Original post by julio palacios on November 23, 2019
Within an educational setting, modular mobile devices can empower the user by allowing them to make otherwise costly repairs, upgrades and modifications to their mobile devices. This will alleviate the amount of eWaste produced by the educational institution and the high costs of maintaining up to date educational technology.
Good point about smartphone / mobile brands seeming reluctant on allowing for customization or modularization (is this a word ???) of their products — you could even argue that today’s devices are closed off. Try to fix a Macbook keyboard by yourself, and you might just break your space bar key (like I did last week…) trying to put it back in. Smartphones don’t even have removable batteries anymore!
Rather than the modular / open-source route, we’ve also seen lower-cost solutions like budget smartphones designed specifically for developing countries, basic classroom tablets, and even Chromebooks. These package necessary technologies, and might come with less need for administration and organization as well.
I really enjoyed exploring Julio’s OER on modular mobile technology and its potential benefits for education. I think cost is one of the major roadblocks for education technology implementation in the classroom. Modular mobile technology’s affordability and ability to easily repair and upgrade is very attractive for education systems. We all have features on our phone that we don’t use, and modular mobiles lets you choose just features that you need. On a personal level, I really like the sustainability feature of modular technology. As Julio mentioned, eWaste is a huge problem. With new devices coming out every few years, we are constantly trying to keep up with the newest models and features. Mobile technology is quickly evolving and becoming obsolete faster than ever. Modular mobile technology seems like the perfect solution to enable customization, reduce costs, and implement easy upgrades and repairs.
However, there are also a few drawbacks currently. First, large smartphone makers have no incentives for making modular phones since they can make more money by coming up with a complete new model every few years. Secondly, there are quite a few technical challenges. Having smaller modular parts increases the need for high quality hardware and interfaces such as connectors and mechanical housing to accommodate different modules. Lastly, would it be too much of a hassle? Many people prefer an all-in-one package rather than needing to carry modules around and thinking about which parts they need.
The idea of modular phones has been around for a few years, but it didn’t seem to take off with companies like Google dropping their modular phone project Ara. Do you think modular phones can take off soon?