speaking of phones

[nature boy]

phonebloks. pretty cool.

[supersuk]

awesome idea, doable, technology is there but will never happen because of dollars and the people who are making the dollars.

[geForce]

I saw this before and thought it was an awesome idea. I hope it takes off.

Keian's right though - they'll have a tough time breaking into the phone market. I would totally buy it though.

[supersuk]

would you buy it if it costed 2x as much?

I can see manufacturing costs of these things go way up. Mmaking it modular, and creating slots for that many pins. The PCB's are also laid out in a certain way to save space, noise reduction and money. If you suddenly want to move a component to another corner of the PCB to another its gonna cost money, make the unit bigger, and maybe run hotter, cause deathgrip or whatever. There are obviously ways around those problems but $$$$$$$$.

You're either going to be paying more or the manufacturer is going to be making less.

[Wetundies]

if you can dream it, you can build it. Being able to afford it is another problem.

[nature boy]

i was reading other discussions on this idea and how it'd be an impossibility. like keian said, pcb's are laid out in a way to save space and noise reduction. the pins (they're suggesting) probably aren't large enough to carry the data needed for certain components. also, certain parts (wifi, bluetooth, etc) don't really need a full size module.

i guess those are simple logistics that probably could be solved. the thing i'm wondering about is how you could rearrange the parts and have it still work exactly the same. that to me seems a little difficult in a phone-sized device.

[Duncan]

yea, i agree that it probably won't take off. Phone companies specially design phones so that they're not upgradeable so people are forced to buy the next one for an upgrade. That's why you can't even replace a battery on the iphone when even 5+ years ago, 95% of phones out there you could take off the back plate and replace a dead battery.

I think these guys should target investors more than they are now instead of trying to reach existing companies for support. I guarantee that these guys are hoping for a buy out offer from one of the companies and they'll probably sell to samsung or something instead of continuing dev.

[nature boy]

from what i'm reading it's not even a matter of it taking off, selling or being popular. it's about the possibility (or impossibility) of such a device to even be made. most are saying that it will not be.

[nature boy]

[Duncan]

when i said taking off i meant building enough steam for the technology to be developed. not selling or being popular. it was more in response to the video's plea for everyone to tweet/post on the same day that they want this tech

[nature boy]

[Duncan]

i think you're talking popular in a different context than i am but whatever. i know better than to get into a debate on semantics and context with you. i'm not the one with the badge anyway hah.

but are you talking about feasibility as in the tech isn't even possible or that nobody will put money into building it?

i agree with keian, the tech is there and could be developed, just nobody's gonna put money into doing so

[nature boy]

from what i'm reading, the tech wouldn't be possible.
at least, it wouldn't be in the form factor that the video is suggesting. something to do with the wiring having to be more complex than plugs, and the board having to be too thick in order to be adaptable to any configuration with any number of parts.

[geForce]

It may not work exactly as shown in the video, but that's just a concept video. There are lots of different ways that they could make it work.

There are lots of different add-on modules for computers that are tiny and transfers a lot of data quickly through micro-usb connections, like a webcam or wifi adapter or media adapters, etc. And, micro-usb connections aren't much bigger than those connections shown in the phonebloks video.

I'm sure with enough research and development, this phone could work.

[Duncan]

yea, if you look at micro/mini usb connectors, they're just a little bigger than those nubs. the main board might be a little thicker to pack the needed circuits together but i think it's doable with what we have now. It's like creating an exposed mobo with tons of mini usb connectors. of course it's not that simple but i think it's doable