Phonebloks

Most electronic devices are abandoned due to a fault that is usually the result of one component going bad. This results in a lot of electronic waste full of devices that are otherwise fully functional save for one or two failed components. So what if you had a phone where you could just replace one component if it goes bad? Or build a phone with just the components you want?

This is what the Phonebloks concept is all about. Conceptualized by Dave Hakkens, Phonebloks is a completely modular mobile phone, where every part such as the display, speaker, camera, battery, etc. are modules that plug into a board and you can remove and replace them as you desire.

This not just lets you replace one component easily if it goes bad but you can also customize it to your liking. So for example, you can build a phone with a bigger battery if you want, or if you’re into photography, you can choose a better camera module, or a bigger speaker module if you like playing your music loud. You can choose from a set of brands say samsung,LG,Nokia or even Apple whatever blocks you want. But the problem is that these brands need to accept to hakkens' proposal.To bring this concept to reality, Hakkens needs people to show interest in the concept by sharing it

online to a point where companies take notice and would want to build this. This is where my ‘but 
will probably never get’ cynicism for the post title comes in.

Currently, phone manufacturers make a fortune selling you a new phone every year. Most of the devices we use today are designed to become obsolete in a year or two, sometimes sooner than that. Even if the hardware is fine, the software makes the experience unbearable after a while for seemingly no reason. This is called planned obsolescence and everyone does it these days. To expect 

these companies to give up this strategy, so that you can replace or upgrade individual parts instead of the entire phone and keep using the same phone forever, and make less money from you in the process is hilarious.So while the concept is great and I’d love to see it become a reality, it’s obvious that’s never going to happen.

Phonebloks’ main focus is on the device’s “greener” nature. Because you can upgrade phone parts at will, you would never have to throw away full phones. Whether they are broken or outdated, phones usually wouldn’t need much to work great. If something breaks, one would just be able to replace a block, instead of the whole phone.

We are geeks here, though. At the rate we like to upgrade, we are not sure just how much smartphone trash we could be saving the world from. We suppose in the long run it would help.

As techies we see much more than just an environmentally-friendly device, though. This would be a game-changing smartphone! A truly smart one, I would say. Phonebloks would give you the ability to make a phone truly yours. To customize it depending to your own needs.

I put a huge focus on battery life, so I would get a bigger batter and get rid of other blocks. You can also choose what kind of screen you would like; how much RAM your device would have. Really, there would be no limits. Maybe bigger “bases” could be released, allowing you to have bigger screens and even more components.

Mobile flexibility

You will often find me carrying multiple batteries, just in case my phone runs out of juice with no outlet in sight. What if you could do this with all components? I would, for example, get rid of the camera block in my phone. Then I would carry around a nice, bigger-sensor camera in my pocket just in case i want to take a shot. I could snap the LTE block while I take the shot, and put in the camera block.

The future of Phonebloks

The idea is to get support from the public, in order to get the “right companies and right people involved”. These will only work with Phonebloks if they see enough interest, but we feel like that won’t be much of a problem. Especially considering they are about to break their 100,000 supporter goal.

If it all works well, this platform would be developed as an open-source project. This means that any company would be able to develop Phoneblok components (even you, if you are up for the challenge).

We are almost sure they would use the Android OS, as it is amazingly popular. Not to mention, free! There is no word on that, though. Maybe Phonebloks is planning to make its own operating system, which would be quite interesting. Even better, maybe you will be able to buy Phonebloks with different operating systems!

How do I support Phonebloks

Phonebloks is currently trying to get as much support as possible. Think of it as a Kickstarter campaign, but without cash involved. They just want you to voice out your opinion and let the world know you would like a device like this.

One simply has to go to the website and support. You can share the project to your social networks and let all your friends know about it. Phonebloks.com is actually down right now (due to high traffic!), but you can support by going to their Thunderclap page. At least until the official site is back up.

What do you guys think? Would you be interested in supporting a project like this?