谷歌的乐高式智能手机有没有前途

    毫无疑问，今天的智能手机依然存在改进的空间。尽管如今手机无处不在，深受人们的喜爱，但它们十分脆弱，且选择有限，还产生了越来越多的电子垃圾，可谓不折不扣的“全球定时炸弹”。

    谷歌（Google）推出的Project Ara项目目的就是要改变这种现状。这个项目采取模块化开源方式设计智能手机，在手机的结构框架——即所谓的“内骨骼”——上附加用户自己选择的智能手机模块，比如显示器、键盘、摄像头，甚至还有葡萄糖监视器等专门部件。换句话说，用户能自行设计自己想要的手机，无需为自己不想要的部件浪费钱。

    这个概念引人注意的是可定制性以及自己动手的吸引力，此外，模块化手机令人翘首期待之处还在于，它能降低重置成本，同时减少随之产生的电子垃圾。更换某个部件？无需更换或扔掉整部手机，只需更换出了问题的部分。正如某些人所说，模块化智能手机可能将成为“大家需要的唯一一部手机。”

    至少这是谷歌的想法。然而，现实情况是，模块化手机还有很长的路要走。Project Ara的第一款产品将于明年1月面世，售价预计在50美元上下，但中间还有很多工作要做。而且就算谷歌一切准备就绪，消费者们也不一定已经做好了准备。

    ‘人们不愿换手机’

    谷歌的模块化手机项目可能是媒体报道最多的一个，但它并不是独一份。中国手机厂商中兴（ZTE）就推出了准模块化的Eco-Mobius手机。而在去年十月Project Ara项目公布之前，荷兰设计师大卫•哈肯斯就牵头推出了 Phonebloks项目。后者设想建立一个类似“应用程序商店”的硬件交易平台，用户能在这个平台上买卖全新和二手部件。项目的宗旨是解决电子垃圾问题。

    Phonebloks表示支持Project Ara项目。此前，Phonebloks在“大众演说”（“crowd speaking”）平台Thunderclap上举行了线上宣传活动，聚集了95万多名支持者，覆盖的受众人数超过3.8亿。

    哈肯斯告诉《财富》（Fortune）杂志：“我们不清楚市场对我们项目的需求有多大，因此我们举行了这次线上宣传活动。结果我们发现，原来许多人很不情愿每隔几年就换一次手机。”

    ‘制造厂商不感兴趣’

    但是，模块化概念的批评声也不少。【比如：Phonebloks推出后不久，约翰•布朗利就在《快公司》杂志（Fast Company）上撰文《为什么说乐高设计原则不适合智能手机》。】

    哈肯斯承认，模块化手机面临极大的市场挑战。

    哈肯斯表示，首先，“目前的手机厂商对模块化手机不感兴趣。目前手机厂商决定着手机中有哪些部件。它们更愿意看到一个开放的市场，一个它们直接面向终端消费者的市场。”

    而最初由摩托罗拉发起的Ara项目本身也存在较大的模糊性，因为谷歌于2014年1月将摩托罗拉（Motorola）的很大部分卖给了联想（Lenovo）。IDC公司手机行业研究经理雷蒙•拉马斯反问：“这个项目到底应该由谁来推进？它是摩托罗拉的工作？还是谷歌的事情？这个项目可谓充满了谷歌的烙印，但随着摩托罗拉投入联想的怀抱，人们有理由产生质疑。谷歌到底是不是愿意再次涉足硬件业务？”

    Bug Labs公司创始人兼首席执行官彼得•赛莫哈克表示，这一点不大可能。退一步说，即使谷歌有意涉足硬件业务，它也需要众多合作伙伴来为它手机制造部件。Bug Labs公司运营着一个“乐高式”的数字设备硬件平台。赛莫哈克说：“每个模块都是有着自身生命周期和路线图的产品。它成了一个几何学问题。”

    There is little doubt that today's smartphones offer room for improvement. Ubiquitous and beloved though they may be, the portable devices are fragile, offer limited choice, and generate a growing mass of e-waste that's been called nothing short of a "global time bomb."

    Google's Project Ara aims to change all that. With a modular, open-source approach to smartphone design, Project Ara phones will be based on a structural frame -- dubbed the "endoskeleton," or "Endo" -- on which to attach smartphone modules of the owner's choice, such as a display, keyboard, camera, or even specialized components such as a glucose monitor. In other words, you design the phone you want, and don't pay for parts that you don't care about.

    The concept is notable for its customizability and overall do-it-yourself appeal, but modular phones are also anticipated with much enthusiasm for the reductions in replacement costs and e-waste they could bring. Fry a component? No need to exchange or throw out the whole phone -- just replace the part that's broken. The result, as some have suggested, could be that the modular smartphone is "the only phone you'll ever need."

    That's the thinking, anyway. The reality, however, is that modular phones have a long way to go. The first Project Ara phones are expected in January for around $50, but a lot has to happen first. And even if the pieces do fall into place -- so to speak -- it's not at all clear that consumers are ready.

    'People are sick of throwing out their phones'

    Google's modular approach may be the best-publicized so far, but it's not unique. The Chinese manufacturer ZTE offers the quasi-modular Eco-Mobius. And preceding the October announcement of Project Ara was the launch of the Phonebloks project, led by Dutch designer David Hakkens. Created to address the e-waste problem, Phonebloks envisions an "app store" of sorts for hardware through which users can buy new and used components as well as sell their old ones.

    Phonebloks has since thrown its support behind Project Ara. Before that, it conducted an online campaign on "crowdspeaking"platform Thunderclap, where it garnered more than 950,000 supporters and attained a social reach of more than 380 million people.

    "We didn't know what the demand for this was -- that's why we did an online campaign," Hakkens told Fortune. "Turned out quite a lot of people are pretty sick of throwing out their phones every couple of years."

    'Manufacturers aren't interested'

    There has been no shortage of critics for the modular concept. (A taste: the writer John Brownlee, who penned a piece for Fast Company shortly after Phonebloks' launch entitled, "Why Lego Design Principles Don't Work On Smartphones.")

    Hakkens admits there are significant market challenges to such a phone.

    For one, "current phone manufacturers aren't really interested in this phone," he said. "Currently, they are in charge and decide which components are in the phone. They prefer to see an open market where they can sell straight to the consumer."

    With regard to Ara, there remains a lack of clarity around the project since Google sold much of Motorola to Lenovo in January 2014. "Who's going to do it?"asked Ramon Llamas, a research manager for mobile phones at IDC. "Is it a Motorola thing? A Google thing? This has Google's fingerprints all over it, but with Motorola heading to Lenovo, there's reason to question. Does Google want to get into the hardware business again?"

    Even if it does -- which is unlikely -- it will need an ecosystem of partners to make modules for the phone, said Peter Semmelhack, founder and CEO of Bug Labs, which makes a "Lego-like" hardware platform of its own for digital devices. "Every module is a product with its own life cycle and road map," he said. "It becomes a geometric problem."