After many months, the Modu phones finally go on sale in Israel this week. The Modu, for those not familiar with it (informative article about it right here) is the modular phone that changes its functions, depending on the “sleeve” you put it in. They have, for example, a sports module, which lets the phone record steps, running speed, distance, etc. Another module turns the phone into a mini-boombox, which plays great stereo music. Yet another module turns the device into a full screen video system, letting you watch movies anytime, anywhere.

At 43 grams, the Modu is the lightest cellphone in the world, all by itself (you don’t need a sleeve for the basic phone functions). At NIS 500 (about $130), the Modu is a bargain, considering the usual cost of phones here. Unfortunately, it’s only available for Cellcom customers right now. It is also to go on sale soon in the Philippines, Central and South America, India.

The Modu was supposed to have been released months ago, but according to Modu CEO Dov Moran,  the project suffered unforeseen delays, with investors getting cold feet and supply issues (Texas Instruments, which Modu relied on for the phone’s chips, announced it was getting out of the cellphone business, and the Chinese company that manufactured the unit and the sleeves shut down). All’s well that ends well, though, and Moran finally has fulfilled the Modu dream of developing a phone with advanced functions that won’t strain users’ budgets.

Tags: Cellcom, DovMoran, India, israel, Mobile phone, Modu, South America, Texas Instruments

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 11:58 pm and is filed under cellphones, communication, development, hi-tech, israel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.