasted tech and thrown away tech around the world is unsustainable. Companies love planned obsolescence but the consumer hates it! TIME TO CHANGE THE WORLD FOLKS! DOWN WITH THE BANKS AND THE CORPS!

 

[izmanq]

they should make this modular thing for notebook

 

[Bloob]

I like how they are starting to innovate again.

 

[hannibal]

This could be really nice!

"I would like to have 720p screen, very highend music module, extra battery module and very basic two core prosessor thank you. And for my kid, one with good gaming GPU and extra durable cower!"

Custom phones, for differen kind of users. Not bad, but it all depends on the price. There allready are in the market modular AV aplifiers where you can upgrade parts, when new codec or some other new thing appears in the market. So you don't to buy whole thing. But those are not exactly cheap.