Into Among open hardware and extreme customization: Motorola working on mobile modular and, in the footsteps of the project Phonebloks
Led by Motorola’s Advanced Technology Group, the project named “Ara” intends to develop a hardware platform open and free : the idea is to offer a customizable product in the minimum functions by the users, as well as overcome the problem of rapid obsolescence (with a consequent impact on e-waste) of smartphones currently in circulation.
Indeed, the latter often being replaced by updated models only in battery life or quality of some components, such as camera, support for certain applications or screen quality: providing the ability to simply and easily replace just the individual components , Motorola thinks he can greatly extend the overall life of a device.
This solution came in the wake of MAKEwithMOTO , an initiative that has seen her organize, with a truck full of smartphones and their various components, a series of workshops that only by the images appear very challenging: you see students and enthusiasts who, adapting programs and technologies available, they try to invent and develop ideas and suggestions very interesting (for example, applications to support the conversations of deaf users). The story that Motorola makes this experience appeals to the spirit of geeks passionate about technology, they speak of open hardware hacking philosophy (the original meaning of the term to hack , put the hand to things, of trying to go it alone for pure spirit of challenge) and then again of “equipment for printing high-end 3D” and open innovation.
It is this enthusiasm seems to have pushed Motorola to ignore the failure of the attempt of customizable laptop Intel (Whitebook initiative) and difficulties you might encounter from the regulatory point of view : To be placed on the market the individual models of smartphones in the U.S. must be approved by the FCC, but you may find difficulties in front of a model without a definite shape.
Moreover, the idea that Motorola has finally learned from this experience is nothing other than its own version of the proposal brought forth by Dave and Hakkens, the creator of Phonebloks: Motorola has just announced that it will collaborate with him and the community that has already gathered around his proposed modular mobile.
Phonebloks is based on a concept as simple as eye-catching: a motherboard, which Motorola calls “endoskeleton”, on which you can decide which components (called “modules”) fit from time to time through simple pins.
Every single module components can be removed and replaced with a function more welcome or a better version of the same component , depending on your needs: they can go to the WiFi module to the gyro, through an extra battery, a camera more performance or processor for a new application.
Even in the case of the project from Motorola, as in that of Phonebloks, the stated objective is to create an ecosystem is a dynamic level of users (picking up the base of smartphone users) and developers: while not talking about standard technologies (speech which is rather a legal recognition of a form shared by all manufacturers) that talk about free and open hardware seems to encourage debate and the blossoming of proposals.
Claudio Tamburrino
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