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About the Author: TechAltar

32 Comments

  1. googles project would be nice i mean adding no CPU and adding a basic board to connect all parts and get a CPU As Module or change a battery module just that would be nice

  2. That was the only thing that made me be enthusiastic about smartphones. My enthusiasm for them died with modularity. So sad…

  3. it’s simple: these products failed because the companies WANTED them to fail. modularity became a popular topic in the smartphone world and manufacturers then released their own watered-down, gimmicky “modular” phones and then when they failed, people stopped talking about them. they KNEW those phones wouldn’t make it and that’s because that’s not what the consumer wanted in the first place. we want the right to repair, not a fucking projector that magnetically attaches to the back of our phones.

  4. Modular phones will never become popular because humans like buying new things and companies like being able to take advantage of this and make computers held together with glue.

  5. The power and features of smartphones has been exponential and a modular phone cannot compete. Ultimately smart phones will be your PC

  6. apple: removes ports and sells $50 dongles
    consumers: innovation
    lg: sells extra batteries for you to swap batteries in a few seconds
    consumers: dumb gimmick

  7. The Moto series are actually amazing but missteps are too blame, literally in 2019 the z4 is worse than the z2 force a 2 year old phone

  8. I almost got an LG G5 (that's the modular one right?) but the lack of water resistant and the build quality were deal-breakers for me. Also, the modularity was severely limited and felt more like a gimmick.

  9. The whole issue comes to its trying to force a niche market into the mass market which really almost never works. For phones people want simple and similar. The majority of average consumers get one phone then buy that same brands newest model every 1-6 years. That or people just buy cheap. Buy the $150 or less phones that aren’t high end and make them last until they literally don’t charge.

    Honestly if any market modularity would benefit the budget market of under $200 phones. I know enough people that get a phone for $150 shatter the display in a week. If they could replace the display easily for maybe $20-$30 they probably would rather than having to deal with repair or buying a new phone or having to deal with a cracked screen. The issue is modularity will never get here if it doesn’t hit a high end market then gradually lower prices to the cheaper market.

  10. This would really take off in the PC building community if the parts could be licensed to individual companies, such as
    Nikon/Canon for the lens ,
    Intel/AMD for the cpu,
    Asus/EVGA/Gigabyte/MSI etc for the graphical component,
    Bose/Sennheiser/BeatsByDre for speakers
    etc etc etc for the rest of the parts

  11. Modular devices are great for so many reasons (as you stated at the very beginning) and imho it is the only way to get away from blind consumerism which is producing throw-away products (forcing people to get new devices on a regular basis) at the price of negative environmental impact and bad working conditions for most people involved in the manufacturing process. If we want to change the world, I think we need to push for more modular systems, not just for devices like phones, but in any other industry. That way, we will reduce the amount of wasted resources. Otherwise, as my German friends tend to say, we will harvest the bitter fruits of the "Wegwerfgesellschaft". The fact that many global players do not care about these things is insane, but obviously, the winners of this perversion won't have to suffer under the negative consequences – they will be long gone by then. "Nach uns die Sintflut" – an attitude way too common among those who only care about profits. Even more sad to see that the majority of our species doesn't care about any of these things, even though they are the ones who will suffer the most.

  12. When I saw modular smartphones I was shocked. The whole idea is a complete regression of technology, a step backwards, a solution to a problem that didn’t exist. Modularity increases complexity. No one wants to tear apart a phone or tablet. Hell, outside of gamers and tech enthusiasts no one wants to open their computer at all. When I see people calling for modularity and customization on computers I only see bored people disconnected from market realities looking for a quick emotional fix from novelty. Computers aren’t toys, they are an essential component of our lives. Smart computer companies are not going to spend vast sums of research money and dedicate their engineers to years of support for devices that are overly-complex and offer little benefit to the consumer other than a fleeting “cool factor.” Some people need to find other sources of entertainment to occupy their fidgety fingers and impulsive brains. Tech is meant to solve problems, not to soothe people’s ADHD. Go buy some Legos if you want to play with modular toys. I want a high-quality, durable phone that always works.

  13. If you cant swap out CPU, Display etc then its not modular!
    Most phones are thicker once people throw on a protective case!

  14. It's simply that they haven't yet been able to build replacement strategy for the CPU, GPUs, bus control, screen. That's it. Same as most laptops

  15. Phone and text. I dont need a camera at all. Good sound and a headphone Jack, yes. Additional storage. Browser and email, yes. Calculator, yes. Bluetooth, maybe. That's it.

    Removable battery is good too.
    Waterproof, no.

  16. Modular phone concept like Fairphone with good repairability is great but it takes long time and big effort to change mass user mind in using an not price competitive mobile phone.

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