Before Google’s first modular smartphone Project Ara has
even entered into the market, competitors have already started popping
up. Recently, a Finland-based company Circular Devices plans to launch
its first modular smartphone “Puzzle Phone” in the second half of 2015.
Like Project Ara, the Puzzle Phone is designed to have
upgradeable parts so as to extend smartphone life instead of being
discarded when newer, faster or shiner phones hit the market. However,
unlike Project Ara, the Puzzle Phone has fewer interchangeable parts.
The Puzzle Phone consists of 3 building blocks: the Spine, which is the
main body of the phone containing an LCD Screen, main buttons, speakers
and microphones; the Brain, which is the module containing the
processor and small components like the camera; the Heart, which
includes the battery and secondary electronics.
“We are similar to Project Ara but with different
physical approaches, in the sense that three pieces are closer to the
device’s actual internal distribution, which translates into a
cost-effective adoption by the industry,” Circular Devices founder
Alejandro Santacreu told ZDNet.
According to the official website,
the Puzzle Phone will be available in several colors such as: Black,
Orange, Green, Yellow, Silver and more. As well as different display
sizes: 4.3 inches, 4.7 inches and 5.0 inches.
As a new entry into the cellphone industry, challenges
and opportunities coexist. What modular smartphones will bring about
changes to the industry and us, we just have to wait and see!
