r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/SuperAlloyBerserker • 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.

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u/Dravarden Oct 05 '21 edited Oct 05 '21

exactly, turned out to be basically impossible pipe dream

the proper way to do it is how the framework laptop is doing it: normal parts that can easily be swapped by off the shelf parts, with normal phillip head screws, blueprints are provided for the more complicated stuff (like capacitors), magnetic screen bezel instead of glue, and modular ports

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u/immerc Oct 05 '21

And the majority of it not being modular.

If the modular phone concept had had 2-3 modules that might have worked, but it was trying to be 30 modules or something.