Why is the modular mobile phone that Google pushed a few years ago now silent?

First of all, we have to admit that modular mobile phones are a genius idea with good intentions. It not only allows users to upgrade the most needed parts, but also helps to protect the environment and avoid waste. Unfortunately, it was unrealistic and ended in misery.

Google's Project Ara modular mobile phone was put forward on 20 15. According to the design, the camera, battery, processor, storage and so on are all modular, and different modules are assembled together, so you can change which one you want.

This can realize a very personalized mobile phone. For example, you need a powerful processor but don't like taking pictures. For example, you need a large memory, but you are not sensitive to the processor. For example, if you like taking selfies instead of using the rear camera, then you can choose the corresponding module you need.

Moreover, the upgraded version of the stronger module can also be directly bought and changed without changing the whole mobile phone.

The Netherlands also produced the modular mobile phone Fairphone 2, which was released earlier than Google. It can be said that it is the world's first commercial modular mobile phone.

But this design also has fatal defects:

1, lacking aesthetic feeling. Because it takes into account different modules, pays more attention to practicality, lacks integration, and is difficult to be beautiful, it is only suitable for geeks, and the general public simply despises it.

2, not resistant to falling. Because it is a modular combination, it is difficult to get close, and it is easy to break into pieces when falling, and even fall apart when touched.

3. The road to upgrade is blocked. In order to customize and upgrade modules, different manufacturers need to launch different modules, such as Qualcomm for various processors and Sony for various cameras. Obviously, this requires the whole industry to fight, and no one can dominate it. Even if there is, the compatibility of different modules is also a big problem.

4, does not conform to the product trend. The integration of mobile phones is getting higher and higher, and the components are becoming more and more complex. The overall design of mobile phone needs the overall consideration and comprehensive design of the manufacturer, and modularity is obviously the opposite.

5. The mobile phone is updated too fast. The mobile phone is being upgraded at any time. Many people will change their mobile phones in a year or two, and the price is also very rich. What module are they tossing about?

LG and Moto later made many modular mobile phones, but unlike Google's idea, LG just changed the battery, and Moto just expanded different modules, which is not the same thing.

Modular mobile phone? I think this is a joke, a typical idle pseudo-innovation. To be honest, it is hard to imagine that such innovation was made by a big company like Google. Everyone is pursuing lightweight integration. Google is a good modular mobile phone, which directly sets history back ten years. What kind of talent is boring to modularize mobile phones?

There are essential differences between mobile phones and computers. Computer is a thing with a particularly low damage rate, and it will bring a very good experience when a single module is upgraded. If you switch to a solid-state hard disk instead of upgrading it elsewhere, your computer will be completely transformed, but switching to a single hardware of a mobile phone is far from such an effect!

The most important thing is that the mobile phone industry is upgrading very quickly. If you don't change your mobile phone for two years, you can't keep up with the trend in appearance and performance. It's not a problem to use a computer casually for five or six years, and it can be used for three or four years with a solid-state hard disk ~

Modular mobile phones do not conform to the logic of development. At most, it is a plaything of a small number of enthusiasts. For example, Motorola seems to be an additional module extension with a price of 9999. How many people will actually buy it? It is ok to add benefits, but you can hardly become a product of the public!

I don't see any innovative elements in modular mobile phones. The development of science and technology is to simplify complexity. It is a good thing that modular mobile phones are simplified as soon as they come out. Obviously, a light and integrated mobile phone can do well. Why do you need to disassemble it into parts and assemble it yourself?

Modular mobile phone Google once hoped to make it an industry standard, because Google made a cool mobile phone from a geek's point of view but ignored the demand of mass users for graphic mobile phones, so Google's modular mobile phone has been silent.

1, modular mobile phone is not beautiful enough.

Modularization: other mobile phones should take into account different modules and pay attention to integration, so it is difficult to be beautiful. Unlike Apple and Huawei, all-in-one machines are only suitable for geeks, so many mass users simply don't want to try modular mobile phones.

2, design defects, it is easy to fall apart.

Modular mobile phones are difficult to combine, because they need modular combination, and they don't feel very good, and they are easy to break into several pieces, just like Nokia's back cover.

3. This module is difficult to upgrade.

Modular mobile phones need different industrial chains to make different modules, and the upgrade of mobile phones needs all manufacturers to upgrade, but the modules have little connection with the current all-in-one machine, and the whole industrial chain needs to cooperate to upgrade, and the upgrade has also been greatly affected.

