Hands-on with modu: it's real and plenty fantastic
By Sean Cooper 
posted Feb 12th 2008 12:40PM
posted Feb 12th 2008 12:40PM
It's alive! Take that naysayers, we were sure -- or at least really hopeful -- that modu was the real deal, and after our visit with them this morning, we can assure everyone it is. The Guinness Book of World Record people have even confirmed it to be the smallest mobile handset in the world, so we stacked three of 'em up next to our favorite N95-3 and they were just a hair bigger -- see the gallery for the goods. The possibilities are endless for branding, as new modu jackets take almost no time to develop and each jacket can even have its own theme that's loaded, translator content, when you pop the modu in. We saw a pile of prototype ideas, including travel guides, a pocket PC version -- this was way cool -- iPod-esque dock with text message display, and a bevy of others. Modu should be hitting retail toward the end of this year, hopefully we'll see a review unit before then. Follow the link for a massive gallery.
Long, long ago & a land far, far away (Texas) I sat on a panel where we saw prototypes of something very similar for televisions where you bought plugins to make them computers, game consoles, phones, etc like PCI cards.
That never caught on because various makers didn't want to cut into their profit, I believe.
Could this be the same for Modu? Why would Nokia want to provide "jackets" when they can sell you the whole suit @ a higher margin?
This rings a bell...
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe ARM were also involved in these discussions. It was some time around 1994 if I remember correctly. I remember discussing the possibilities with an Acorn Computers engineer (Acorn were heavily tied in with ARM back then - the Acorn RiSC PC was a powerhouse desktop based on the StrongARM chip) whilst I was fortunate enough to do some work experience with them in Australia during my schooling years.
http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthread.php?t=33796
http://discussion.treocentral.com/showpost.php?p=454304&postcount=18
the picture above reminds me of when you could connect your "digimon" and have them fight. will modu be Tamagotchi-friendly?
I like the side-slider handset they showed. They keyboard might not be the best feel (that style of keyboard always seems a little stiff and awkward to me), but I like that you can pick your handset for the core module.
Yeah, I don't see the individual handset makers going "modu compatible", I think Modu would have to make their own line. But I wouldn't be surprised to see them get somewhere with it.
Though, if Nokia DID make modu compatible device, I wouldn't mind seeing them have an N810 style internet tablet, with a plugin spot for the modu.
Why???????????????
It looks hideous, and it has no keypad?????
Looks like you have to put it into one of its "jackets" to get the key pad. Interesting, but could be annoying to some.
ya, I realized that after I read the whole history behind this thing. Too bad the post had very little details.
This rings a bell...
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe ARM were also involved in these discussions. It was some time around 1994 if I remember correctly. I remember discussing the possibilities with an Acorn Computers engineer (Acorn were heavily tied in with ARM back then - the Acorn RiSC PC was a powerhouse desktop based on the StrongARM chip) whilst I was fortunate enough to do some work experience with them in Australia during my schooling years.
Oops -> My previous comment was meant as a reply to the first comment from @Anthony
never mind my previous comment. I get it now....I guess Engadget people should write some more background explanation, rather than assume that everyone know every previous piece of news by heart.
That's why they tag their entries to prior ones. You should probably quit your job, however, so you can just sit @ home reading Engadget all day long. I highly recommend it.
If I quit my job, I'd probably play games during the winter, and sit out at the pool during the summer. I'd probably quit Engadget too along with my job.
My job is the only thing that keeps me sober. Sad, but true.
This is actually a pretty cool concept if you ask me, although I agree I don't see it catching on.
I wouldn't mind seeing a series60 Nseries flavor that I could interchange between a keyboard phone, stereo/GPS, and a regular candybar phone.
Yeah, I still don't get it. I use bluetooth on my Insignia Pilot to play music to headphones and my car stereo, and control my phone (or play music from it as well). I'd rather keep my SDHC and SIM and move them around if I really want to change devices, rather than buy into a whole new chunk of hardware that I will have to wait on the originating company to update capacity and/or change specs. This reminds me too much of Sony's stupid MemoryStick or anything from Apple.
Pre-emptive and obligatory "SHUT UP" for the inevitable "it's no iphone killer" comment.
This is creative and as a product concept, makes a great cocktail party discussion. But if Modu was a stock I would short it. This idea has enough pop to make people (like engadget) talk about it, but no one will buy it. Consider:
- As "Student Driver" points out, this concept competes directly with PAN which is a much better solution to the WAN access problem for ancillary devices (laptop, car, camera). My mobile phone already has a WAN data account and my peripherals just need to pair with that. I don't even have to take it out of my pocket.
- The modu will have a proprietary interface (both s/w & h/w). Who will pay to tool up for compatibility? How do these costs compare to a $5 Bluetooth ASIC and a standard, well documented API?
- Simple physics will dictate that "jackets" will be larger, form factor restricted and less battery efficient than the corresponding single purpose device (mobile phone, ipod, camera, etc.).
- Imagine the use cases: remove modu from "phone jacket", insert into "camera jacket" to send photos. Someone calls you - do you answer the call with the camera?
And furthermore, GPRS only? What's the point of that? Yeah, they didn't want to pony up the licensing (Qualcomm tax) and dev costs of UMTS or HSDPA (not to mention HSUPA). Lame.
This is a pretty sweet concept, but in the long run, I don't see anyone other than modu themselves making jackets for it. I could definitely see this catching on if it were cdma, considering you can't just swap out SIMs as you can with a gsm one; there are some people who would love that, but I don't think verizon would allow anything even a tenth as customizable.
Why couldn't you just use a memory card, much cheaper.