Google isn't the only company making a modular smartphone
Google isn't the only company making a modular smartphone
It looks like Google's Project Ara modular smartphone has some competition. The Puzzlephone is a modular Android smartphone concept being designed by Finnish startup Circular Devices with plans to ship in late 2015.
Understandably for a startup, the puzzlephone isn't quite as ambitious as Project Ara - instead of letting you replace every individual component, the phone is divided into three parts: "the Brain", which contains the processor, GPU, and camera module, "the Heart", which contains the battery and secondary electronics, and "the Spine", which is the frame, display and speakers. "Spines" will be available in a variety of different sizes and colors and, like Ara, you'll be able to mix and match components, and upgrade them when necessary. CIrcular Devices states that the goal is to have a base phone that can last for up to ten years, instead of just two or three. The phone will run on a forked version of Android.
If everything goes according to plan, the Puzzlephone will be available in the second half of 2015, although a finished release is apparently contingent on some additional funding.
Source: Puzzlephone