From Google’s Project Ara Web site:
The smartphone is one of the most empowering and intimate objects in our lives. Yet most of us have little say in how the device is made, what it does, and how it looks. And 5 billion of us don’t have one. What if you could make thoughtful choices about exactly what your phone does, and use it as a creative canvas to tell your own story?
Introducing Project Ara.
Designed exclusively for 6 billion people.
Of all the Googley Android projects out there this is the one I’m most fascinated by. I think they’re battling the hard curves of battery life and performance without the benefits of tight hardware integration.
Pretty keen to see how it goes.
Is this going to desktop PC of smartphone? Few years ago I remember (at least in my country) build a desktop PC buying each part separately. CPU, GPU, RAM, Motherboard, etc. At first it seems fun. But maintaining and creating system that stable is tedious work. I give up, buying iMac in 2007 and still work till now though a bit slow for today standard.
Interesting in the way a folding bicycle is. There is a market, but perhaps too many compromises to scale.
I remember seeing concept drawings for something like this a couple of years ago. As potentially fun as it might be to assemble and play with a phone made of electronic Lego parts, all “modular” means to me is that each component of the phone will need attachment points and ports, which means more bulk.
Pass.
…great! another ahem…fragmentation!
More bulk, more component costs, more manufacturing costs, more failure points, not to mention all the design compromises/engineering challenges/interoperability hassles.
For years computer companies included a plethora of slots and ports that most users never utilized. Apple learned this and constantly pared down all that superfluous stuff (cf Mac IIfx and Retina 5K iMac) stripping down the system for simplicity, reliability, and yes gross margin!
Update: attachment points, ports, and component enclosures.
DIY nerds might love it. The rest of the consumer population will look at it and say “just give me a goddamn phone that works.”
for a quick read
http://yourspot.net/project-ara-google/