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rasheed

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Good concept but it won't work. Certain parts need Certain connections and etc. In this case its all interchangable and the companies working together? lolno, they would just copy the styles and etc. What do u think?

you could just make everything a stand alone usb 2.0 device with custom connectors, which is fast enough to do pretty much everything and comes out to exactly 4 pins each (2 signal, 1 voltage, 1 ground). this means every block needs to have its own mcu to communicate with the mobo, in addition to whatever hardware it needs to perform its function. if your devices need custom voltages, it will need its own regulators (this is already done for most usb peripherals). you still need a host attached to the cpu to run everything though, thats just the way usb works. this also has another benefit, you need a regular old usb port on your phone, you can just plug in a passive block with a usb connector.

id make the power supply its own brick as well, it would contain a battery pack, its own switch mode regulator, and recharge circuit, and just output 5v on the power bus, which would power the cpu and all the blocks.

the cpu wont be its own block, it would need to be part of the backplane, or it would need a vastly different connector from the other blocks (i would actually prefer the former). if you want good rendering performance, the screen will also need to have a custom interface (which is not a huge problem if the cpu is part of the backplane). the cpu is most likely going to be a system on a chip type device and since all the peripherals are on the usb bus, this vastly simplifies the number of support components required, pretty much just the usb host controllers and whatever is needed for the display.

the problem i find with phones is they use an internal sd card for storage, which is very hard to get to, and it sometimes also has the phone's os on it, and so its non-trivial to upgrade. usually because they never give you a source image for the os when you buy a phone, and for licensing reasons. sd card upgrades become less troublesome if the os has more flexible licensing, or is open source. if this becomes a non-issue, id include the sd card slot on the backplane as well (rather than a block), since you can up the storage by using a bigger card, and if you have a good set of os installer and transfer tools, this becomes very easy to do.

it could work, but would cost a lot more than just a single unit device, because you are effectively buying a number of self contained devices. i also wouldn't call it a phone, id call it a "modular arm platform", to which you could install a gsm module to make it a phone.

Edited by Nuke
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I think it's a neat idea but do not see it being a success product. I think it will be popular among some people.

From a mass manufacturing perspective it is just more effective to build phones with everything in them. Then people can use what device features they want.

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It has two problems, one is that the high performance stuff like cpu, memory and gpu has lots of connector, an connector for this take volume, more space than the actual chip. Look at the cpu and memory modules in an computer.

Like on an computer it would be limits to upgrades before the motherboard would be the limiting factor.

Finally price, computer parts are cheap as they are interchangeable between most computers, this is in the cost of increasing bulk a lot. You will quickly end up with an situation where some spare parts cost more than the phone itself.

Now an option to change back panel on phones to get an thicker phone with better camera and larger battery would work.

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cpu/memory/gpu will likely be a system on a chip module (essentially a cpu/gpu combo chip with a memory chip stacked on top), which is nether very large nor is it very expensive. the only real place you need a high speed connector is on the screen, which usually connects to dedicated i/o pins on the soc package. id design it so the cpu is on the backplane, and rather than the screen being a block, the mobo would just have a slot for a ribbon cable to which the screen would attach, then it would have an easily removable bezel (mounted with screws instead of tabs) for screen replacement. this is acceptable. the 'everything is usb' idea would work for everything else, even high performance devices like network adapters, radios, and cameras. you would of course replace bulky usb ports with something with a much lower profile connectors.

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As said, the connection between blocks if far from being trivial. Heat dissipation could be a problem too.

A solution would be to have a less modular system. Have a CPU/GPU block with constant size, and a specific place, same thing for the screen, memory and wireless blocks.

You can still change parts when they break or get obsolete, but with fixed positions for these central parts, you can now have specific connectors and high through put buses.

For the other gizmos, like additional memory, camera, etc, a usb or similar port could be used.

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having the cpu on the mobo helps your heat dissapation problem, since you have a larger area in which to dissipate heat, which can be dumped through the bezel and frame. this is also better for isolating noise on the usb backplane from the soc. you could probibly reduce it a lot by going off usb spec and using a 3.3v power bus for the blocks (which is done for the internal usb devices on most laptops) to avoid using low dropout regulators in all your blocks, just a switch mode regulator in your power block, outputting 3.3v (which also makes your arm soc happy).

it makes little sense to swap out cpu/gpu/ram separately as obsolescence will affect all 3 simultaneously (ignoring the fact that it will be one chip). whenever i upgrade my pc, i usually upgrade all 3 at the same time, and the same thing will end up happening in this case. this is not going to be something subject to as much damage like the screen or ports. is it will mostly be replaced because obsolescence.

way i see it i would do this

1. no screen block, use a removable bezel and ribbon connector instead (attaches directly to backplane).

