PHONEBLOCKS

Paula Viegas Greco de Oliveira

History and Philosophy of Engineering ENGG1000
Course Coordinator: Dr. Rod Fiford (AMME)

QUICK HISTORY

In the early 1900s the idea of wireless contact started to

be developed in Germany, in order to enable phone calls on
military trains.
During the Second World War, they used radio telephony
links and at that time mobile telephones for automobiles
became available.
During the 70s and later, in the 80s and 90s they became
popular until nowadays, when they are not only helpful
electronic devices, but also work and studying tools for
many people!

NOT ONLY GOOD NEWS

We all know that mobile phones generate a huge amount of

electronic garbage.
If any component of the phone is Broken (e.g.: the camera,
the screen, the memory chip), its commonly worth to buy
another mobile phone rather than simply change the
broken piece.
Usually we just want an specific feature on our phone, such
as a good camera, a better memory storage, or even a
battery that lasts longer, and because of that we buy a
phone with many other useless features.

Thats why an independent designer had, in 2012, a simple

but brilliant idea

THE PHONEBLOCK

The idea is very simple, why dont we have a mobile phone

designed to lasts long?
So, the phone block is made of detachable blocks,
connected to the base, that connects everything together.
Electrical signals are transferred through the pins from each
block to the base, and the device is locked with small
scrolls, making it simple to everyone.

WHAT ABOU THE SOCIETY?

How do this invention affect us? We will have simpler devices,
and we will be able to fix the, to change them and, among all,
to customize them.
We would still be able to choose for our favorite brands, and use the
blocks that best fit our lifestyle. Or we could just make our own
blocks!
We wont spend too much money when the mobile phone is broke: we
will be able to fix just that specific component.
This means much less electronic garbage and much less money spend
with no need.

HOW DID THEY MAKE IT HAPPEN

For the companies, to produce a long lasting device is not

the best idea, because it means that people wont buy a lot
of devices every year, and spend a lot of money with them.
There is a video explaining his idea and inviting people to
join him, to pressure the companies and make them work
together to offer the customers what they want.
As a result, The Project Ara is happening right now to built
the first phoneblock in the world, and perhaps in the next
year it will be available for customers!

BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/
09/Phonebloks.png
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zC34DpIeu-c/UQAFnPxsnoI/AA
AAAAAADcA/g1NH4GgbgAk/s1600/caa71fb3f9ab6f76cc5bf4a6
c1e9ccb1.jpg
http://www.libertyglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/phoneblok
s-1.jpg
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/
targetgroup_camera.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Phone
bloks_open.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones#me
diaviewer/File:2007Computex_e21-MartinCooper.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
https://phonebloks.com/en
http://www.tecmundo.com.br/google/51892-google-quer-ce
lulares-montaveis-a-us-50-com-lancamento-para-2015.