Motorola is up to something that excites the geek in me.

Hello all, A friend of mine sent me this and thought I'd share.
First thread so please forgive any errors.


So I read this piece on Motorola and their new project ‘Ara’. I wasn’t quite sure what it was but it is described as a “Lego-Like Smartphone”. The idea/concept starts with these guys at phonebloks.com (I’m including a link both below).



Problem: Electronics are not built to last. Electronic waste (mainly phones) is the largest growing waste product in the world. The reason, if one piece of your phone breaks/goes bad what are most consumers forced to do? Replace the entire thing.


www.motorola-blog.blogspot.com...


phonebloks.com...



Seems as good an idea as any, however they are not as stylish as maybe an iPhone.

Well I'm off to read a bit more on them, thanks.

reply to post by Im2keul


I dunno.

It's feasible, but if the cost of the hardware is the same as it would be today for example then I can't see the cost savings.

If it costs 200$ to replace the Motherboard and CPU for example, why not just bite a bit more bullet and buy a new phone? Or cancel your contract and get an upgrade?

I'll need to see more before I'm convinced this is anything but a short term gimmick for hardware puritans who'd rather keep the same device for 8 years and just spend more money upgrading it then they would have buying new devices.

~Tenth

reply to post by Im2keul


I can see tree huggers and techie types being interested as it's a bit of a gimmick but for the rest of the phone buying public I don't see why they'd be interested , people buy phones because they want the latest in thing iPone 5s , Galaxy S5 .....

The idea is sound but the public are fickle

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Because you can do alot more things on a pc than you can on a phone..

Have you ever looked at porn on a phone?? Way to small...

On a more serious note..

More games, programming, 3ds things. and writing books and things also..

Doing taxes, and more... There is alot more that can be done on a pc than on a phone.. The watching porn idea is the same thing.. I would rather watch a movie on a bigger screen than watch it on a 3in screen.. I really dont understand how people can watch full movies on a phone or youtube it looks like crap...

I only have a smartphone cause i was forced at gunpoint to get one.. but i rarely use it anyway..

reply to post by Im2keul


I don't think the leading manufactures will go for it - there will not be enough profit in it for them.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Agreed, I haven't seen any pricing so far, just thought it was a neat idea and wanted to share.

Apparently you can create your own size, making it a tablet.
Or adding a Nikkon, or Cannon camera, etc.

Might be really cool if it's priced right.

gortex
reply to post by Im2keul

 

I can see tree huggers and techie types being interested as it's a bit of a gimmick but for the rest of the phone buying public I don't see why they'd be interested , people buy phones because they want the latest in thing iPone 5s , Galaxy S5 .....

The idea is sound but the public are fickle

You are likely spot on there, it took me a bit of restraint to not get the newest iPhone.

reply to post by Im2keul


They price spare parts and make it difficult to replace parts so you will spend more money. However, if that phone were to become mainstream, there would be no stopping some garage company from making cheap parts and that would put the big boys out of business.

They just sell the parts at a higher cost so they can justify their monopoly.

i like it because i can be a computer nerd and put together hardware options that work for me.
and maybe put the damn headphone jack on the bottom, because god damn it i dont need ports at every side of the thing like other phones.

reply to post by Bleeeeep


They were comparing the upgrading of the parts to an app, I think.

Want a certain function, head to the blok store kinda thing.

Have you seen anything as far as pricing? I was looking, but I got distracted with the pumpkin carving.

Thanks.

I think, it's a great idea, MOD phones are they way of the future. It was also, covered here in this thread.

Are Modular Phones The Way Of The Future

Thanks for sharing. S&F

reply to post by Im2keul


The argument was about electronics/consumer products in general - how the cost of buying a whole new device versus buying a replacement part is justified by the notion that a single replacement piece costs nearly as much as a whole new device.

You guys do not see the man behind the curtain for what he is - I was just pointing him, and his reasoning, out to you.

p.s. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for modular style electronics - I just can't get my hopes up for them. Even personal computers follow the same design flaws, with their inability to upgrade parts - they are limited by amount of ram or new mother boards, etc, purposely. They could easily make new pieces fit old machines if they wanted - the point is, they don't want to because there is no money in selling pieces and upgrades - it would drive them out of business.

reply to post by C21H30O2I


Wish I would've seen that thread before.
Until now I never heard of a MOD phone. Thanks, I will go read that thread and see what is there.

Bleeeeep
reply to post by Im2keul

 

The argument was about electronics/consumer products in general - how the cost of buying a whole new device versus buying a replacement part is justified by the notion that a single replacement piece costs nearly as much as a whole new device.

I think I understand what you are saying, but aren't all new electronics priced extremely high at first? Like now you can repair your ipad screen for $85 rather than spend $500+ for a new one.

reply to post by Im2keul


It's all good, was back in September.
I appreciate the information. Thanks again.

reply to post by Im2keul


Initial costs are going to be higher, and that is because there is low stock from the low production. Once a model becomes standard, though, the production of parts, from outside manufactures, will increase to such an amount that the originator of the product will lose its cash cow - they will not be able to maintain a monopoly on the parts - thus there is better ways to make money elsewhere - thus they will never let this project get off the ground.

The only way they could sell this to their share holders is if they are able make their parts fashionable. Like, "oh look he's got them new Jordan's." - but then, on a piece that is so small, anyone can make their pieces look like Jordan's and no one will care to buy the actual Jordan's for $300 - not when they can get the repro for $20. Not only that, but other companies would take a loss at making repro pieces just to manipulate the stock of a rival company and then by them up cheap.

Standard models won't work in name brand electronics when there is corporate greed share holders to worry about.

Have you ever went to buy a remote for a game console after your old one went bust? Did you ask yourself why it went bust in the first place? Did you go for the cheaper repro or did you buy the name brand which you know will just go bust again? All this stuff, they already have made into a science to get your money from you.

Eventually, you will buy a repro and it will last forever lol - and then the name brand company will be out of luck... They make their stuff to break and go out of style on purpose. Do you think microsoft xp couldn't have an update that made it work for more cores? click me