Page 4 - DIGICEL 27 FEB 2016

TECHNOLOGY A23
Companies experiment with build-your-own smartphone programs
BY ANICK JESDANUN
AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER
NEW YORK (AP) -- If you
could build your dream
smartphone, what would
it look like? Now suppose
you could put it together
yourself.
That’s the promise of mod-
ular design, a new concept
in smartphones that would
basically let you snap to-
gether different compo-
nents like Lego blocks. Say
you want a great camera.
Snap! A vivid screen and
good sound because you
watch a lot of video? Snap!
But maybe you could live
with a smaller battery be-
cause you spend most of
your day at home or work.
Snap!
Sure, phones now offer
choices in color and stor-
age. Motorola goes a
bit further in letting you
choose custom backs
made of wood or leather.
But the rest of the phone
is pretty standard. You’re
stuck with the processor,
battery and other hard-
ware chosen by Motorola,
Apple, Samsung and other
tech companies.
With modular design, you
could just pay for the com-
ponents you need instead
of settling for whatever
manufacturers put in their
designs. And instead of
buying a new phone every
year or two, you could just
upgrade individual parts as
they wear out or become
obsolete.
LG is dipping its toes in
the modular-design con-
cept with its upcoming G5
smartphone, announced
this week at a wireless con-
ference. The bottom of the
phone pops out to let you
swap in new hardware. For
starters, you’ll be able to
attach a camera grip with
physical shutter buttons or
insert a high-fidelity audio
system if regular MP3-quali-
ty sound isn’t good enough
for you.
Google’s Project Ara,
which isn’t making prod-
ucts yet, is also outlining a
modular-design approach
that starts with a structural
frame and lets you add
cameras, sensors and bat-
teries. Google figures a
phone could cost as little
as $50 using the most basic
Saturday 27 February 2016
This Feb. 11, 2016, photo, shows the LG G5 phone with the bottom of the phone popped out, in the battery faster than ex-
New York. The module contains the battery, which can be removed and inserted into a different pected.
module with extra features, such as a camera grip with physical shutter buttons. LG is dipping its Lego-like parts also could
toes into a modular-design concept with its upcoming G5 smartphone. allow dust or water to in-
trude into the phone’s in-
Associated Press nards. Their connections
might also give way over
parts. similar to how hobbyists egy and marketing. time.
A Dutch startup called Fair- build their own personal Modular design also isn’t “I don’t think those phones
phone is selling the $580 computers or soup up their easy. Project Ara missed are going to be reliable
Fairphone 2 online. Though cars. But there’s no guaran- its 2015 target for a pilot enough for the mass mar-
it comes assembled, you tee the idea will take off. project in Puerto Rico and ket,” de Renesse says.
can replace the screen for For one thing, modular suggested in cryptic tweets There’s already some buzz
less than $100, or the cam- design is itself a trade-off. that designing modules has around the phones. Fair-
era for $40. An expansion Many consumers want proven more complicated phone has sold about
port will let people add phones to be thin, light and than expected. Google 35,000 units and is target-
components - perhaps for power efficient, and that had no further comment. ing 150,000 this year. The
wireless charging or mobile means all the parts have to Ronan de Renesse, lead company says many of
payments - that Fairphone be tightly integrated. You analyst for consumer tech- its customers are environ-
or outside parties make in give that up when you go nology with the research mentally conscious about
the future. modular. firm Ovum, says many parts e-waste and don’t need
Chinese phone maker ZTE Samsung, for instance, re- in current smartphones up-to-the-minute advanc-
has circulated concept jects modular design, pre- are designed specifically es in phone technology.
designs. Other startups ex- ferring to offer “the best to work together. Swap in Many big phone makers
ploring modular phones combination of features a new camera or screen, introduce features just to
include Finland’s Puzzle- and functionality” in a and the older processors have something to brag
Phone (as in the compo- compact and elegant de- might not know what to do about in ads, says Miquel
nents fit together like a sign, says Justin Denison, with it. The camera might Ballester, Fairphone’s co-
puzzle). Samsung’s senior vice pres- stutter, the screen might founder. “I don’t really
Modular phone design is ident for U.S. product strat- blink, and both might drain think it’s always what the
customer is looking for.”
Even if the appeal is lim-
ited, the concept could
have broader influence.
LG’s G5 isn’t fully modu-
lar, as users couldn’t re-
place processors, cameras
and screens themselves.
LG’s Frank Lee says the
modular design for now
is mostly about enhanc-
ing the phone’s capabili-
ties with optional features.
But perhaps one day, he
says, people will be able to
swap in a slower, but more
power-efficient processor
on days they’ll be away
Google will back Apple in court against the FBI
This Feb. 17, 2016 file photo shows an iPhone in Washington. MICHAEL LIEDTKE familiar with the situation
Associated Press AP Technology Writer said.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The person asked not to be
Google will back Apple identified because Google
in its court battle with the is still drafting the docu-
FBI over the security of its ment.
iPhone. Google makes the Android
Last week, a court ordered software that powers most
Apple to help the FBI hack smartphones in the world.
into a locked iPhone used Like Apple,
by one of the San Bernardi- it fears creating a prece-
no killers in December’s dent that authorities could
shooting spree. use to read messages,
Apple opposes the order. photos and other sensi-
Google now plans to file a tive information stored on
“friend of the court” brief phones.
on Apple’s behalf within Apple filed its formal objec-
the next week, a person tion in the case Thursday.q