Embedded Systems Engineer's Dream - "PhoneBloks" The 100% Customizable Phone That LASTS - Polidicks

I dont think voltage stepdowns would be practical in how small blocks have to be

trying to make some sort of universal standard for this with the cooperation of a buttload of phone manufacturers sounds like a total nightmare

I wish any of this were possible.

[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;42179268]trying to make some sort of universal standard for this with the cooperation of a buttload of phone manufacturers sounds like a total nightmare[/QUOTE] USB did it, PCI-E did it, SATA did it, but those are all enforced by a separate entity.

[QUOTE=hexpunK;42169016]How will the board know when and where the CPU block is plugged in? It needs to provide the right amount of power or it risks destroying or upsetting the CPU through over or under voltage.[/QUOTE] Uh what? just give the board like 4v and each block uses resistors or whatever to lower the power for the components it has. same with cpu. Different pin heights for +,- and data rails. [editline]es[/editline] why is this reply a box magnet? because its not another "sadly this is truly impossible to achieve by any method" reply?

USB would have worked had apple not been aswipes about it and made a 32-pin serial cord instead and fractured the world perminently

What about each block running in a low power state until the backboard can pull the information about the block from it and configure the power as needed? [editline]13th September 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Sableye;42179481]USB would have worked had apple not been aswipes about it and made a 32-pin serial cord instead and fractured the world perminently[/QUOTE] mobos these days rarely come with PS/2 ports now, and if they do its a combo-port. They just cram more USB ports instead. I think mine has... like, 10 ports.

I actually think this is pretty damn doable now, of course with a lot of modifications to the design The question is how thick its acceptable for it to be, it would probably be a big thing affecting the cost

I think it would be cool if you could build a laptop from parts first I mean you still can't really do that right

[QUOTE=TNOMCat;42179469]Uh what? just give the board like 4v and each block uses resistors or whatever to lower the power for the components it has. same with cpu. Different pin heights for +,- and data rails. [editline]es[/editline] why is this reply a box magnet? because its not another "sadly this is truly impossible to achieve by any method" reply?[/QUOTE] because you're trying to use resistors to regulate voltage.

Not totally, no.

I've had this idea before. It's an interesting concept, and if someone out there has the will and ability to make it work, I'm all for it. 'Cuz I sure as hell don't have the resources to pull this kind of thing off.

The amount of people posting this on facebook is ridiculous, I don't want to be the guy who tells them it's impossible

[QUOTE=Pat.Lithium;42186005]The amount of people posting this on facebook is ridiculous, I don't want to be the guy who tells them it's impossible[/QUOTE] Thats a good thing, cause lying is bad.

Seems like the kind of thing you'd see in a game where a phone like this would be an important mechanic; Deciding which feature would be more important and finding the blocks to improve them, while sacrificing other blocks.

No one noticed this? [IMG]http://i.solidfiles.net/6c84b37047.png[/IMG]

I remember noticing the 12MP cannon and the Bose sound system.

Not sure why people think this is impossible. Electronics don't work that way if you don't know anything about them. Engineers are clever people. Get a team of them working on something like this and they will make it happen, one way or another.

And then you drop the phone and the pieces go fucking flying everywhere.

[QUOTE=No_Excuses;42187042]Not sure why people think this is impossible. Electronics don't work that way if you don't know anything about them. Engineers are clever people. Get a team of them working on something like this and they will make it happen, one way or another.[/QUOTE] The problem is that if they could get it to work, it would be ridiculously expensive.

[QUOTE=Del91;42187050]The problem is that if they could get it to work, it would be ridiculously expensive.[/QUOTE] that's an assumption

Any of you ever remove a laptop's CD drive? It could work that way. Have little doors on the side of the phone; unscrew two screws and slide it out; there's a board with something or other on it. Everything wouldn't be changeable like this example, but they'd be customizable enough to last a while longer, and it'd make a single model of phone able to cover more of the market.

[QUOTE=aydin690;42183239]because you're trying to use resistors to regulate voltage.[/QUOTE] resistors do lower the voltage and most importantly the current for the component.

[QUOTE=TNOMCat;42187439]resistors do lower the voltage and most importantly the current for the component.[/QUOTE] Dude, go to the first page. You're teaching an electrical engineer about resistors. Regulating voltage with resistors is a terrible idea. [editline]14th September 2013[/editline] Voltage regulation is the least of your worries. There are so many bigger issues: [QUOTE=aydin690;42161896]EE here. The amount of bandwidth flowing between different components and frequencies involved on a pcb and the sheer number of connections just screams integration. Not to mention the amount of engineering that goes into things like thermal management, antennas, signal integrity, emi compliance, and power management. It may be doable but I don't think its worth doing.[/QUOTE] Also, making everything modular will also add so much to the size of the device.

[QUOTE=aydin690;42187595]Dude, go to the first page. You're teaching an electrical engineer about resistors. Regulating voltage with resistors is a terrible idea. [editline]14th September 2013[/editline] Voltage regulation is the least of your worries. There are so many bigger issues: Also, making everything modular will also add so much to the size of the device.[/QUOTE] voltage regulators then? but in any case those other problems have already been solved in.. every mobile phone ever and the only thing is to make it modular. I highly doubt there is a problem with bandwidth between the components

this is the ouya of phones

Original design is pretty much impossible/retarded as fuck While we did figure out a way to actually do it, I dont see it being anything the people posting this on facebook would buy And accelerometer, GPS, gyro and WiFi make no sense as modules as you'd end up with a stupid amount of expensive glue chips

It's certainly possible to design a modular phone but not at all practical, you can only really make a few things modular, the main board, the camera and the LCD anything more complicated like the CPU or SoC is impossible to do without using a very large package which would greatly increase the size of the phone, then you have problems with ensuring proper communication between each block which would need to be standardized and tested for EMC and RFI, also given the amount of connections needed you'd have to use very small pins which your average idiot is going to break. I have zero doubt that this is going to fail, any competent electrical engineer will tell you it's a bad idea.

[QUOTE=Tobba;42188322]Original design is pretty much impossible/retarded as fuck While we did figure out a way to actually do it, I dont see it being anything the people posting this on facebook would buy And accelerometer, GPS, gyro and WiFi make no sense as modules as you'd end up with a stupid amount of expensive glue chips[/QUOTE]Combine them and just toggle them through software

I thought this was a joke at first. Wouldn't have Dell come up with this if it was feasable?