4. Countercurrent design.

After the release of Apple in 2009, the mobile phone became an all-in-one machine, and the back cover could not be replaced. The native mobile phone became more and more differentiated and more beautiful, so the modular mobile phone was the opposite.

Would you like to use a modular mobile phone?

Not in the interest of the manufacturer

Because modularity is not in the interests of manufacturers, only Google is pushing it, and it is difficult to promote it successfully.

Everyone uses Android system because it can reduce the difficulty of APP ecological development, and everyone can * * * enjoy an ecology under the powerful iOS system. So everyone is happy to use Google's Android system. And Android has not been charged so far (it is reported that Google's Android system will be charged)

If it becomes modular, then it is considered that mobile phone manufacturers have become manufacturers of parts. In the past, we wanted to experience this function and could only use a certain mobile phone. But after modularization, if you want to experience this function, buy this function.

For small brands, this is very good because they can provide some special parts and make some money. But for big manufacturers, their core functions can only be sold as a component? This will greatly reduce their profits. They certainly won't do it! Therefore, manufacturers do not promote it!

Modularity is not ideal.

Moreover, modular mobile phones are either too ugly or not waterproof, which does not conform to the future trend. Moreover, it is often necessary to compromise for modularity, which affects the functional realization of some mobile phones.

For example, you really want to take pictures with your mobile phone. Then you need bigger and better hardware, which can be modularized, and the position left for the camera is also certain, which seriously affects your demand for taking pictures.

The bigger the product, the bigger the space for DIY, and the smaller the product, in fact, many people do not have the idea of DIY. Obviously, the integration of mobile phones is too strong, and the benefits of modularity can be configured according to your own needs. This is naturally a good thing, but it is a bit difficult to form a coordinated and balanced hardware in the subsequent mobilization system to give full play to its performance!

Regardless of the modularity of mobile phones, desktop computers are also modular, but not everyone likes computers that can be modularized by DIY, because you have to buy a lot of hardware and assemble them yourself. After assembly, you must set the BIOS according to the motherboard model to adapt to the hardware. This is not the end. After the adaptation, you have to install the windows system!

Then, should the modular mobile phone be different according to the accessories that have not been selected? If the accessories of the mobile phone are updated in the future, do they need to be re-adapted on the mobile phone? In fact, you will find that the learning cost of computer DIY is very high, not to mention mobile phones. If it's all DIY, I don't think the global coverage of mobile Internet and mobile phones will be so fast!

In fact, in recent years, you will find that what really determines the value of mobile phones is not that the configuration is not personalized enough and the hardware is not satisfied enough. In fact, there are more and more mobile phone styles introduced by major mobile phone manufacturers. According to different levels, I like taking pictures, playing games and looking good (it is more difficult to consider DIY mobile phones). Because of this, it is difficult to make the appearance beautiful, and it is easy to make the interface of electronic components covered with dust. If there is modularity, will it be easy to loosen? What if it is dropped? It may lead to a model that will be stopped if no accessories can be found. In other words, if the mobile phone is modular, then the risk is that we don't know whether modularity can continuously provide updates!

This is a very troublesome thing. Once the configuration is completed, the adaptation of the software system is also a big project! So in terms of computers, notebook computers and branded desktop computers also have good sales. That's because the brand computer has been completely assembled, and there is a perfect after-sales service system, so if there is a problem, that is, after-sales service, it can be better solved. Modular products in DIY are more suitable for geeks and people with strong self-creativity!

But this part of people is still a small part, and he is not the main consumer, so this modularity introduced by Google is untenable. Of course, Motorola also has modularity, and its modularity is more the value of auxiliary tools, such as auxiliary camera, auxiliary charging and auxiliary plug-in battery. This advantage is to make the mobile phone smarter and have strong endurance. But it can only be opened and used if it is completely modular. This is a very poor design and invention!

At present, it is not a problem to make modular mobile phones according to the strength of manufacturers, but there are two major factors that make manufacturers unwilling to do so. The first is interest. Is the profit of the whole machine high or the profit of the mobile phone CPU high? Manufacturers prefer to choose the former. After all, without businessmen and traitors, modularity is almost impossible. Second is the appearance. Someone has experienced Google's modular mobile phone before, and the first impression is heavy. Nowadays, how many people are willing to bring a particularly thick mobile phone in the era of pursuing thin and light mobile phones?

Modular mobile phones were really big news at the beginning.

