Project Ara Modular Smartphone: All You Need To Know

Hardware issues with phone?with project Ara you no longer need to change the phone, just the component.

When I ran into a hardware fault with my smartphone that was beyond repair. I had to toss the device aside and buy new one. on the other hand, whenever I run into hardware issues related to my PC, I simply diagnose and isolate the faulty component and replace it, saving myself the cost of having to purchase an entirely new system. Now with project Ara, schedule to release in Feburary 2015 things will change as it has the potential to revolutionize as we know them. Project Ara is a modular form initiative led by Google that began as an idea advance technologies and projects team at Motorola. Google later bought and sold Motorola but held into project Ara because of the potential project. Google has already revolutionize the software aspect of the smartphone market by allowing their android software to be open ended, like a PC.

Now they are taking a similar with mobile hardware. With project Ara, Google will simply provide and endo-frame, which will come in three sizes, including mini, medium and phablet size. Meanwhile, the modules for this frames will be manufactured by third parties. As with the software sold for the Android on Google play, where Google is simply the bridge between developers and consumers, the modules will also be sold in Google store without heavy restrictions. Similarly, Google will not hinder buyers and sellers who wish to conduct business for Ara modules outside of the companies official channels, though these modules will not earn Google stamp of approval.

Ara is that for the consumer, putting a number of components together in a phone won’t require complex mechanical skills. In fact, modifying an Ara phone is as easy as snapping together pieces of Lego bricks. Thankfully, Google hasn’t sacrifice aesthetic appeal in favor of functionality; the prototype devices look every bit as good as a high end smartphone.

The skeletal frames provided by Google will carry a power switch, and a power bus that allow components to supply, consume, and store power. The result is that you can carry a phone with enough battery components t o potentially allow it to store enough power to last weeks without a recharge.

Of course, the battery modules aren’t the only components Ara users will be Able to swap in and out. Users can switch screens, cameras, sensors, and the like. What’s more, these modules can be used in any of the Skeletal frames sizes Google provides.

Paul Eremenko, the director of project Ara at Google ask, “why choose a phone for its camera, when instead you can choose a camera for your phone? Why can’t I slide in a module that my keycard then take it out and give it to my valet? Why not share the most expensive sensor or component amongst my friends, family, or perhaps across a village? Think of Ara as a versatile computing platform.”

If project Ara takes off in a few years you may not buy a new phone but simply buy a new upgrade, handing down older components to others. Obviously advantages aside, project Ara could also have a project impact on the enviroment, which is likely to benefit from less electronic waste. At this moment in time, the safe processing of discarded electronic equipment is a growing concern in developing world, especially considering this components carry hazardous materials.

In an interview with tech website in Engadget, Paul Eremenko says that he believes that project Ara could result in cheaply available environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics devices, “I do believe has the potential, especially in the developing world, to change the face of healthcare diagnostics… Detection and diagnostics, and the way care is delivered.”

But Paul Eremenko clarifies that he can only speculate about the positive impact of project Ara, and says that back in 2007, he wouldn’t have been able to predict what android apps created by third parties would be changing the world today. Likewise, he expects the open nature of project Ara to yield surprising results that we can only being to imagine at launch.