Hands-on with Modu phone and its jackets

J RiversMon 18 February, 2008 5:26pm

It's a really nice idea especially when you keep dreaming up new uses for it. For example, if your bike had a MODU slot you could suddenly have an onboard computer which could not only track your speed and progress but also receive phone calls and emails pushed to a bluetooth earpiece. I really hope this idea takes off and gets the backing it deserves, but not all standards are as successfully as USB has been :(

AnonymousMon 18 February, 2008 7:54pm

Sounds like a pain -- too many pieces of junk getting lost, getting left at home on the days that it didn't occur to you you'd want them, etc.

The tiny standalone phone, though, might be nice.

daveemtbTue 19 February, 2008 8:28am

I can see some potential drawbacks here, though the idea is undeniably cool.

Firstly, as Anoymous points out, you'll always find you left the jacket you need at home.

Secondly, like all convergent devices, this will never perform as well as the individual products.

Thirdly, again like convergent devices, battery life could be an issue if you're using one tiny device to power everything. Perhaps some of the jackets have extra batteries?

Fourthly, if you drop/lose/submerge your Modu you've got a lot of expensive hardware that is totally useless. No doubt buying the individual modu without any jackets will be almost as expensive as the bundle with 3!

AnonymousTue 19 February, 2008 9:51am

Here's why this product will fail: It takes too much explaining. As soon as you tell someone, "It's pretty simple really -- you buy a Modu phone and then you can stick it into a variety of 'jackets'", and they inevitably think "er, what the hell does that mean?" Then they're off to Carphone warehouse to get whatever looks shiniest to their magpie eyes. This Modu phone is sadly doomed.

moduGuyTue 19 February, 2008 10:57am

Fantastic article on modu!
First I have to say that the Idea isn't to constantly be switching jackets.
For everyday use, the stand alone modu is more than enough. It's tiny and solid so that's what I would be throwing into my pocket while I'm out running or having fun.

If I'm on the go and need to get a little office work done then I'd slip it into an executive jacket that offers all the features I'd expect from an office type mobile device.

The real beauty behind modu is flexibility, modu doesn't tie you down to a specific phone for a year or two due to your contract. You're free to purchase modu mates and jackets according to your needs at a much lower cost, about 20 - 60 euro.

AnonymousTue 19 February, 2008 12:08pm

It's good that moduGuy is totally impartial. Incredibly valuable commentary there, thanks.

AnonymousThu 21 February, 2008 3:59pm

I think that this has real, major potential. I have a load of portable and smallish devices that don't really need to be all active at the same time, that all have a processor, memory and control circuits. By having one device with the gubbins to fit a range of interface sleeves you're eliminating costly redundancy and... possibly... if well implemented... even offering increased performance. Hope it takes off initially as it'll take a while to establish and develop.

AnonymousThu 21 February, 2008 4:03pm

Thinking phone, sat nav, mp3 player, portable video player, DVD player... could even have a system for providing scaleable pan-format content e.g. download a video to future-muvo and view it on portable player or plug it into TV and watch video there (possibly with DVD player sleeve or just straight into TV with optional remote)... could probably ultimately make DVD etc. obsolete, everything coming from hard drives..

Very good. Keep it up.

AnonymousTue 18 March, 2008 9:17am

Looks like some logical evolution. Electronics getting smaller day by day while doing more and more with less power, the form factor becomes most important. In fact one could handle al taks with one equipment, but on the road we want it to be small , at home we want big screens and at the office we want productivity and practical keys and screens. sot it's not that we will have to take all the jackets along as every place will have them specific. The (brilliant idea is that we just take mems and performance with us in it's mallest form, like a stick. And just need to upgrade one ... once in a while .... What about being a Linux perhaps?

AnonymousSat 7 June, 2008 4:59pm

im totally sold!!!!! I want one... ill even take the prototype if i had to have it ill drop my wireless carrier pay the dissconnect fees and get this phone its SAAWEEEEET!!!!!!!!

AnonymousSat 7 June, 2008 5:02pm

i cant wait for this awesome piece of equipment to be available i will be the first in line

AnonymousSun 22 June, 2008 4:10pm

From a lontime user of converged phones...from the very first models.

The problem with this concept is that modu is considering the baseline functionality to be a simple phone. The converged world has already moved and the baseline is a smart phone. Therefore, this concept althought very valid in theory, has to start at a higher level of capability. Ounce you are there, then the other additions like the camera, display frames, the car and shower (just imagining) devices, become added and very attractive functionality. See this usage mode does not require carrying different jackets, you use them at different lifestyle modes like the music is in your bedroom, or the pic display is in your office etc.

By the way, while the device is inserted in a picture frame display, the email and phone capabilities must still be functional, otherwise it will not be a pragmatic tool.

At this point, modu's misread on the market (or the economic drivers of their products) )with the low end functionality may have been a fatal mistake.

Sorry since I would be a buyer of the more practical technology.