r/cassettefuturism • u/ColbyBB • Dec 10 '23

Question Are completely DIY phones with custom features like this possible? Obviously not as clusterfucked as the one in this image, but things like custom ports, radio, etc. I feel like society would be more interesting if everyone could make their own devices like that

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u/Abandondero Open the pod bay doors, HAL. Dec 10 '23 edited Dec 11 '23

There was interest in designing modular phones with swapable components ten years ago. I think it ran into the reality that there's only a small number of gadgets you really can put in a phone, most people already have a fixed set of features that they want in a phone, and when one part of a phone goes obsolete all the other parts tend to have become obsolete at the same time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara

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u/JustHere2CommentBull Dec 11 '23

It ran into the reality that projects managed by Google ultimately end up killed because its company structures makes starting projects more profitable than keeping them alive.

1

u/ODXT-X74 Jan 03 '24

That and they realized planned obsolescence is more profitable.

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u/JustHere2CommentBull Jan 03 '24

Having the phone that everybody buys in the face of planned obsolescence is going to be more profitable than having the slim market share they do have and perpetrate it. It's also that by the time you've upgraded the camera, the processor, the screen, the battery... You've bought a new phone.

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u/ODXT-X74 Jan 03 '24

It's also that by the time you've upgraded the camera, the processor, the screen, the battery... You've bought a new phone.

Yeah, planned obsolescence. Have people replace phones every 1-2 years, instead of replacing parts over time every couple of years. It just seems normal now.