Last week my dear and incredible roommate brought this new invention idea to my attention. It’s called phonebloks and, in my personal opinion, it is one of the coolest ideas I have come across in a long time. It’s basically a phone built like a lego meaning that all parts can be put in or taken apart as desired. Having a phone like this would mean no longer having to throw away your phone because one single piece broke. Replacing the broken part would be as simple as taking it out of the base (basically the mother board) and putting in a new one! Just like a lego piece! Another reason why this is so exciting for me is because the customizing options would be endless! Well, perhaps not endless but at least much less limited than what is available today. If you happened to be obsessed with taking pictures your could just add a bigger camera. If on the other hand you didn’t like to take pictures and preferred to listen to music you could get better speakers and put in a smaller camera. Whatever you might be into, this would be the perfect phone, for it would be designed by you for you!
It is also important to note that this project is actually driven by a desire to reduce phone wastes which are quite damaging to the environment. As Phonebloks’ leader Dave Hakkens says “electronic devices are not designed to last”. This would be a phone that could -ideally- last a life time and as a direct result reduce our growing problem of electronic wastes.
Unfortunately this dream has yet to become a reality. This is where we (the public) come in! The creators want to make companies aware of this idea through demonstrating that this is something the public would be interested in. If you are interested in showing your support for this idea you would need to join the thunder clap for this cause. The blast will be going out on Oct. 29th of this year so you have until then to show your support and make the phonebloks happen!
Here’s a video that explains everything better than I could ever dream of:
I did a blog post on Phonebloks, too! I’m so glad people are spreading the word. I am so excited about it and I’m happy to see that others are too! If you want to read my post, please do: http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/siowfa13/2013/09/the-future-of-your-pocket.html
and let me know what you think! I tried to include things about E-waste because as you said, “It is also important to note that this project is actually driven by a desire to reduce phone wastes which are quite damaging to the environment”
But I’m not going to pretend that I’m just excited for this because of the environmental benefits, I’m stoked about the customizable options! I also relly like to idea of putting my own phone together kind of like legos =]
Thanks!
WOW! This is insane! Part of the reason I am so fascinated by this is because I have been through 14 iPhones within the last 5 years & have wanted someone to invent a phone where I wouldn’t have to replace my whole phone instead of the specific broken part. I also find the “lego” situation very interesting. I’m one of those people who loves using the camera & music apps on my phone, but not much the stock and newsstand apps. It would be interesting (and awesome) to see if something ever like this could be invented, that way everyone would be able to personally customize their phone.
CNN actually did an interesting write-up about Phonebloks if you would like to check it out: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/19/tech/innovation/phonebloks-the-smartphone-for-life/