Phone's up all night to get blocky

A new mobile phone concept that would give users a chance to choose from a range of components, and replace or upgrade them when necessary, has generated enormous interest online. But could this sustainable, modular device ever become a reality? Six months ago, the Dutch designer Dave Hakkens took apart his favourite camera. "I noticed all these little parts," he says. "And everything was good except for the lens motor. That had broken." But when Hakkens contacted the manufacturer to get a replacement motor, he was advised to just replace the whole camera. "With your bike you repair the tyre, you don't throw the bike away," he says. "But for some reason this is what we do with electronics." Hakkens realised that if a device could be taken apart and upgraded more easily it would last much longer, minimising electrical waste. And so the idea of Phonebloks was born. The concept - Hakkens hasn't figured out how to actually make it - is for a phone with a replaceable screen and easily moveable, changeable "bloks", each containing a different element such as battery, chipset, gyroscope, or whatever - all of which vary in size and can be made to tessellate in any number of combinations. This has got to be one of the best ideas for a phone, especially when it can be customised to suit the individual. Let's say this is your phone and you do everything in the cloud - why not replace your storage blok with a bigger battery blok? Or if you love to take pictures, why not upgrade your camera? The possibilities are limited only by what components are available and how many can fit on your phone.