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Build your own smartphone in just 10 years with innovative new kit from au!

Cara Clegg Apr 2, 2014
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You read that right: in just 10 years you can have your very own hand-made smartphone with the brand new weekly make-your-own-smartphone kit from Japanese mobile provider au! For anyone who’s a fan of weekly collect ’em magazines (who isn’t?), tech, or wasting their money, then this is for you.

As you might have guessed, this is one of the better April Fools’ pranks to have appeared in the last 24-hours, but it’s so good we just had to share.

This morning, the Japanese mobile phone company announced their exciting new collaboration with DeAGOSTINI, the publishing company known for its serial magazines that you collect weekly in order to build up models or encyclopedias on specific themes. And apparently, you can now build an entire, working smartphone over a series of weeks!

I’m sure we all remember these kits from our childhood. Lured in by the cheap starting price, you start out on your collector’s voyage excited, until you end up forking out three or four times the amount every other week because you just want that next little piece. And then, three quarters of the way through the run, the magazine is cancelled because you were the only one actually buying it, and you’re left staring at your sail-less recreation of Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory, or your operable Mitsubishi Zero Fighter engine that is very much inoperable.

For some people there’s always going to be far more joy to be derived from something they’ve put their own time and effort into rather than something picked up ready-made in a store, and we’re sure there’ll be plenty of tech enthusiasts eager to get their hands on this newest offering.

The build-your-own-smartphone kit will be published every week over the next 10 years, with each issue including one small part that can be put together to make one complete phone. Your phone will be complete in the year 2024, which is like, almost science-fiction territory, so you’re probably concerned that we will have all moved on to Google Glasses or VR headsets by then. Not to worry – this product is FUTURISTIC, and will definitely not go out of date, at least according to the ads…

The first issue apparently went on sale earlier today, April 1, at the special price of 790 yen (around US$8) with all subsequent issues setting you back 1,980 yen (around US$20). So if you collect them all that’s gonna be over 1,000,000 yen ($US9,683)!

But that’s a small price to pay for the hours of entertainment and education that will come with it. And if you’re low on cash we’re sure you can recoup the cost and more by selling your complete model as it’ll no doubt be a collectors item by then. Dubbed the auDeA2024, there’s no words on the specs yet, but it’s guaranteed to be at the forefront of futuristic tech. And check out the size of this baby, measuring 90 x 135 x 30 mm and weighing in at 1.2kg.

▼ It’s the perfect size and shape to slip unobtrusively into your pocket. Nothing awkward about it at all.

The first issue comes with the home button! This may seem a little disappointing to those itching to get their hands on the meatier components, but don’t worry – the home button will provide hours of polishing fun. And if that’s not enough, you’ve only got a week to wait for the three screws that come with the second issue.

▼ Just look how much joy that home button can bring.

For more info on the fabulous features check out the videos below.

▼ Feel the future in the palm of your hand! [English promo video]

▼ [Japanese promo video]

Bravo, au, bravo!

Source: au (Japanese), au (English), engadget JP