????毫無疑問，今天的智能手機依然存在改進的空間。盡管如今手機無處不在，深受人們的喜愛，但它們十分脆弱，且選擇有限，還產(chǎn)生了越來越多的電子垃圾，可謂不折不扣的“全球定時炸彈”。

????谷歌（Google）推出的Project Ara項目目的就是要改變這種現(xiàn)狀。這個項目采取模塊化開源方式設計智能手機，在手機的結(jié)構(gòu)框架——即所謂的“內(nèi)骨骼”——上附加用戶自己選擇的智能手機模塊，比如顯示器、鍵盤、攝像頭，甚至還有葡萄糖監(jiān)視器等專門部件。換句話說，用戶能自行設計自己想要的手機，無需為自己不想要的部件浪費錢。

????這個概念引人注意的是可定制性以及自己動手的吸引力，此外，模塊化手機令人翹首期待之處還在于，它能降低重置成本，同時減少隨之產(chǎn)生的電子垃圾。更換某個部件？無需更換或扔掉整部手機，只需更換出了問題的部分。正如某些人所說，模塊化智能手機可能將成為“大家需要的唯一一部手機?！?/p>

????至少這是谷歌的想法。然而，現(xiàn)實情況是，模塊化手機還有很長的路要走。Project Ara的第一款產(chǎn)品將于明年1月面世，售價預計在50美元上下，但中間還有很多工作要做。而且就算谷歌一切準備就緒，消費者們也不一定已經(jīng)做好了準備。

????‘人們不愿換手機’

????谷歌的模塊化手機項目可能是媒體報道最多的一個，但它并不是獨一份。中國手機廠商中興（ZTE）就推出了準模塊化的Eco-Mobius手機。而在去年十月Project Ara項目公布之前，荷蘭設計師大衛(wèi)?哈肯斯就牽頭推出了 Phonebloks項目。后者設想建立一個類似“應用程序商店”的硬件交易平臺，用戶能在這個平臺上買賣全新和二手部件。項目的宗旨是解決電子垃圾問題。

????Phonebloks表示支持Project Ara項目。此前，Phonebloks在“大眾演說”（“crowd speaking”）平臺Thunderclap上舉行了線上宣傳活動，聚集了95萬多名支持者，覆蓋的受眾人數(shù)超過3.8億。

????哈肯斯告訴《財富》（Fortune）雜志：“我們不清楚市場對我們項目的需求有多大，因此我們舉行了這次線上宣傳活動。結(jié)果我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，原來許多人很不情愿每隔幾年就換一次手機。”

????‘制造廠商不感興趣’

????但是，模塊化概念的批評聲也不少?！颈热纾篜honebloks推出后不久，約翰?布朗利就在《快公司》雜志（Fast Company）上撰文《為什么說樂高設計原則不適合智能手機》。】

????哈肯斯承認，模塊化手機面臨極大的市場挑戰(zhàn)。

????哈肯斯表示，首先，“目前的手機廠商對模塊化手機不感興趣。目前手機廠商決定著手機中有哪些部件。它們更愿意看到一個開放的市場，一個它們直接面向終端消費者的市場?！?/p>

????而最初由摩托羅拉發(fā)起的Ara項目本身也存在較大的模糊性，因為谷歌于2014年1月將摩托羅拉（Motorola）的很大部分賣給了聯(lián)想（Lenovo）。IDC公司手機行業(yè)研究經(jīng)理雷蒙?拉馬斯反問：“這個項目到底應該由誰來推進？它是摩托羅拉的工作？還是谷歌的事情？這個項目可謂充滿了谷歌的烙印，但隨著摩托羅拉投入聯(lián)想的懷抱，人們有理由產(chǎn)生質(zhì)疑。谷歌到底是不是愿意再次涉足硬件業(yè)務？”

????Bug Labs公司創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官彼得?賽莫哈克表示，這一點不大可能。退一步說，即使谷歌有意涉足硬件業(yè)務，它也需要眾多合作伙伴來為它手機制造部件。Bug Labs公司運營著一個“樂高式”的數(shù)字設備硬件平臺。賽莫哈克說：“每個模塊都是有著自身生命周期和路線圖的產(chǎn)品。它成了一個幾何學問題?！?/p>

????There is little doubt that today's smartphones offer room for improvement. Ubiquitous and beloved though they may be, the portable devices are fragile, offer limited choice, and generate a growing mass of e-waste that's been called nothing short of a "global time bomb."

????Google's Project Ara aims to change all that. With a modular, open-source approach to smartphone design, Project Ara phones will be based on a structural frame -- dubbed the "endoskeleton," or "Endo" -- on which to attach smartphone modules of the owner's choice, such as a display, keyboard, camera, or even specialized components such as a glucose monitor. In other words, you design the phone you want, and don't pay for parts that you don't care about.

????The concept is notable for its customizability and overall do-it-yourself appeal, but modular phones are also anticipated with much enthusiasm for the reductions in replacement costs and e-waste they could bring. Fry a component? No need to exchange or throw out the whole phone -- just replace the part that's broken. The result, as some have suggested, could be that the modular smartphone is "the only phone you'll ever need."

????That's the thinking, anyway. The reality, however, is that modular phones have a long way to go. The first Project Ara phones are expected in January for around $50, but a lot has to happen first. And even if the pieces do fall into place -- so to speak -- it's not at all clear that consumers are ready.

????'People are sick of throwing out their phones'

????Google's modular approach may be the best-publicized so far, but it's not unique. The Chinese manufacturer ZTE offers the quasi-modular Eco-Mobius. And preceding the October announcement of Project Ara was the launch of the Phonebloks project, led by Dutch designer David Hakkens. Created to address the e-waste problem, Phonebloks envisions an "app store" of sorts for hardware through which users can buy new and used components as well as sell their old ones.

????Phonebloks has since thrown its support behind Project Ara. Before that, it conducted an online campaign on "crowdspeaking"platform Thunderclap, where it garnered more than 950,000 supporters and attained a social reach of more than 380 million people.

????"We didn't know what the demand for this was -- that's why we did an online campaign," Hakkens told Fortune. "Turned out quite a lot of people are pretty sick of throwing out their phones every couple of years."

????'Manufacturers aren't interested'

????There has been no shortage of critics for the modular concept. (A taste: the writer John Brownlee, who penned a piece for Fast Company shortly after Phonebloks' launch entitled, "Why Lego Design Principles Don't Work On Smartphones.")

????Hakkens admits there are significant market challenges to such a phone.

????For one, "current phone manufacturers aren't really interested in this phone," he said. "Currently, they are in charge and decide which components are in the phone. They prefer to see an open market where they can sell straight to the consumer."

????With regard to Ara, there remains a lack of clarity around the project since Google sold much of Motorola to Lenovo in January 2014. "Who's going to do it?"asked Ramon Llamas, a research manager for mobile phones at IDC. "Is it a Motorola thing? A Google thing? This has Google's fingerprints all over it, but with Motorola heading to Lenovo, there's reason to question. Does Google want to get into the hardware business again?"

????Even if it does -- which is unlikely -- it will need an ecosystem of partners to make modules for the phone, said Peter Semmelhack, founder and CEO of Bug Labs, which makes a "Lego-like" hardware platform of its own for digital devices. "Every module is a product with its own life cycle and road map," he said. "It becomes a geometric problem."