There were several names going around for modular smartphones and the most prominent of them was Google’s Project Ara modular smartphone but it seems that an Austrian company names Fonkraft will beat Ara to be the first module based smartphone. Fonkraft is already available for pre-order on its IndieGoGo campaign page.
The modular smartphone comes in different pre-set models that can be customized as per the user’s requirement. The basic skeleton of the phone comes with a 5-inch 1080p display, Android Lollipop OS and plenty of customization options.
In other words, the users can swap out the camera, battery (or batteries), CPU, RAM, GPU and more. All models come with 4G support as well as Bluetooth, NFC, GPS and GLONASS. So if a user wants to upgrade their phone or replace something that’s broken all they have to do is swap what they want to upgrade or replace.
Fonkfraft Battery Performance Edition:
The Fonkraft starts with the base model that costs $99 and is aimed at battery performance. The phone price includes two battery modules of 3,100 and 1,000 mAh for total of 4,100mAh battery. The $99 model also comes with 8MP rear and 2MP front cameras, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and GPU coupled with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage.
Fonkfraft Instagram Enthusiast Edition:
Next up is a $199 Fonkraft Resolution model that comes with a 20MP rear camera and 64 GB of internal storage aimed at photographers. Other internal also see major upgrades as it includes other modules with a 2.5GHz quad-core CPU(probably Snapdragon 801), 2GB of RAM, 2MP front camera and a 2,800 mAh battery module.
Fonkfraft Audiophile Edition:
There’s another model available for $199 dollars that is aimed towards audiophiles named Fonkraft Hifi. The phone includes an extra module that provides 192 kHz sound module for high quality audio and back bad from wood. This one also comes with 2.5GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 8MP rear and 2MP front camera and a 2,100mAH battery modules.
Fonkfraft Ultimate Edition:Â
Then there’s a phone-for-all option that comes at $299. The model dubbed Fonkraft Elements comes with all the currently available modules for the modular smartphone. This means it comes with all modules that are included in other models.
This is not the end of it as Fonkraft has revealed they plan to create several other modules providing more customization options. These include a second sim slot, additional antenna support, a new 16MP camera and much more. It’s not just Fonkraft who can sell modules for the phone as the hardware platform is open source so any third party can come with any sort of module for the phone making the possibilities endless.
Fonkraft ships internationally for free so Pakistanis can order it as well
Fonkraft ships the phone worldwide so even Pakistanis can order the phone and have it shipped for free. The shipping will start from September, well before Project Ara, but customers can start pre-ordering right now. Project Ara has is made by a prominent brand but Fonkraft has beaten it to the market.
What are your thoughts and comments on modular phones, are they really the future of smartphones?
Now i know what to buy when i decide to ditch this phone XD
Would consider one if they were offering a WP option.
I know this might be an idiotic question but .. What is WP ???
Windows Phone!
What??!! You want a windows phone?? Why not android or iOS???
Why are you so surprised? It works better for me than either of those.
I am surprised because according to what I’ve heard… Windows phone is useless… And it doesn’t have much customisation option either… Well, Its your choice and I won’t do much blabber about windows phone vs iOS/android… Wish you luck in finding a windows modular phone.
P.S I heard that after rooting you can do almost anything on android.. Installing windows on it MIGHT be available as well…. (I’m not sure about it)
Nope. Don’t go by what people say and make your own opinions. It’s a lot better in many things than both of those.
^TRUE
For example? In what things?
* Intuitive Live Tile UI – information at a glance without opening the app
* Buttery smooth performance, even on low end phones
* Great battery life
* Easy learning curve and the intuitive little things that just work!
* The most secure platform to date. You can download anything from the Store without worrying about malwares
* Great companion to your Windows based PC
* Cortana!
* Not totally open but not as restricted either. Perfect balance between iOS and Android.
and so on…
well most of the things you mentioned aren’t what makes windows better but what makes you like windows more. Not advantages simply an opinion
*Intuitive Live Tile UI – this is just a design and liking it depends on the user. So an opinion. And android has widgets – information without opening the app. Besides there is a ROM in android that gives the same live tile UI in android. I used it. Got bored after a month and changed it.
* Buttery smooth performance, even on low end phones – android also has smooth performance in low end if you buy the right phone(Xinomi, Moto E and Andorid one etc) all are buttery smooth. In mid range use moto G, nexus 5, nexus 4 all are buttery smooth.
* Great battery life- Windows phones don’t have a better life than android, Infact the best better life is given by Moto maxx an android phone.
* Easy learning curve and the intuitive little things that just work! Come one seriously? now your just using words from Steve jobs.
