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Company releasing modular Android phones - design your own
- Zak 16y agoWhere's the option for a 5-row keyboard, and a trackball? This is conceptually cool, and I think the first Android phone available with a gig of memory, but it doesn't have any of the options I really want.
- bmelton 16y agoAgreed. The only option that keeps me from buying all the coolest phones is the lack of a tactile keyboard. I don't like typing on a screen. That I can choose other options is neat, but really, it's more novelty than anything else. When they build an equally pluggable phone with a keyboard platform, then I'll be good to go.
- Zak 16y agoI'd also like options for lens quality on the camera (or some way to tell). I don't think any phone cameras have the optics to merit more than 3 or 5 megapixels, but some are offering 12. I guess megapixels sell, but I just want decent looking photos.
- aw3c2 16y agoCall me negative, but I am certain it will either be vaporware (never be released) or a failure like the WeTab.
- dejb 16y agoYep. Decent idea though.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y agoYou don't think it's a bit niche? I can see a lot of geeks being into the idea but I can't see it being mass market. The question will be will the geeks be willing to pay the premium that would make this workable with a smaller customer base. I suspect not when there are perfectly good Android phones out there.
- sprout 16y agoInitially, but if they can get enough volume to start differentiating price based on features, a substantial market will show up for people who like the idea of not paying for things they don't want.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y agoGenerally though economies of scale make it cheaper to buy something with extra features which has been mass produced, than a closer to custom made model without them. I've learned this trying to buy a simple mobile phone for my technophobe father and a VCR that just played stuff (no recording) for my aging grandmother.
- Alexx 16y agoCouldn't have said it better myself. The main theme of the reddit topic on this seemed to be people excited about 'only paying for what they want', yet by doing so you remove the main advantage of mass production; lower per unit price.
- NonOrthodox 16y agoOne day we couldn't customize computers, and now we can, I can't wait for the day I can customize my phone with the specs I choose, just like I did to my notebook. Maybe it won't be this company who will succeed at doing it, maybe there will be lots of companies doing it, but I can certainly see that someday we will have this kind of option. I just hope it happens sooner than later.
- runjake 16y agoSome day. Look, aw3c2 wasn't saying there weren't ever going to be custom phones, but this company's been doing an awful lot of press work, only having a Photoshop mockup and website to show for it. The picture of the circuit board isn't even a mobile phone circuit. The company's makes no mention of prototypes or any hardware engineering. I would expect to see this stuff for a company shipping Q1 2011.
- pkulak 16y agoThey say quad-band, but which 4 bands? You need to know that in the US, depending on if you want to go with AT&T or T-Mobile.