Puzzlephone, a competitor to Project Ara from Google.

Posted on by justechie-adm

Puzzlephone, a competitor to Project Ara from Google

We first heard about Project Ara from Google more than a year ago. The modular phone has been mentioned from time to time during this period, but now the release is really coming, and according to announcements, Project Ara is expected to see the light of day as early as January 2022., and so in a month or so! As always, however, it turned out that the competition is not sleeping and other companies have already (or only just – after all, Ara has been talked about for quite a long time) offered their modular models.

The first of the major competitors for Project Ara is Finland's Puzzlephone.
The first competitor to Project Ara has been proposed by a Finnish group Circiular Devices. Their product is called Puzzlephone and, as with Google's project, the phone is all about the easy upgradeability of individual components, without having to replace the entire device. At the same time, the modular phone allows the user to compose a model that best suits his or her individual needs.

In this way, for example. Active users will be able to opt for a very capacious battery with additional sensors, while those with a twist on photography will be able to bet on the best possible camera on their device.
Puzzlephone is divided into 3 components, Which will be independently interchangeable. This is one of the differences between Project Ara and the Puzzlephone – in the former, each module is interchangeable separately, they are not grouped into larger units. The 3 parts of Puzzlephone are:

  • the Spine, which includes an LCD display, speakers and the case itself;
  • the Heart, In which we find a battery and additional components, for example. special sensors;
  • the Brain, which includes a processor and camera.

Puzzlephone2

Manufacturers grouping individual components in this way suggests that the "Spine" of the phone can remain unchanged for a long time – e.g. only when it breaks down through the fault of the user (reportedly, the average lifespan of an LCD screen is 10 years), while the "Brain" can be updated even every few months to enjoy the best possible battery and photos (modern batteries usually do not last longer than 3 years).
Sam design phone differs from the strictly modular design of Project Ara. The backbone, heart and brain of the Puzzlephone put together seem to work perfectly together and form a fairly uniform body, at first glance not distinguishing it from other smartphones. The design of Project Ara, however, emphasizes a little more visual differentiation of individual components, which is also related to the fact that in the Google phone the components are simply more, so they form a small "mosaic".
The operating system to be equipped with the Puzzlephone is Android, which is expected to allow easy and fast development of applications and updating of the phone. Circular Devices also wants to provide standards for modules and the phone's "core" so that different manufacturers can create their modules, compatible with the Puzzlephone. Work on the Puzzlephone has been underway since 2013, its release is tentatively scheduled for the second half of 2022.

The price of the phone is expected to be among those in the middle range.