Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> Weight matters? I have never heard "I wish my phone was lighter" from anyone, anywhere.

Your anecdotal evidence is about as valid as mine, and I can guarantee you that weight matters. Tactile feel matters. Looks, of course matter.

In all these cases, a modular device fares poorly compared to an integrated one. This is a handheld device - can you not imagine the amount of dirt and grime that would cake up between the module gaps if you don't have a case on the device? And if you do have a case, now you have to uncase to switch around the modules.

The era of modularity is past, or not yet ready to come back.



My evidence is anecdotal, so I searched and found this: http://mashable.com/2012/09/20/qualcomm-smartphone-study/

I don't see weight, tactile feel or looks on the list.

For those with cases, I doubt most even know what their phone really "feels" like, let alone actually weighs or even looks like.

As far as having to remove the case to swap a hardware component .. I don't think that's a major hurdle, we're not talking about a daily, weekly or even monthly task that would make that a pain.


I don't see modularity/repairability on that list either, for what it's worth.

I think it would be really foolish to believe that aesthetics don't play a huge role in smartphone purchasing decisions.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: