Project Ara is Google’s somewhat ambitious goal of creating a modular smartphone where users could swap parts in and out depending on their needs. Unfortunately it seems that Project Ara is still quite a bit away from making its way into the hands of consumers. However if modular phones are your thing, then perhaps Fonkraft might be the one for you.
The creators of Fonkraft are trying to raise funds via Indiegogo and if successful, there might be a good chance of it making its way into the hands of users way before Project Ara does. So how is Fonkraft different? For starters its design is very different from what we have seen of Project Ara. Its base unit will feature a 5-inch Full HD display, but other than that users will be able to swap out components as needed, such as its CPU, RAM, GPU, camera, battery, and so on.
The base model is being sold on Indiegogo for $99 which is rather cheap, but this is because it is a very basic phone with a display, a 4,100mAh battery, an 8MP rear-facing camera, a 2MP front-facing camera, and a 1.3GHz dual-core chipset with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. Users can then opt for the more fancy models which includes higher-end specs such as a better camera, faster processors, more RAM, and so on.
There is also the model called Fonkraft Elements. This will cost $300 and will come with all the modules available at the moment, thus allowing users to swap out parts as needed. There are plans for future modules such as allowing a second SIM, an additional antenna, and more. It is an open platform so developers who have interest in creating modules for it can do so.
Filed in . Read more about Crowdfunding, Indiegogo and Project Ara.