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Hands-On With the Fairphone 2 Modular Android Smartphone (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In just a couple of months, the world's first consumer-ready modular smartphone will start shipping. It's called the Fairphone 2, and it will run Android 5.1. Ars Technica got hands-on time with the device, and they say it works surprisingly well. It's a bit thicker than most modern phones, but that's the trade-off for being able to swap out components. "The smartphone consists of seven major building blocks: the back cover, removable battery, display assembly, main chassis, receiver module, rear camera module, and speaker module. Positioned this way, the components that break most often, like the screen, are isolated for better repairability. In addition to swappable blocks, you can even change things inside the modules: for example, a mic or a speaker. They are press-fit, not glued, and can be extracted with simple tools."
Assembly and disassembly is pretty straightforward, as well: "The modules are held together by Phillips screws marked with blue circles. All screws are the same, so you won't have to remember which one goes where. It's quite hard to make a mistake in the assembling process, however Fairphone promises to release additional manuals and video instructions in collaboration with iFixit." The company also thinks it's important to get the phone's materials and components from ethical sources.
Assembly and disassembly is pretty straightforward, as well: "The modules are held together by Phillips screws marked with blue circles. All screws are the same, so you won't have to remember which one goes where. It's quite hard to make a mistake in the assembling process, however Fairphone promises to release additional manuals and video instructions in collaboration with iFixit." The company also thinks it's important to get the phone's materials and components from ethical sources.
This would be a lot more exciting when some other manufacturers do the same thing in a compatible form factor. Then you'd get a handheld the same way you get a desktop: go buy just the right parts for your situation.
"A Fairphone screen, a Foomeister I motherboard, a used Sorny RadioNIC that I found on eBay, a Brand X battery and oops I guess I didn't even bother with a camera on this one. Oh well, I didn't need one here. Wait, I just remembered have a 5 year old one sitting in a drawer, let's just throw that in." Later: "Shit, it got obsolete: time for a Foomeister II+ board, which has enough RAM to run the newest release of Netbuntroid."
But the only way we'll get there, is if this sells well enough that other manufacturers see a market for the form factor. It's hard to be optimistic about that.
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If they play their cards right, pushing this as an open platform to attract third party module makers, this could be huge and bring a variety of "personalized" features to niche markets. This could be a little bit like the IBM PC in the early days, where companies or people with specific needs can buy a standard platform but then expand it with one specific module to cater to their needs. Imagine a big company that currently needs many of its employees to carry an expensive custom made device, and then could replace all of those devices for a fair phone with just a less expensive custom made module.