Phonebloks- Explained!

We live in a throwaway society, where
products often aren't made to last
long, and generally aren't easily
fixable. Smartphones are a case in
point, with the average handset being
replaced by its owner within two
years. And when that happens, the
whole thing is trashed intact and
replaced with another, slightly better,
model. With the Phonebloks concept,
Dave Hakkens plans to change this
short-term way of thinking about
gadgets.
Dutch designer Hakkens has proposed
the Phonebloks concept, which is
designed to run counter to the current
business model from smartphone
manufacturers such as Apple and
Samsung. Currently, the average
consumer buys a phone, and uses it
until it either breaks or is supplanted
by a newer model. Then, they either
sell it, trade it in, or trash it in favor of
buying a brand new handset.
Phonebloks tears this notion apart
with a simple alternative.
Phonebloks is (or is at least imagined
to be) a smartphone made up of
modular elements. So, your
Phonebloks handset would comprise a
display panel of your choosing, a
battery pack of your choosing, a
memory module of your choosing, and
other components selected by you.
These would be called bloks, and they
would be connected to a universal
base which ties all of the separate
components together. Each blok would
be attached to the base via pins, with
two screws holding everything in
place.
This all means that if one individual
component breaks it can be replaced
without the need to throw away the
whole unit and start again from
scratch. Likewise, if you want to
upgrade an individual component –
your camera or your RAM, for example
– then you simply buy the relevant
blok and embed it in your handset. To
achieve this, Hakkens proposes the
Blokstore, a kind of app store for
hardware on which you can buy and
sell bloks made by your favorite
brand.
The overriding factor behind
Phonebloks is electronic waste, which
is a rapidly growing problem. While
Phonebloks wouldn't solve the issue
outright (as people would still be
disposing of some components) it
would certainly help ease the
situation. A similar proposal for a
recyclable laptop was made a few
years ago, but people seem to be
resistant to change – or perhaps
manufacturers are responsible for the
lack of enthusiasm.
Phonebloks is just a concept at
present, but it's one that has been met
with considerable interest from
consumers around the world. Hakkens
is currently asking people to support
the notion of Phonebloks with a
campaign on Thunderclap, and the
short video embedded below details
the effort.
Unfortunately, consumer demand will
not be enough to make Phonebloks a
reality, with hardware partners an
absolute necessity if this is ever going
to move from the drawing board to the
real world. Still, it's a great idea that
deserves some attention.