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Modu Unveils Modular, Transformer-style Phone

Posted by Zonk on from the roll-your-own-phone dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A company called Modu has come up with an innovative take on a mobile phone. Instead of giving you the finished product, you get a base unit and a choice of 'sleeves', which you can plug the base unit into and turn it into a variety of devices. "If, for example, you're going out clubbing, you can pop it into a fashion sleeve with a fancy design. If you're on a business trip and you need a phone with a Qwerty keypad and large screen, you just have to pop it into a 'jacket' with those features." There's also the option to plug it into a satellite navigation device or even a car stereo. While it seems like an interesting system, I wonder whether modular devices are better than buying standalone products or all-in-one products?"

5 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. open system? by lobiusmoop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anybody know if this is an open design? If there is support for third parties to develop and sell sleeves without heavy licencing limitations it might be interesting. Otherwise it will probably go the way of betamax - overtaken by cheaper, more widely supported alternatives.

    --
    "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
  2. so- if I unsderstand correctly-- by way2trivial · · Score: 2, Insightful

    it's a giant sim card?

    isn't all that possible with moving a sim card from phone to phone?

    do we really need the intermediate step? I know people who move their sim from a sleek 'heading out' to a pdaphone.

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
    1. Re:so- if I unsderstand correctly-- by netsavior · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I move my SIM card from my Treo to a tiny flip phone a lot, because the Treo is crap for talking on the phone, and the flip phone is crap for everything else.

  3. Er... by brunes69 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I already have this. It's called a SIM card. If I am going out on the town and want to have a small compact phone I put my SIM in my Razr. If I am going to work or traveling and want a PDA I put it in my HTC Wizard.

    What is the benefit of this, other than the fact that they want me to likely spend as much on a "sleeve" as I do for a complete unlocked phone on eBay?

    1. Re:Er... by GlassHeart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Many Slashdot readers do not understand that while convenience is a sliding scale, there are important thresholds along the way that enable (or disable) certain applications. For example, what you state is entirely correct: you can swap SIM cards around different devices.

      However, most people don't do that regularly, probably because you generally have to remove a battery to reveal the SIM slot and so on. The SIM is also not designed to be plugged and unplugged many times, so you may develop contact problems after a while. Finally, the SIMs that I'm familiar with can't generally store all the data (full contact information, email logs, browser bookmarks, etc.) that you want to take along with you.

      So, if the idea is to switch "sleeves" daily or more than daily, then the SIM solution is just not convenient enough. Not to say this Modu phone will solve it, but no, you don't already have this.