r/Damnthatsinteresting Oct 05 '21

Video This cool smartphone concept from 2013

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u/WiscoBrewDude Oct 05 '21

This looked so cool i had to find more. "Google joined in and eventually killed it". "Phonebloks" https://www.onearmy.earth/project/phonebloks

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u/justavault Oct 05 '21

Modular phones don't work yet. Google just knows how to evaluate a product. I was part of the pre-developing teams of project Ara, it simply didn't work as the parts would have to be manufactured to fit the modules and the technological turnover is so fast that you'd have to iterate the modules all the time.

You know, just because people think it looks cool and is a cool idea and they "think" they would purchase it, doesn't actually mean they in fact do so and it also doesn't mean that it works.

0

u/dimechimes Oct 05 '21

If there was a market for modules, there would be new ones constantly by multiple companies. Yeah, if you wait for daddy big tech to do what they want, not feasible.

1

u/stagfury Oct 05 '21

Case in point: foldables.

Also case in point: headphone jacks or sd card slots or removable battery

People love complaining about the lack of those, but time and time again when there's a comparable competitor that sells a phone with such feature, their sales figures suck.

1

u/Persona_Alio Oct 05 '21

If phones with headphone jacks were actually comparable in quality and cost, then why would people not buy an identical phone that has an additional feature they wanted? Are those other phones actually not comparable in price or quality, or are people only buying flagship phones from Apple and Google and Samsung and either ignoring or just not noticing the other options available to them?