This my friends is very interesting. There was an idea by some guys called Phonebloks that at the time seemed far fetched. Well it looked like the boys over at Motorola recently bought by Google have picked up the idea and ran with it. They call it Project Ara. So what will come from this. This is what Motorola had to say about this:
The design for Project Ara consists of what we call an endoskeleton (endo) and modules. The endo is the structural frame that holds all the modules in place. A module can be anything, from a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter–or something not yet thought of!
They are working with the PhoneBloks community very closely and will probably be bringing this phone prototype to many eager devs who could possibly make this a reality. Here is the video that sparked the vision.
I also want to be the first one to try it out. I want to try it out before shooting it down. Funny story we had a very lengthy post at Caribbean Gamer forum and here what he said:
Authur Authorious This is a great idea but (sorry to be the downer) just having metal contacts to carry the electrical signals to the different components will slow the phone greatly. Creating all those highly resistant busses will make the phone feel like something from 1990. I’ve tried to draw in my head what the board will look like and what the ports will have to be like in order to reduce the communication lag between the components but…ya its not working out. Leaving out the slowness there are other factors that will not allow this thing to turn a profit….how many people who own a smartphone actually care for it like a new born? Having a device that can swap out parts so easily is not going to be very strong or durable. Nice idea but I won’t put 10 cents on it until living nano tech is created where the nano-mites can relocate themselves on the motherboard to the different components and “create” the necessary ports on the go without causing bottle-necks that will kill the functionality of the device.
I guess those guys at Motorola didn’t get that memo. Just goes to show you that like Steve Jobs your own limitations are only what you can’t imagine. He told us what we wanted and several iPhones later the world belongs to Apple. I say that because I really think this is a good idea but the execution is critical. Will this project inspire creativity with consumers? Will they be inspired to not take what is given to them and try to do something different with their phone? There is something there that can be great or an epic fail. Being backed by Motorola is a great sign of life. Only time will tell if this project can succeed where other have failed.
Taking a stroll through the good old Youtube page and I saw that there are many negative videos shooting down the idea. Which made me think that while most are quick to dismiss the idea some are actually eager to give it a try. I hope all those who calling death to this idea eat their words and swallow the hard pill of reality. Sometimes you have to try something different. Just like Apple that changed the mobile industry. Many thought all touch was crazy. They all said there must be buttons. Now look at them. Probably to ignorant to buy into that idea and have a Blackberry Curve till now. Hopefully this will pull off and you never know this might be my new phone….
CaribGamer 
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