Google put forward the concept of mobile phone design-hardware can be replaced, similar to the computer host. Just like a computer, you can change any hardware you want. For example, if you feel that the screen is poor, you can change to a high-resolution screen, if the speaker is not good, you can change to a speaker module, and the camera can also be changed to a clearer camera.

Personally, I think this concept is more environmentally friendly. For example, I use Samsung s7edge, an old machine, and its performance can't be compared with the mainstream mobile phone now. If I want to change it, I need to abandon this mobile phone and buy another one, but the screen speaker and camera of this mobile phone basically meet my current use. It is a pity to abandon these hardware that can still be used and used well because of its performance. So if there is a mobile phone like Google Modular, I just need to replace the CPU and continue to use the others, which saves money and avoids the waste of hardware, killing two birds with one stone.

However, this has seriously affected the profits of manufacturers. When a mobile phone manufacturer changes from producing mobile phones to producing parts, the change of profit is absolutely different. Just like buying a computer, the price of a brand machine with the same performance is obviously higher than that of an assembly machine, and the expensive part is one of the profits of the merchant. As mentioned above, the performance of my mobile phone is broken, and it can be revived by changing the CPU, which also seriously affects the sales of merchants. After all, selling a mobile phone can make profits from all the components in the whole mobile phone, instead of making profits from one component like a modular mobile phone. So many manufacturers are very reluctant to do it.

This kind of mobile phone is doomed to be ugly. In this era of looking at the face value, whether a mobile phone really looks good or not is largely related to the sales of this mobile phone.

On the whole, it's really bad. Modularity is also doomed to fall resistance and does not support waterproofing.

Apple will not respond to Google's call, but they are sworn enemies. Moreover, modularity is not Apple's idea. We will find that Apple's products are very integrated, from the iMac as high as 10w to the lowest-priced iPod, which are basically integrated. Therefore, many of Apple's products are also one of the most difficult products for foreign media judges to repair. Because of high integration, it is difficult for ordinary maintenance workers to repair without the help of instruments. Apple's appeal in mobile phones is extremely powerful.

And if Apple makes mobile phones and Android makes parts, in fact, it can be seen that only Google and Apple are competing in the field of mobile phones, because Samsung and Huawei are only an accessory factory. Samsung, Huawei and so on. What arrogance, etc., are not willing to be a vassal of Google.

Too professional. To buy a module, you have to look at the data of this module, such as lpddr3, usf2. 1, imx380. ................................................................................................................................ might as well buy the apple next door, no matter what configuration, fluency is enough.

Natural selection, survival of the fittest, just like Google Glass, modular mobile phone is also one of the ideas that have been eliminated in digital development, but the development of science and technology is doomed to be eliminated and developed, but in any case, we should support those who constantly provide fresh ideas for the development of science and technology. Maybe these ideas seem silly, but when has our development never been silly?

In my opinion, modular mobile phone is still very promising, but the current technology limits its development. In the future era with environmental protection as the core, this modular mobile phone may still have a glimmer of hope for development.

Indeed, a few years ago, Google introduced a concept smartphone, which can choose the modules you want to configure according to your own needs, such as battery capacity, camera, storage space and even processor, and then you can replace them yourself. Google calls it a modular smartphone.

In 20 13, Motorola ATAP (advanced technology and planning) department under Google also produced the prototype Project Ara of modular mobile phone. In anticipation, smartphones are "divided" into multiple modules, which can be independent. Users can purchase the corresponding modules according to their own needs, and then form the smart phone they want. If any function is damaged, you can also replace the corresponding module for maintenance.

However, on September 2, 20 16, Google announced that it would suspend Project Ara, so Google stopped pushing modular mobile phones. During this period, LG also launched a modular smartphone LG G5, which realized some functions of Project Ara project and could replace the battery. After that, LG did not launch other modular smartphones.

Corresponding shortcomings

It is no exaggeration for Jeep to say that Project Ara has brought us new ideas and new designs. If the mass production of modular smart phones is realized, the smart phones will no longer be the appearance of the same brand and model, but can be personalized, reduce the waste of resources, and will not be damaged in one place, resulting in the whole machine being unusable.

Why did the Ara project stop? In fact, many people and the media have done an analysis on the Internet, including uniformity, fuselage thickness, space utilization, heat dissipation and other issues. These are the points that need to be considered in the modularization of smart phones. Moreover, compared with modular smart phones, existing smart phones are making continuous progress in these aspects, at least much better than modular smart phones.

