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Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

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Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#21

Post by nknighthb »

lessnonymous wrote: post #11

This is one of those ideas that look good on paper (or youtube) but just isn't practical. There's absolutely no spare space in a modern phone. If you make it modular, each 'module' has to have enough space for its component, PLUS space to bring it up to the next module size. This will make the phone HUGE. The concept of an upgradable device is, however, great. Just not in the manufacturer's interest. Apple lose out i…

> There's absolutely no spare space in a modern phone.

My Treo 700p was >3x the thickness of an iPhone 5S, roughly the same width, 7mm taller (not counting the antenna, which was, by far, the most annoying physical part of the phone), and weighed an extra 68 grams. My manager around the same time used an HTC Windows Phone of not-dissimilar size and weight.

Phones are smaller because they can be, not because they have to be.

Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#22

Post by cevaris »

lessnonymous wrote: post #11

This is one of those ideas that look good on paper (or youtube) but just isn't practical. There's absolutely no spare space in a modern phone. If you make it modular, each 'module' has to have enough space for its component, PLUS space to bring it up to the next module size. This will make the phone HUGE. The concept of an upgradable device is, however, great. Just not in the manufacturer's interest. Apple lose out i…

What if Motorola so that next storage upgrade or screen? And modern desktops are built to be modular from the start. Why not have a motherboard in form factor of a smart phone device.

Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#23

Post by ceejayoz »

azatris wrote: post #6

It's also an appearence issue. Most women I know tend to choose their phone by its looks. Phonebloks would not appeal to most of them ("I see the screws!") and thus it is not a very marketable phone.

Yeah, sure, it's only women who choose a phone on looks.

Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#25

Post by codeka »

> the stated motivation for this design is to reduce electrical waste. The best way to do that in the short term is to ensure devices are more repairable

Right, a replaceable screen and battery and an SD card slot would get you 99% of the features you'd actually want from phonebloks, and it's actually something that would be achievable (if there were demand, which I think is the biggest problem here: there's just no demand for this from the majority of consumers)

Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#26

Post by mgpetkov »

The biggest problem is that all major hardware manufacturers must create common standard and redesign their hardware components. The combined effort would cost billions of dollars and the result will be uncertain. No one would take the risk.

Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#27

Post by 6ren »

PC's are modular. You can mix and match (at least, until a new motherboard standard); you can replace parts (at least, while they're still made).

One problem with mobile phones is that they haven't been fast enough - by tightly integrating every part, you can maximize efficiency to get the best out of the hardware. Apple does this fantastically, whereas Android is more modular, and so isn't quite as efficient.

But now that the iPhone 5S is 40x-56x faster than the first iPhone, speed doesn't seem to be an issue, in practice or theory. So an even more modular phone is plausible.

Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#28

Post by devx »

PC's were once integrated, too, and then became modular. Smartphones are integrated, but I could see a future where they become modular. It would also follow Clayton Christen's theory of "integration/disintegration" from his Innovator's Solution book.

Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#29

Post by jkh123 »

sitharus wrote: post #16
lessnonymous wrote: post #11

This is one of those ideas that look good on paper (or youtube) but just isn't practical. There's absolutely no spare space in a modern phone. If you make it modular, each 'module' has to have enough space for its component, PLUS space to bring it up to the next module size. This will make the phone HUGE. The concept of an upgradable device is, however, great. Just not in the manufacturer's interest. Apple lose out i…

You can clearly see the cost of modularity if you compare my current laptop to my previous one. My current laptop is a 15" retina MacBook Pro. It isn't upgradable in any real sense of the word. My previous laptop was a 15" MacBook Pro. I could upgrade the RAM and HDD, and with little difficulty replace the battery. The upgradable one is 5mm-ish thicker and about 400 grams heavier. Not a true apples-to-apples comparis…

If I recall correctly the standard MacBook Pro also sports a DVD-slot drive, which may attribute to quite a bit of the added weight and size. However I do agree, that modularity will come at the prize of less miniaturization. And with mobile phones this is even more of an issue.

Re: Why Phonebloks Will Never Happen

#30

Post by DanBC »

codeka wrote: post #25

> the stated motivation for this design is to reduce electrical waste. The best way to do that in the short term is to ensure devices are more repairable Right, a replaceable screen and battery and an SD card slot would get you 99% of the features you'd actually want from phonebloks, and it's actually something that would be achievable (if there were demand, which I think is the biggest problem here: there's just no…

> > the stated motivation for this design is to reduce electrical waste. The best way to do that in the short term is to ensure devices are more repairable

> (if there were demand, which I think is the biggest problem here: there's just no demand for this from the majority of consumers)

I'm old enough to remember people treating their phone less carefully towards the end of the contract, so that they "had the excuse" to upgrade to a better phone when they got a ew contract, and not just keep the same phone on a cheaper contract.

So, repairability is good, but WEEE is also important. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Electrical_and_Electroni...)

Luckily phones contain comparatively large amounts of gold so they're desirable for recyclers. It'd be great if all the other rare earth minerals etc could be recycled too.

It's great that there's a lot of aluminium cases being used, if that's creating a market for recycled aluminum. Not so great if new ore is being mined for it.

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