2. cpu/gpu/ram on backplane

3. primary storage slot on backplane (not a storage block)

4. power supply on block

5. all blocks are usb (even the power block)

thats the only way i see it working.

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Though the video is not accurate as far as exactly how this would have to work. It is a really good idea. Imagine if you could just go to your car dealer and pick from a list of modular parts that all adhered to a standard. Imagine the market competition you get when anyone can build a part to those standards. Imagine how much further the auto industry would be progressed if they actually had to keep up with technology on a daily basis.

Part of the reason these phones have progressed so far is the speed at which they can keep up with current tech. You do this, and that happens even faster. It's a marketeers wet dream and it is also nothing but good for the consumer. Win/Win.

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Smartphone companies don't want that kind of product.

Right now, when you want to upgrade your phone, you have to buy a new one, that's more money for them. Also, different companies can have different strong points and emphasize them, like sony and their cameras. But most importantly, you destroy a lot of the brand value.

Right now, if I buy a phone, it will a Samsung, Apple, Sony, Motorola or wathever. When I carry it around, I'm advertising the company. If everybody has phones that look the same, made of many different parts, you destroy the brand image.

Think of Mac vs PC. Mac has a very strong brand image that allows it to sell computers for a higher price, and they certainly don't want third party hardware. Pc brands try to do the same, especially with laptops, with less success.

There is also the problem that you can't make a phone with a larger screen, or that is thinner, and then do an advertisement carpet bombing explaining how this mm is revolutionary.

It is, on the other hand, a wet dream for all the smaller players who have a lot of trouble getting the spotlight.

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That's the thing, it makes WAY more money than whole phones. Sure you can sell a whole phone. But what about cases? Most people I know have more than one case. A girl in my class has 50 she thinks! at 10$ a case that's 500$ a customer, just as good as low level Iphones. It's the same with the blocks. Who says people will have 1 block for everything? People will buy hundreds each! at an average of 15 a block that's a minimum of 1500$ a person. I will for sure have tons of blocks mostly batteries and CPU blocks (Imagine if you could do dual socket and a small battery so you just keep it plugged in!) I'm for sure going to spend way more than 1500$ on this if it supports IOS. The possibilities are endless! What about 2 cameras for 3d? Or a replacement for the screen to make it bigger? Then all the accessories for the blocks like cases and packs. If this works it will make TONS of money. By the time apple knocks it off it will be too late!

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not to mention lower latency. then in the ram is soldered directly on top of the processor package instead of being in another chip. thats why i say put everything on the backplane, then have a grid of usb hosts on the back.

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What would the USB hosts be for at that point? The changeable parts are left as the battery, screen, case, storage, antennae and external ports. Changing external ports is useful, but it's normally their mounting point that fails. In this case, that would be the backplane.

So at that point, realistically we're left with:

  • Some form of universal video and pointer connection for the screen.
  • A universal connector for a battery and its specific charging port and cirtuitry.
  • A couple of U.FL or similar connectors for antennae.
  • A standard data connection for storage.
  • A case to cover it all.

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peripherals of course. you got lots of stuff on the soc module, and there is no reason to duplicate any of that in blocks. but if there is something new that you dont have on your soc, then its just a matter of plugging it in the backplane. and this opens the door to all kinds of special purpose uses. were kind of in the middle of a sensor tech boom, where all kinds of devices that used to be rather expensive now come in a 2$ chip. of course the block would sell for $20 so they could have functions anywhere from very serious applications to the mundane and practically pointless. i can imagine scientific sensor blocks, blocks for people in the medical field (like heartbeat sensors), if your a pilot having a few extra gyros and accelerometers might be handy. stupid blocks with laser diodes or rgb leds that change color for no apparent reason other than someone thought it looked cool. you could have passive port blocks so you can have additional usb ports (say plug in a real keyboard and mouse). you like games? joystick block! yea i went there. blocks with little motors in them so your phone becomes a remote controlled robot. need security, biometrics block. nuclear worker? geiger counter block. havc installer? gas sensors. etc, etc, etc... lets see you put all that stuff on a chip. its not a phone anymore, its a tricorder.

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