Google got a lot of people excited when they announced their project Ara modular smartphone and the prospect of building your own perfect device. The idea has been taken on board by other companies and the latest to enter the fray is an Austrian company called Fonkraft Technologies. The Vienna based company have just started crowd funding on the indiegogo network.
Like Ara the Fonkraft offers interchangable components, so you can upgrade your RAM if you want more, or possibly add a better camera module at a later date. Similarly if your drops and you smash your screen (a problem well known to smartphone users), a new screen unit can simply be swapped for the damaged one, no having to deal with expensive repair shops.
The really interesting part is that the lowest buy in level is currently a mere $99, or roughly £66 in real money, a bargain for something which can easily be upgraded in the future. The entry level proposed specs are aimed squarly at extended battery life and as such the unit contains a 3100mAh battery pack, and an additional 1000mAh pack as well (mix and match modular technology at it’s best). A step up from the basic Pilot model is the Resolution which opts for a 20mp camera and 64MB of memory for $199 (£130) or for the same price you can go down the audio route with the HiFi which keeps the 64MB of RAM and adds a 192kHz HiFi module.
Their funding goal of $50,000 is still a long way off with 45 days still remaining, but if you love technology and like a punt the Pilot is well worth the risk without too much of an outlay.
More details can be found on the Indiegogo funding page, and also in the video below.
