Modular -- Engadget Mobile

modular posts

Modu cellphone reportedly launching this week in Israel

by Darren Murph posted Jul 19th 2009 @ 11:18AM

Take this one with a grain of salt, but word from across the Atlantic is that Modu will finally (finally!) launch its long-awaited, self-titled handset in just a few days. If you'll recall, we actually toyed with the revamped handset as well as a few "jackets" back at MWC this year, but at that point, no one wanted to share any details surrounding the grand launch plan. Now, however, a report from Israel states that the phone -- along with one jacket -- will go on sale this Wednesday (July 22nd) for 500 Israeli shekels, or right around $130. So, does this mean that elusive touchscreen Modu is just a few days/weeks/months away, or what?

[Thanks, Dror]

Prototype NTT DoCoMo phone turns into a flute and takes your blood

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 5th 2009 @ 4:16AM

There are many things an NTT DoCoMo handset can do in the year 2009 -- tune in live television, shoot HD video, tell you whether you need to be wearing sunscreen, and pay your train fare, just to name a few. Inexplicably, though, you can't bust out a white-hot Jethro Tull solo on anything currently in the carrier's lineup, so we're happy to see that its Institute for Advanced Technology is hard at work on a modular hardware system that would allow users to attach all sorts of wacky peripherals to their phones. Billing them as "hardware upgrades," DoCoMo is showing off a blood tester, e-ink reader, and -- yes -- a flute as examples of attachments we could see down the road by the time they commercialize the tech around 2015. We're not sure why Bluetooth isn't a better option for some of this stuff, but we then again, we know better than to question a Japanese carrier's infinite wisdom. Follow the break for video of the prototype in action.

Continue reading Prototype NTT DoCoMo phone turns into a flute and takes your blood

Modu showcases production phone and accessories

by Sean Cooper posted Feb 11th 2009 @ 6:01AM

Thought you'd seen the last of Modu, did you? Well, you were dead wrong, Dov Moran and his team have been hard at work -- since we last chatted with them at Mobile World Congress in '08 -- finishing the modular device that was definitely one of the gems of the show last year. As a recap, the Modu's charm and versatility lays in the fact that the handset proper (pictured left) can be moved from one Modu Jacket (right) to another depending on the type of functionality needed. The heart of the magic lies in the tiny and light -- lightest handset in the world we're told -- Modu phone unit, and while details are thin, we know it has been rebuilt to be tougher, memory has been upped to 2GB, and is running a new UI. Also launching are 4 jackets that Modu slips into: the night jacket, street-art jacket, classic, and express. Each jacket (priced from $25 up to $100) can add features the Modu itself doesn't have, like night imaging, stereo speakers, music functionality, gaming, or just about anything else you can dream up. Dov stands by his hopes to get this thing into peoples hands with 2 jackets for a cool $200, here's hoping they land here soon. Pics are after the break and expect a pile more action poses as soon as we land in Barcelona Monday.

Gallery: Modu showcases production phone and accessories

Modu mystery unravelled, look ma, a modular handset

by Sean Cooper posted Feb 7th 2008 @ 12:01AM

Mystery solved, modu is of course, a modular cellular handset -- the answer was in the name the whole time, clever. The fun begins with the idea that the actual handset can be slipped into "modu jackets" which let users completely change the look of their handset without having to replace it -- we see the potential for way too much glittery gem-encrusted foolishness here. The other half of the deal is slapping the modu into different modu-enabled consumer electronics, or "modu mates" -- think car stereos, photo frames, DAPs, and whatever else you can dream up. If we were betting types, we think modu is on to something pretty interesting here, and it seems with likes of Blaupunkt, Universal Music, and SanDisk already onboard, the Q4 launch might prove to be something special. We don't have any pics showing detail or any technical specs handy just now, but rest assured, we're going to be all over them at Mobile World Congress for more info.