The grander stuff like nano-technology is pretty cool, and something to really look forward to in the distant future. Some of the cooler stuff that is in the nearer future is the self driving car. Of course it is still pretty far off from perfect it will be cooler and safer to drive places now. I also relish in the idea of being able to get some serious reading done during car rides. On the more minor side I really hope that Google's Project Ara takes off well because the idea of the mainstream modular smartphone is freakin' awesome. I'm not saying the project will take off, but it would be really cool to see it become the standard.
I just have trouble seeing widespread adoption of ara. Like PCs, most people seem to like prebuilts that they never have to open up. I definitely see the value in being able to have different hard drives or camera lenses that would make the phone too big for personal use, I just haven't seen the moduals that would make most people feel the need to adopt. Maybe not though.
I think if it becomes a mainstream system it will take its place in the market the same way that PC parts have taken their place. The phone in my opinion is a great platform for modulation. I mean look at the people who love taking pictures with their phone, imagine being able to switch out your camera instead of getting a brand new phone like you mentioned. Imagine modifying a work phone for a focus on battery. I'm not too learned on scope of the project, but screen is crack? Just replace the screen by switching it out. You have the more internal upgrades for graphics, or processing. Like I said though I'm not saying that it will be a hit, but I would love to see a market for different modifications for the smartphone.
I didn't think about modular screens, but that's a very interesting idea to me. I could see a system where I would have the core chip or a module that I could insert into other devices. Let's say I'm at work for example. When I go into a meeting, instead of plugging in a computer I could slide out a presentation module and cast my presentation to the screen. Then using my phone I could view the next slide and control the presentation. From a sci-fi point of view I really like this idea. I could imagine a world where everyone has their "core device" and they interact with the world by attaching their physical modules to different terminals. If a group of friends and I went to a bar, for example, we could plug into a table to hold it while we go dance or get drinks and the servers would know who we are and what we have on our tabs. Of course, someone would be murdered, their core device would wind up in an inexplicable location, and a sibling they haven't seen in years would follow the strings to learn the deep dark secrets hidden in the corners of a core driven world. It could be interesting.
You've got the idea, definitely haha. The project could fail, but imagine a module like you mentioned made my Samsung that allows you to seamless share your screen with any other Samsung product, and also share their screens. You don't need your whole phone to be Samsung just that module. The future of it seems cool.