+1 for a small phone, if it’s feasible for it to have long term security update support. I’m posting this on a pixel 5a that is completely fine and doesn’t need to be replaced at all, except it’s 3 months away from being end of support for updates.
Really sad how many perfectly fine phones just get abandoned from a software support perspective. I know newer pixels are getting 7 years, but even that’s kind of bad when compared with computers.
I guess some way to use the fw16 GPU module as an egpu would be cool although I might have read somewhere that it was being worked on already.
Like a ton of people here I would also love a Framework phone, but I wanted to stress that I feel like Fairphone is almost excellent but really lacks the upgradable aspect that Framework has been offering. The lack of upgradeability is a dealbreaker on the Fairphone 5 for me, as I don’t want to be stuck with a below mediocre CPU on a phone that I expect to keep for a good decade. Being able to upgrade the CPU would also resolve the problem that Qualcom and co will not maintain software for a particular CPU for decades (albeit the competition from Apple and Google for example may require them to offer this at some point).
Apart from that, a all-in-one (like an iMac) might be a good place to go, many of those face the same challenges as a laptop w.r.t. repair-ability, and it could even work with existing expansion options, including the gpu expansion bay.
Similar to that, a monitor or TV with docking options for the expansion cards would be great, so that you can connect your framework 13 or 16 to the monitor.
Ouch, looking at the kickstarter comments, it was another project run by scammers who squandered the backers money without leaving any behind to actually make product. Framework should buy any patents they still have and produce that product. Looks like not a bad watch…as long as the battery is replaceable.
An Android phone with repairable parts and replaceable (without major disassembly) battery. Something like my current Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro 6, but with Framework/FairFone parts availability
One relatively simple thing: a modular dock that’s compatible with the expansion cards. I’ve tried finding a fitting USB-C hub to build my own but so far I haven’t found one that supports display out but doesn’t come with the HDMI port preassembled.
I remember in the 90’s a coworker found a laptop tossed in the dump that had (i presume a thermal) printer built-in. I think the paper went in bottom, maybe like a printing calculator or fax type print.
I mean if you are doing a dock with full featured ports you may as well expose them directly instead of putting them behind expansion cards, that seams kind of inefficient and wasteful.
You could say the same about modular ports on the laptop itself. So far I haven’t found a dock that matches my needs, except maybe some 15 port monster that costs 300 bucks. I would love to be able to configure a dock with exactly what I need and change it up when my needs change. Maybe I want to switch from HDMI outputs to DP, maybe I don’t need 2.5Gbit/s ethernet anymore and can free up that port for something else, maybe someone finally builds a decent digital audio out expansion card that I can put in there once it’s ready.
Not really, no. On the laptop you already do got the full featured ports and you can break out their capabilities however you want. On a dock you would have to have hardware to get the full featured ports and the reduce them.
You could get one of those 4 port tb4 hubs to do most of what you want there but using a full blown tb4 port for a mouse just kinda feels wasteful.
There is the in-between solution where you make one with a bunch of usb ports that take expansion cards and an mst hub that takes display expansion cards you would get that but not every slot work with every card and the cost of the expansion cards adds up too.
The more reasonable option would be just something that has a bunch of usb, maybe networking and a bunch of display-ports (you can adapt to hdmi if you really need to). But turns out that’s what most comercial docks allready do.
I’d like Framework to build more things that add synergistic value to their existing platforms, rather than creating yet another platform ecosystem that isn’t interoperable like the FW13 and FW16.
For example, build a NAS platform sharing the FW13 mainboard that allows standard SFX or Flex power supplies, front panel connections for power, reset and USB. Or build a router platform using the FW13 mainboard.
Basically rather than building new platforms, build new products using the existing platforms.
I actually got one of the Blocks smart watches. Still have it, but it won’t turn on. From a consumer standpoint, it was a fantastic idea, but the battery life on the watch was miserable (about 3 - 5 hours I think). I’d love to see a more mature organization try to make a modular/repairable smartwatch.