# Phonebloks - A customizable phone



## RCuber (Sep 12, 2013)

A very interesting concept.. lets hope it starts off.. 

Phonebloks - Made by Dave Hakkens


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## snap (Sep 12, 2013)

this is the future


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## Flash (Sep 12, 2013)

Interesting. So it's like a lego of smartphones.


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## Nerevarine (Sep 12, 2013)

This is ... EPIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can we customize the OS on it too ? like Android or Windows Phone


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## RCuber (Sep 12, 2013)

^^ Android is free.. Windows Mobile OS is not.. so I doubt it.. we might consider with Android, Ubuntu mobile, Firefox OS ..


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## Nerevarine (Sep 12, 2013)

Even then, its still EPIC  multibooting Android, Ubuntu etc...
Too bad this phone will only get attention from geeks like us, not from the common person


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## Inceptionist (Sep 12, 2013)

Awesomectacular idea. 
do u guys remember about digit's special issue few years back?
It had an article about DIY phones.


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## RCuber (Sep 12, 2013)

Inceptionist said:


> Awesomectacular idea.
> do u guys remember about digit's special issue few years back?
> It had an article about DIY phones.


sometime I forget that Digit is actually a magazine


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## root.king (Sep 12, 2013)

RCuber said:


> A very interesting concept.. lets hope it starts off..
> 
> Phonebloks - Made by Dave Hakkens



nice concept ,wish it could become true


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## ankush28 (Sep 12, 2013)

really awsem concept :thumbup:


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## kamal_saran (Sep 12, 2013)

I wish it will cone true in next 4 years


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## Vyom (Sep 12, 2013)

The biggest strength of this phone is it's biggest obstacle. Due to the nature of the idea to last a phone years, major companies would never support it. Worse is that it may even try to discourage it by any means.

But that doesn't mean the idea can't become a reality even if for the Geek community. It's just that after the failure of crowd funding of Ubuntu *dream phone* its hard for me to believe such crowd funding can success.


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## RCuber (Sep 12, 2013)

^^ he is not looking for crowd funding.. he did say one company cannot do it on its own.


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## root.king (Sep 13, 2013)

if think in +ve manner its possible like we already have 'pi'


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## gopi_vbboy (Sep 13, 2013)

Nice concept


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## Allu Azad (Sep 16, 2013)

This is not the future at all . Who will want to buy the phone that looks like what everyone else is having ?


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## amjath (Sep 16, 2013)

Allu Azad said:


> This is not the future at all . Who will want to buy the phone that looks like what everyone else is having ?



iPhone's, Galaxy's, Xperia's have same design for that particular model. Not everyone gonna buy them


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## Hrishi (Sep 16, 2013)

Geekogasmic.!!!! , MultiBoot is what we need!!! Hope the concept turns into a affordable reality for the Geeks!


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## amjath (Sep 16, 2013)

Rishi. said:


> Geekogasmic.!!!! , MultiBoot is what we need!!! Hope the concept turns into a affordable reality for the Geeks!



Multi boot is possible on android.
I mean android + android
And android + Ubuntu for few devices


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## Desmond (Sep 16, 2013)

Not a practical design.

Only way to make a truly modular phone is to make a miniaturized IBM PC like architecture.


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## Hrishi (Sep 17, 2013)

amjath said:


> Multi boot is possible on android.
> I mean android + android
> And android + Ubuntu for few devices


OOps. . . I meant Multi-OS. Like as in WP+Droid+Ubuntu,etc.
Only phone I know of is HTC's HD2 , which was a WP originally but had possibilities to run Windows.

There was this project called NitDroid , which hacked several non droid devices to run Android. Like running Nokia N900 with Android.

However , there will always be Driver related conflicts.


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## RCuber (Sep 17, 2013)

Rishi. said:


> OOps. . . I meant Multi-OS. Like as in WP+Droid+Ubuntu,etc.
> Only phone I know of is HTC's HD2 , which was a WP originally but had possibilities to run Windows.
> 
> There was this project called NitDroid , which hacked several non droid devices to run Android. Like running Nokia N900 with Android.
> ...



Most if not all mobiles processors run on ARM architecture, and only if OS vendor decide they can give a port to the device.. im talking about non free OS like WP , iOS which is highly unlikely.


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## Desmond (Sep 17, 2013)

Rishi. said:


> However , there will always be Driver related conflicts.



Not if you write your own drivers.


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## Anorion (Sep 17, 2013)

Compatibility of bloks will be chaotic, we will see the same problems (eg: some bloks work only with some other bloks, software will be tuned to particular bloks). More brands get involved, more chaos

Each and every blok will have to be replaced at the same pace as the entire device, if not faster, given the rate of progress and changing standards. Manufacturing screens, batteries, storage to variant specifications might actually be more wasteful... We may end up with more tons of waste bloks than phones

Not sure what the role of any mobile company in the current state of things would be in such a blok process. Their job is basically to get the qualcomm, broadcom, Texas instruments, atmel/synaptics, corning/asahi, arm variant, toshiba/samsung components to work together at particular prices. 

This thing will be bulky, each component has a shell to start with. Dont think the teardowns of any device will reveal an advantage in changing the space alloted to storage vs battery for cloud / non cloud based usage as shown in vid.

What is fun is you can switch over 3.5 mm jacks and charging port to any side as per convinience.


