Finland-based Circular Devices is the next company to take on Google's Project Ara and the mysterious Vsenn in modular smartphones with the PuzzlePhone, a charmingly named upgradeable device.
The PuzzlePhone breaks down the smartphone into 3 modules-- the Spine (display, speakers and basic structure), Heart (battery and secondary electronics) and Brain (processor and camera). Modules are built on an open source hardware standard, allowing OEMs to freely build modules according to customer demand.
The OS of choice is a forked Android version, but the makers are looking into supporting alternative operating software.
“We will make our own Puzzlephones but furthermore we want to be the place where hardware applications (components) are developed and distributed,” Circular Devices says. "We want to provide the openness that the new and more effective value chain requires.“
The PuzzlePhone should launch sometime on H2 2015 at a "mid-range" price. Will it lead to 2015 becoming the year of the modular smartphone?
Go PuzzlePhone
