Can't play Project Ara? Try a modular phone case

Project Ara's modular phone is mind-blowing. It is like a building block, allowing the phone's battery, processor, camera, etc. to be freely combined. On the one hand, modular phones meet people's personalized needs, and on the other hand, they reduce the cost of hardware upgrades.

But Project Ara is still a toy for niche players. If you want to experience the wonders of modular devices, you can also play with this phone case. Nexpaq, which is currently crowdfunding, is a modular phone case. Just like Project Ara, it also allows you to combine various physical modules by yourself.

Each Nexpaq module contains a 1000 mAh battery, which can be used to power itself and charge the phone at the same time. Currently, the project has 12 modules, including batteries, speakers, LED flash, card readers, temperature and humidity detectors, USB storage, etc.

All Nexpaq modules connect to the phone via Bluetooth and are deployed uniformly using an app. Currently, this phone case is compatible with iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy models. On Kickstarter, Nexpaq's crowdfunding price is $89, which includes a basic phone case and 4 modules. Additional modules can be purchased separately at a price of $14-29. The iPhone 6 version is expected to be shipped in November this year, and the Galaxy version will be shipped later next year.

Nexpaq also hopes to gather a group of developers like Project Ara, so they provide development tools and API interfaces. Early developers can buy a basic phone case plus a full set of 12 modules for $2,999.

Compared to modular mobile phones, modular phone cases seem to be more attractive: they are cheaper and you don’t have to abandon the phone you are using. But Nexpaq is still a phone case, so its customization is not as good as Project Ara, and key components such as processors and displays still rely on the original phone.

Nexpaq is not the first to come up with a modular phone case, Moscase can also do the same. However, each Nexpaq phone case can only carry one module, so in comparison, Nexpaq is closer to Project Ara.