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## Flash (Sep 17, 2013)

Anorion said:


> Not sure what the role of any mobile company in the current state of things would be in such a blok process. Their job is basically to get the qualcomm, broadcom, Texas instruments, atmel/synaptics, corning/asahi, arm variant, toshiba/samsung components to work together at particular prices.


That will be their main problem. All component manufacturers has to work together with Phonebloks, to get this made. 
Also i don't think anyone will want to own a phone for many years. Current gen people wants to be in touch with latest technologies, so they will stick with their phone for 1 year minimum.

So, i dont think people will actually use this for years. It's gonna be like facebook. Exciting at first and existing at last.


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## roypurohit (Sep 17, 2013)

of cource lego phone... haha...


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## Vyom (Sep 17, 2013)

I think the main idea behind this concept was not to introduce some "revolutionary" new phone, rather having a *smartphone *which isn't smart in the way we perceive it, but *smart *in the way that its easily upgradable without requiring us to change the complete phone. The idea for which is to reduce e-waste. 

So even if this Phoneblocks concept doesn't materialize as the way video demonstrates, companies need to (or we need to make them) realize the potential for this component-upgradation-concept can have environmentally.

Sadly, consumerism is not easy to fight with.


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## Anorion (Sep 18, 2013)

Allu Azad said:


> This is not the future at all . Who will want to buy the phone that looks like what everyone else is having ?


Yep
One blok configuration will emerge as most advantageous, 
Everyone will have the same device


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## suyash_123 (Sep 20, 2013)

A person Knowning a diffence between MAC and PC Can understand this Phone ....
IF a Headlight/ Tyre or Horn is giving problem  .. Do you Buy a New CAR ????
If Your HDD or CD rom or SMPS or ETHERNET Port is gone (mostly by lightning - mine gone)   Do you buy a new Phone ? or just replace spare part with new ???

Support this concept man !! request to all !


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## saswat23 (Sep 21, 2013)

Great concept. Hope this one comes out soon.


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## ajaymailed (Sep 21, 2013)

suyash_123 said:


> A person Knowning a diffence between MAC and PC Can understand this Phone ....
> IF a Headlight/ Tyre or Horn is giving problem  .. Do you Buy a New CAR ????
> If Your HDD or CD rom or SMPS or ETHERNET Port is gone (mostly by lightning - mine gone)   Do you buy a new Phone ? or just replace spare part with new ??? Support this concept man !! request to all !


An assembled phone like a desktop will be dangerous for present smartphone market. it will revolutionize it but also kill companies, Apple for example will lose heavily if that happens. The hardware probably is so tightly integrated that its either too difficult or expensive replace one single part. Even OS itself is so much dependent on the phones hardware. We dont have any phones that has ability to run different OS.

Allowing user the freedom to install different OS on their phones itself will be like a revolution. All the mobile OS companies can come forward and develop a standard hardware requirements for a Phone and let users install any kind of OS.


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## krishnandu.sarkar (Sep 21, 2013)

Really an awesome concept


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## amjath (Oct 29, 2013)

Motorola working with Phonebloks 
Motorola's 'Project Ara' modular smartphone setup switches out hardware like apps


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## vickybat (Oct 29, 2013)

Nice concept and truly innovative. The entire project is open-source.


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## ankush28 (Oct 29, 2013)

Motorola/google :doublethumbs:


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## vickybat (Oct 29, 2013)

*Motorola announces Ara, a new modular phone concept*


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## gameranand (Oct 29, 2013)

The concept is quite hard to implement in real world.


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## Anorion (Oct 30, 2013)

If you break it down to parts, then its already here
Gaming controller > *www.mogaanywhere.com/
Camera > DSC-QX100 : QX Series : Lens-style Camera : Sony India
One device that does extra storage, battery and wifi (each is available seperately) > RAVPower ® FileHub Wireless SD Flash Card Reader USB External HDD / SDD Reader with Built-in 3000 mah External Battery Pack and Portable Wifi Hot Spot
And bunch of keyboards 

Except for storage-battery, parts cant get too much smaller


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## quagmire (Oct 30, 2013)

^But all need a base device to "mount" or use with..


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## ankush28 (Dec 8, 2013)

Interview with Motorola CEO Hints that Project Ara is Closer than Expected – xda-developers


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## kaz (Dec 8, 2013)

We don't even have customisable phones..We get what is manufactured in bulk..I wish to see customisable phones(like dell laptops) first before phones being able to replicate PC's like hardware switching..  This project seems decades away from final product getting distributed in the market though Motorola has started some works.. Let's keep our eyes open..


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## rijinpk1 (Dec 8, 2013)

eagerly waiting for this


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## amjath (Dec 10, 2013)

*Flash News, Its ready its here*

Motorola's modular phone prototype is almost ready, final product might be sold on Moto Maker

*Another concept emerges, this time Xiaomi 
*
*blog.gsmarena.com/concept-images-of-a-xiaomi-modular-phone-appear/

But looks like they didn't get the concept right


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## snap (Mar 3, 2014)

rise from the dead

Project Ara component swapping gets demoed - GSMArena.com news


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## shohankabir (Mar 4, 2014)

We need this Lego?Modular phone ASAP...


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## Desmond (Jan 8, 2016)

OP Don't forget to post link.

BTW, this is not my idea of a customizable phone. For me a customizable phone is something that is akin to a PC where you can purchase and assemble everything from the ground up.


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## Allu Azad (Jan 8, 2016)

It is a dead thread bro.


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## Desmond (Jan 8, 2016)

All hail Desmond the necromancer.


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