A while back I have seen and even contributed by joining up and sending some friends to join as well for the concept that was Phonebloks. It was a very viral video on YouTube a while back regarding a phone built from different modules ( hence the name Modular Phone ) all connected to a motherboard which had inter-change-able everything ( if you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend youtube-ing it and seeing the video – it explains everything really well in just a few short minutes ). Now my first thought, as a rash individual like myself usually has, when I saw the Motorola Ara, I immediately assumed they had ripped off the concept. Boy, was I wrong on that call.
The thing is, Motorola already had planned this a while back and was looking for the opportunity to put it into practice. Now the Phonebloks concept was a great opportunity for them, considering its goal was to get major companies interested and involved into the creation of such a device. Motorola decided to take action in this case, and even recruited Dave Hakkens, the creator of the Phonebloks concept, to work with them on the Motorola Ara project.
Apparently, the Motorola Ara was already in the works for close to an year now and it seems to be offering the same idea – a modular phone built from many parts, and, same as with PCs, if one part is unsatisfactory or acting out, you just change it or add a better one in its stead. That would make repairs and upgrades to the device as easy as they come, but not only that, it would also allow you to customize the device according to what you need ( say you want hardware strength, but care little for the camera, yet want good audio quality at the same time – you can swap out the camera for a cheaper, smaller and weaker one and gain space for maybe a second speaker or something like that ).
Also, it’s important to keep in mind that this is a phone CONCEPT, so there is also a chance that it won’t come out ( I really hope it comes out, though – the concept would be awesome ). Motorola will also soon be sending invites to the developers to start working on modules for the Ara and soon, this winter, an Alpha version for the Module Developer’s Kit will be released to the public.
