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vikingjunior

Cancelled
Original poster
Aug 17, 2011
1,319
590
http://bgr.com/2013/03/20/google-x-phone-rumor-customizable-hardware-387854/?utm_source=hubs-footer&utm_medium=home
 

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,240
3,499
Pennsylvania
I've seen this rumor floating around, but I don't get the idea - at all. How many people are going to get a custom-to-order Googorola phone instead of an HTC that's in stock?

Unless they can drop the price to ~$100, it's not really something interesting. Once you hit the $200 mark, you can pick up a windows phone that doesn't run android, which itself is worth $100.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
To be honest I'd wager that the average consumer does NOT want to customise a phones hardware. I'd be surprised if the average consumer even knows what hardware is actually inside their current handset to any other extreme other than storage capacity/size.

Whilst this would maybe appeal to tech aficionados - I would doubt it would be a 'game changer' in any form whatsoever... and to be honest if that's all they have up their sleeves with 'X' - I'm really rather disappointed.


If anything it should be 'software' going forward driving the future 'changes' ..... Once you get to the point that hardware is more than powerful enough to do as much as you could possibly want on a handheld device - and were pretty much at that level now - it's software that will dictate what you do with it.
 

vikingjunior

Cancelled
Original poster
Aug 17, 2011
1,319
590
Oh if you can start ordering different screen sizes and ram, cpu that would be sweet or you can order just the plain basic model choices for everyone I see a market for it.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
Oh if you can start ordering different screen sizes and ram, cpu that would be sweet or you can order just the plain basic model choices for everyone I see a market for it.

I still don't believe general users want to go to that hassle. Just give them the best components at a decent price and don't confuse the matter with a dozen variables......
 

strausd

macrumors 68030
Jul 11, 2008
2,998
1
Texas
I still don't believe general users want to go to that hassle. Just give them the best components at a decent price and don't confuse the matter with a dozen variables......

Exactly. And any user who would want to customize their own phone, why in the world would they ever go for 1GB RAM when they could get 2GB? This whole thing is just stupid.
 

SomeDudeAsking

macrumors 65816
Nov 23, 2010
1,250
2
Exactly. And any user who would want to customize their own phone, why in the world would they ever go for 1GB RAM when they could get 2GB? This whole thing is just stupid.

By your logic, why would there even be a need for phones with higher storage options? Everyone doesn't have exactly the same needs. You remember that your iPhone comes in 16 GB/ 32 GB/ 64 GB, options, right? Not to mention the 8 GB low end iPhones.

Being able custom spec an Android smartphone beyond basic storage options could be appealing for those that crave the best. I know I would be tempted if I can custom spec an Android phone with at least 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of ram just because I can and use my Android as a laptop replacement.
 

strausd

macrumors 68030
Jul 11, 2008
2,998
1
Texas
By your logic, why would there even be a need for phones with higher storage options?

By your logic I should just bring up stuff that you never talked about ;)

So please, tell me where I mentioned storage options in my last post. Because if I remember correctly, I was only talking about RAM. Which, as I am sure you know, is used very differently than total phone storage. And because they are used differently, they are clearly in different categories. Or for whatever reason, do you think an upgrade in storage requires an upgrade in RAM?

Anyways, let's keep things on topic. Don't know why you brought up something that I never mentioned.

Being able custom spec an Android smartphone beyond basic storage options could be appealing for those that crave the best.

RAM isn't basic storage, in case you didn't know.

Needing 64GB or 16GB of storage is essentially choosing based on your needs. But every Android phone can take advantage of more RAM regardless. Every Android phone is constantly multitasking. All the time I see people open one app, then go to their home screen to open another. Then switch back to the previous app. And people do this with more than 2 apps. And this is where more RAM comes into play because everyone does this.

But not everyone needs 64GB of storage, so why put that in all phones? But every phone can benefit from 2GB RAM over 1GB, so it should be put in all phones.
 

vikingjunior

Cancelled
Original poster
Aug 17, 2011
1,319
590
Comes down to price also as the future is unsubsidized phones so if someone wants a 4 inch screen but loaded with ram or gpu well he can get it.

It seems these days to get the latest and greatest one must buy a huge phone. I mean we get to pick internal memory now why stop there I want to pick screen size also.
 

Twixt

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2012
471
11
To be honest I'd wager that the average consumer does NOT want to customise a phones hardware. I'd be surprised if the average consumer even knows what hardware is actually inside their current handset to any other extreme other than storage capacity/size.

Whilst this would maybe appeal to tech aficionados - I would doubt it would be a 'game changer' in any form whatsoever... and to be honest if that's all they have up their sleeves with 'X' - I'm really rather disappointed.


If anything it should be 'software' going forward driving the future 'changes' ..... Once you get to the point that hardware is more than powerful enough to do as much as you could possibly want on a handheld device - and were pretty much at that level now - it's software that will dictate what you do with it.

I suppose customization will not go beyond case color, embedded flash memory (32, 64, 128), possibly display screen size if there are 3 choices as rumored, larger battery could be also an option people would be ready to pay for, standard and jumbo... 18 models excluding colors, less if you consider that jumbo battery would not be manageable in smaller form factor

As for CPU, GPU, radio stack, even RAM etc I do not see how customization would not bring more problems
 

b166er

macrumors 68020
Apr 17, 2010
2,062
18
Philly
Just my opinion, but I don't think Motorola is even capable of making a game changer in any way. Every moto I ever owned/used was total junk.
 

sentinelsx

macrumors 68010
Feb 28, 2011
2,004
0
Majority of people no longer mess around with their PCs, so i doubt they want to do the same for a phone.

As someone who used to tinker desktop PCs in school era, i haven't even bothered to install a new RAM wafer in my laptop and haven't felt the need either, despite using technical software on it too.
 

TG1

macrumors 6502a
Feb 21, 2011
592
51
Very interesting. Moto does need to do something to get back into the game. Customized smartphone orders would be great. Their phones already have great radios and battery life and they've gone pretty stock Android lately on the software side. Also like how they're updating handsets to the latest versions of Android. Never thought my OG 2011 Razr would see JellyBean.
Honestly, if they'd just up their game significantly on the display and the camera, I would give them another look.
 
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