Modular smart phones are much worse in body thickness and space utilization, because considering the universality of modules, the combination of various modules will make modular smart phones not very thin, at least the current technology can not be light and modular. Another point that the modular smart phone must overcome is that it is a combination of all kinds of hardware, which may come from different factory designs, forcing the system and APP service providers to have strong adaptability and compatibility to avoid conflicts between software and hardware. With Google's own ability, it is difficult to promote market changes.

These problems lead to the modular smart phone only exists in the concept. However, in Jeep's view, the modular smart phone is indeed a very promising design idea, which puzzles the realization of mass production of modular smart phones, just because the existing technology does not support it. Just like wireless charging technology, the theory of 1830 has been put forward, but how to realize it? It was not realized until 2007.

First of all, we have to admit that modular mobile phones are a genius idea with good intentions. It not only allows users to upgrade the most needed parts, but also helps to protect the environment and avoid waste. Unfortunately, it was unrealistic and ended in misery.

Google's Project Ara modular mobile phone was put forward on 20 15. According to the design, the camera, battery, processor, storage and so on are all modular, and different modules are assembled together, so you can change which one you want.

This can realize a very personalized mobile phone. For example, you need a powerful processor but don't like taking pictures. For example, you need a large memory, but you are not sensitive to the processor. For example, if you like taking selfies instead of using the rear camera, then you can choose the corresponding module you need.

Moreover, the upgraded version of the stronger module can also be directly bought and changed without changing the whole mobile phone.

The Netherlands also produced the modular mobile phone Fairphone 2, which was released earlier than Google. It can be said that it is the world's first commercial modular mobile phone.

But this design also has fatal defects:

1, lacking aesthetic feeling. Because it takes into account different modules, pays more attention to practicality, lacks integration, and is difficult to be beautiful, it is only suitable for geeks, and the general public simply despises it.

2, not resistant to falling. Because it is a modular combination, it is difficult to get close, and it is easy to break into pieces when falling, and even fall apart when touched.

3. The road to upgrade is blocked. In order to customize and upgrade modules, different manufacturers need to launch different modules, such as Qualcomm for various processors and Sony for various cameras. Obviously, this requires the whole industry to fight, and no one can dominate it. Even if there is, the compatibility of different modules is also a big problem.

4, does not conform to the product trend. The integration of mobile phones is getting higher and higher, and the components are becoming more and more complex. The overall design of mobile phone needs the overall consideration and comprehensive design of the manufacturer, and modularity is obviously the opposite.

5. The mobile phone is updated too fast. The mobile phone is being upgraded at any time. Many people will change their mobile phones in a year or two, and the price is also very rich. What module are they tossing about?

LG and Moto later made many modular mobile phones, but unlike Google's idea, LG just changed the battery, and Moto just expanded different modules, which is not the same thing.

Modular mobile phone creativity was unprecedented, but it ended hastily. Why? After reading this estimate, I will have an answer.

Looking at the moment, the mobile phone market has already matured, and well-known big brands have also stabilized the flagship release frequency of three machines a year and four machines a year.

The modular mobile phone that Google pushed before was originally to solve people's demands for DIY mobile phones. The original intention is similar to that of daily backpacks. However, with the general trend of market upgrading, fans who pursue new products have become accustomed to changing the frequency once or even twice a year. Modular mobile phone replacement parts do not change the whole machine, even if it is introduced, it will not last long.

Modular mobile phone, as its name implies, is to break the function into sections and reassemble it into a machine. However, DIY assembly is fun, but it also brings uncontrollable shortcomings such as large volume, scattered and easy to break, although some damages can be replaced individually. Single-wire data transmission also brings a lot of troubles in technology. For most consumers, it is better to say that they prefer professional mobile phones shaped into climate rather than DIY machines, and they are too lazy to study and explore themselves. From the perspective of time cost and learning cost, the molded body is more convenient to use. Some consumers who like to assemble may look down on such a simple assembled product. At present, goods are idealized. Although Google gave up, other manufacturers continued to try, even if consumers didn't buy it.

Of course, the suspension of modular mobile phone promotion is estimated to be temporary. After all, with the rapid development of science and technology, it is common to re-explore abandoned areas. Perhaps many years later, modular mobile phones will have a better breakthrough in appearance and function, and will rekindle the immortal DIY heart among enthusiasts. At this time, on the basis of stable basic functions, with the innovation and independent definition of the times, the market value will also increase. By then, it will be difficult for consumers to refuse the darling of this new era.