Do you like teeny-tiny things? Do you feel an affinity for novelty? Live in the UK? Great.
The “world’s lightest phone”, the Modu 1, will soon be available in the UK exclusively through Purely Gadgets.
Neither the weight, nor even the size, are the biggest novelty in this handset, however: that award goes to its modular “jackets”.
That tiny thing in front of you is a sort of phone base that can slip in and out of jackets that not only change the appearance of the phone, but also its functionality.
Any phone this size is going to have limitations, so don’t expect much even after the addition of a jacket. On its own, it can make phone calls, send text messages, and play music (from its 2GB non-expandable on-board storage). Jackets can add things like a 3.2MP camera, a pedometer, and even a big ol’ digital photo frame.
The phone sells for £130, and the jackets for around £50 (the photo frame costs a frightening £80), which begs the question: why not just buy a phone that has all those features all the time? If you buy more than one jacket, you’ve already crept into regular-phone-price territory, any of which can do pretty much all those things on a screen you can actually read.
I guess this is where the Modu 2 comes in: launching later this year, the Modu 2 is a touch-screen variant of the concept, promising a wee bit more usability, and a third-party OS (smells like Android, to me). Just like the Modu 1, however, don’t expect the Modu 2 to make it over to the US.
Engadget have a hands-on, as well as a boatload more photos, but you can check out a video showing some of the different Jackets available, below.