Project Ara
The basic problem that most of us face concerning phones is that they last not more than a few years before breaking or becoming obsolete. Sometimes, it so happens that just one part of the phone malfunctions or gets damaged, hence affecting the functionality of the entire phone. In such cases, we are compelled to either undergo infuriating frequent repairs or throw away our entire phone just because of a single impaired piece. Keeping this problem of people into consideration, Motorola, now owned by Google, has visualized a new concept called phoneblok. The term phoneblok, in itself, describes blocks that constitute a phone. The concept of phoneblok has been introduced with a motive to increase the lifespan of our phones. Motorola Ara Project has come up with this idea to help people optimize their dear device to a significant extent, that is, till they get fed up with their device. According to this project, if any part of the phone is damaged, then only that part of the phone can be repaired without wasting money by buying a new phone or by throwing away still usable or functional parts of the phone. In the picture above, we can differentiate the various parts of the phone very easily. There are chips-like boxes for Wifi, Bluetooth, Camera, Battery, Clock, Network, and so forth. The screen and lens are grouped together, while CPU, GPU, RAM and ROM exist as another group and can be easily replaced. One of the modular phones is the ECO–MOBIUS from the ZTE. It is the winner of design concept of 2013 Red Dot Awards. The phone is designed as a combination of four independent modules –display, core, battery and camera. Its features are- • Easily replaceable modules • Replaceable CPU, GPU, RAM and ROM in the core • Magnetically fixed parts Hence the module exchanging model reduces wastage of electronic parts and reduces environmental pollution.