Are you satisfied with your phone? Just look at it.
Do you think an entirely new phone would make your experience a bit better?
Would it help you in playing Candy Crush or putting your Instagrammed selfie game over the top?
What new feature will make you need to go out there and stand in line for hours and hours on end?
Motorola announced its new “Project Ara” in collaboration with Dave Hakkens, the 25-year old Dutch designer. This may be the answer we seek: One new phone, but with upgradeable hardware accessories. Hakkens has stated that his collaboration with Motorola isn’t contractually binding, as he wants to stay financially independent by accepting donations, but the joint project should prove fruitful.
Instead of worrying about that next version of a phone with a better camera than yours, you can instead purchase the camera part by itself and install it. No new phone required.
It would be just like a personal computer. You could just upgrade your phone to keep with today’s standards and needs.
Originally, this was a concept idea from Hakkens’ immensely popular YouTube video “Phonebloks.”
But it was just that — an idea.
Now with the support of a recognized company like Motorola, which happens to be owned by Google, it's likely this will become a reality.
As I talked about in my first column for The State Press, phones have peaked to provide for our basic needs, and now we spend our time waiting in line for a gold-plated phone for fashion statement purposes, despite the fact that most of us have cell phone cases that cover our phone’s colors, how can it be such a desired feature that we’ll wait in line?
This would be a great change from the current stagnant state of cell phones. We’re just slaves to the newest iPhone and newest features, though they are mostly just gimmicks to keep the phones as expensive as they are. Do we need fingerprint scanning and motion sensor swiping in case your hands are soiled by barbecue sauce, as in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S4, when all you really want is just a phone to Facebook properly? Why shell out for that?
Maybe the next frontier is the advent of Google glasses becoming our all-in-one gadgets, including our new phones. Or we can wear “smart watches” as our phone’s companion, like Samsung’s Galaxy Gear.
The time will soon come to look past yearly iterations of new phones. There are probably junkyards full of perfectly fine iPhones that are one generation behind.
If you like the idea of having a phone for which you only stood in line overnight for once and going to a store to upgrade it every year, then you just might join me in line with my sleeping bag the day they announce this phone.
Reach the columnist at vqnguye1@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @taequangdoh
