Modular phones are still some time away, or so we thought. Puzzlephone, is a smartphone that can be customised, upgraded and repaired by users themselves. The smartphone has been designed by a 5 member team from Finland and their campaign on crowdfunding website Indigogo has already raised $35,230 in a matter of 22 hours. Their target is to raise $250,000, which should not be a problem given the excitement around the campaign. The idea behind Puzzlephone is to give users the ability to change the specifications of their device once it's outdated or if the battery dies or even if it breaks.
The Puzzlephone is divided into three parts. The first part is the 'brain', which contains the processor, RAM & camera. The second part is the 'spine', which makes for the structure of the phone including the LCD screen. The organ is the 'heart', which holds the battery and other electronics. The mission statement from the makers of the device states, "We believe that good design is functional and timeless, it should be built to last for years to come. We're on a mission to end the wasteful trend of 'consumable' electronics that are inoperable or obsolete after two years of use."
Longevity of current smartphones is not more than 2-3 years and that is when they are used with utmost care. Puzzlephone is an attempt to fix that problem with a simple 3-tier modular body. The phone is not meant to be thrown out, claim the founders.
The 1st edition PuzzlePhone will be the first to manufacture and delivered to backers. All finishing will be in moulded black plastic and it will have 16GB of internal storage. The device will then ship out to backers for a special price of $333 by September 2016. This isn't the first time that we have seen a modular phone. Google has shown off Project Ara which is also a modular phone but sadly hasnt seen the light of day yet consumers.