 Build your own Mobile Phone
The company has designed several basic hardware modules that snap together like building blocks to perform whatever mobile function their owners can think of.
“There are so many great gadget ideas that haven't been thought of yet,” the founders note. “We want to unlock and inspire the discovery and creation of as many of these devices as possible.”
Besides letting them add whatever they want, the snap-together components also let consumers leave out what they don't want, which is a far cry from many pre-packaged mobile phones and PDAs that come crammed with features their buyers have no use for.
 Bug Labs Phone
How it works? Would-be product designers start with Bug Labs basic module—in essence, a Linux-based mobile computer. Then, they add other modules to give the basic device fresh capabilities. Want a camera that tags photos with a GPS-derived location and then uploads them to the web? All it takes is fitting the necessary components together. The software to run the device is also modular, though customizing it may require some minor coding. Bug Labs aims to start selling both the basic module and the first four add-ons (GPS, digital camera/videocam, colour LCD touchscreen and an accelerometer/motion sensor) by the end of 2007.
Gadgets built with Bug Lab’s block-like components may not satisfy those who lust after branded mobile devices poured into seamlessly sleek designs. It will, however, appeal to people who enjoy making things,* and like having control over elements of a product’s design. Whether or not the component approach succeeds with mobile devices, plenty of other manufactured products would do well to study the concept and see if they can make their own products modular and stackable. Let them build it, and they will come!
BUGbase
BUGbase is the foundation of your BUG device. It's a fully programmable and "hackable" Linux computer, equipped with a fast CPU, 128MB RAM, built-in WiFi, rechargeable battery, USB, Ethernet, and a small LCD with button controls. It also has a tripod mount because, well, why not? Each BUGbase houses four connectors for users to combine any assortment of BUGmodules to create their ultimate gadget
Technical Specifications
- ARM1136JF-S-based microprocessor
- 1 USB 2.0 HS host interface/4 hub port connections
- 1 USB OTG HS interface
- 4 UART serial links
- 4 channel SPI interface
- I2C (400 kbits) interface/4 channels
- I2S interface/2 channels
- Smart LCD interface
- Camera sensor interface
- Micro memory card interface
- MPEG4 hardware encoding/decoding
- Hardware graphic acceleration
- 10/100 Ethernet MAC
- 802.11b/g
- Base unit LCD module interface
- Base unit onboard memory (FLASH/DDR SDRAM)
- JTAG/ICE support
- Serial debug port
- Power system
- AC operation
- Battery operation/up to 4 external batteries
- Fast battery charging/simultaneous of internal and external batteries
- Smart power management support
- Battery-backed real-time clock
- Audio out via onboard piezo speaker
The Platform
BUG helps you explore the realm of personalized devices and applications, and find ways to solve many of the problems current gadgets can't. For example, with BUG, you can easily assemble and program a GPS + digital camera device that automatically publishes geo-tagged photos as a web service. Integrating with an online photo-sharing service like Flickr is only a few more lines of code away, and now you have your own real-time, connected traffic-enabled mobile Webcam!
The platform is designed to enable a collaborative development environment. BUGnet (launching soon), our online community, is tied in directly to the BUG SDK, which allows developers to connect with others, share information, and jointly build products or services.
Software
BUG is built entirely with open source software. BMI, the BUG Module Interface, attaches devices to the BUG. Device-based services and applications are dynamically available based on which modules are connected to the BUG. Higher up the stack is Java, which hosts a service-oriented component runtime called OSGi. Java and OSGi make creating new BUG applications simple and intuitive, as BUG applications are essentially one or more bundles. In addition, each BUG module launches an OSGi bundle which in turn creates services for other components to consume. BUG applications are created using the BUG SDK (internally named Dragonfly), and are shared with other developers and users through BUGnet, our online community.
 Bug Labs Software
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