* The most secure platform to date. You can download anything from the Store without worrying about malwares- I have been using android for 6 years never got a malware while downloading from the playstore. Besides if you are talking about the most secure than ios takes the lead in this
* Great companion to your Windows based PC – What does Great companion exactly mean? If you are talking about syncs. Then google services and chrome sync and can beat the shit out of this
* Cortana!- Google Now! See the youtube videos. Google now wins in many aspects from Cortana
* Not totally open but not as restricted either. Perfect balance between iOS and Android.- Perfect balance is another perspective and opinion. I like changing ROMs and looks of my phone. So for me this is a huge disadvantage
“you heard”? doesn’t mean anything! use it. you’ll know
Awesome! Would love to buy it. Prices seem to good to be true.
Prices will increase starting 1st May
Please share the website of fonekraft…. I wanna see it
Search indiegogo fonkraft on Google and you’ll find the page where you can order one.
Google it superman! You was explaining differences b/w Android and Windows phone but not have sense to Google? What? :-)
He he, I didn’t think someone would be following me so closely… Anyways, I did google it.. But for about 10 mins I only kept stumbling on its indiegogo campaign which was closed.. Then I saw that I made a spelling mistake.. I spelt it “fonekraft” instead of “fonkraft” .
Then when I corrected it.. I got to their website… BUT it was no use as a few hours later news popped up saying that fonkraft indiegogo campaign was cancelled.
acha phone hai .. but pakistan main double price main milega .. as usual
Resolution vs Hifi? Resolution has better camera & battery while hifi has lesser, still same price?
Total price including taxes if any?
Features are good,
it’s a scam advertisement………….Indiegogo just pulled this phone off their list!!!
Hello Admin. I tried to purchase the phone. But in the payment section(where you fill up your credit card info), Pakistan was not present among the countries. I’m literally disappointed.
Ha, jaldbaaz Pakistanio…
Looks like that it might have been a scam… But here is another campaign.. And this one seems to work better than fonkraft… No its not another modular phone, its more like an add-on case
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nexpaq/nexpaq-the-first-truly-modular-smartphone-case
It was a great idea but word on the street is that project has been closed. Once you google fonkraft you will see many blogs and websites claiming that the project has been removed from indiegogo website.
Personally I think the guys pledged 50000$ for the project and it is pretty much impossible to do such an R&D with this low budget!
A link for the reference that i found on google.
https://liliputing.com/2015/05/fonkrafts-fishy-modular-smartphone-campaign-pulled-from-indiegogo.html
Fonkraft modular smartphone gets pulled from Indiegogo
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/fonkraft-modular-smartphone-gets-pulled-from-indiegogo-1292743
” What are your thoughts and comments on modular phones, are they really the future of smartphones? ”
yes, off course… we all wish to have this type of smart phones and this article shows that ” DREAMS WILL COME TRUE “
* do you really believe badly coded third party widgets that hog the cpu and suck your battery are comparable to the system wide in-built live tiles feature on WP? And that WP metro skin for Android is laughable. It’s like modding XP to look like Windows 7 with fake aero transparency.
* If you think phones like the Moto G and Nexus 4 are “buttery smooth”, you have no idea what the word actually means. And these are not even real low end phones since they offer mid range specs for a cheap price. A real low end phone, like the Lumia 520 with just a dual core processor and 512MB of ram totally kills both of them in performance.
* Actually it’s a proven fact that WPs have better battery life than Android. Just see the official battery life rating of the One M8 with Windows vs the One M8 Android version on HTCs website. Also, you couldn’t be more wrong. The Lumia 1520 holds the current title for the best battery life, with an endurance rating of 107h. Compared to a pathetic 87h for the Moto Maxx.
* Yes, seriously. WP is pretty straightforward and even people who are new to smartphones can easily learn their way around the OS in no time. And almost everyday they find some neat little feature to gush about. Android on the other hand has horrible out of the box experience and needs a lot of tinkering and customizing to get it close to usable.
* Reports say otherwise. Google has let apps with malicious code into the playstore. Who knows, maybe you were using a virus disguised as an app all this time without your knowledge. And no, iOS is hardly secure since every version is jailbroken within hours of release. WP is the only platform that has not yet been jailbroken.
* Great companion means universal apps. Working on your phone on the way then coming to your office and continuing right from where you left off. Sharing game progress and scores, not only on the PC but also Xbox. Tab and bookmark syncing. Tile layouts, playlists, photos, podcasts, messages and so on. Nothing else even comes close to this level of cross device compatibility. And it’s only getting better with Windows 10.
* I have. And it’s been firmly established in the media that Cortana, even in it’s beta stage, leaves anything the competition has to offer in the dust.
* A very small percentage of people ever bother getting into the nitty gritty of their phones, for fear of bricking it or voiding warranty, and just use it as is.