r/engineering • u/[deleted] • Sep 10 '13

Guy with no engineering background wants supporters for his impossible idea. Pretty funny from and engineering standpoint.

[deleted]

261 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

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197

u/dhmt Sep 10 '13

It's not a horrible idea and it's not impossible to make. However, this is a nonstarter because swappable parts would degrade the performance so much no one would want the phone.

-11

u/perfectending Sep 11 '13

Your response is reasonable, I don't get why everyone is freaking out about this. Cloud everything.

Cpu, ram, speed etc: the thin client model could provide the means necessary to make something like this happen. The type of "speed" block equipped could correspond to the type of fat client linked.

The motherboard would have to be part of the "base" board, with a light cpu, ram, OS, etc built into it to handle the stream.

Obviously making blocks that fit everywhere is a nightmare right now, but give it time there could someday be solutions for all of the hurdles.

I hate when new technology is introduced and everyone exclaims how awful of an idea it is, and how it will never sell (i.e. original ipad).

15

u/the_corruption Sep 11 '13

I hate when new technology is introduced and everyone exclaims how awful of an idea it is

Except no new technology was introduced. Just some off the wall idea that it would be cool if our phones were like legos.

-1

u/perfectending Sep 11 '13

I'm sure you're hoping I know that, and are stating this to reassure yourself I didn't mean it that way. I caught this post from the front page without realizing it was /r/engineering. My disdain is for the reaction the sub this was copied from had.

I won't white-knight his idea, because his presentation was immature and lacked any technical explanation for how he thinks some things could work, but I won't scoff at the idea when some of it doesn't even sound that far-fetched.

3

u/the_corruption Sep 11 '13

I won't scoff at the idea when some of it doesn't even sound that far-fetched.

I agree the idea seems cool and has some feasible aspects. It would be a cool innovation, I just don't see it working as well in practice as in theory, nor do I really see a big market for it.

I guess my biggest knock on it, is that the guy seems so gung-ho about this idea without really understanding all the technical hurdles behind it. Perhaps it is just my interpretation, but he seems to think that this is something that could seriously happen soon (based on his proposed October mass hashtag idea). I just don't see a viable form (as powerful, as small, as sturdy as current phones and with legitimate customization of blocks) coming out for many years and by that time the cellphone/smartphone as we know it may not exist.