Speaking today at Google I/O, the technical lead for Project Ara, Paul Eremenko, showed off the progress his team has made since we saw the very early first prototypes this past April. He showed off a functional, form-factor prototype. Which is a nerdy way of saying that for the first time publicly, we saw a modular Ara phone power on. It took its sweet time, but after several rounds of supportive applause from the audience, it booted. And froze. But over the course of the session, the team kept at it to get it past the boot screen (though to no avail). So not the most successful demonstration, but enough to show progress.
Eremenko also announced a challenge for developers. A $100,000 prize for a working module that lets a phone do something that a phone has never done before, along with a trip to Ara's next developer conference.
He took on the critics of Project Ara who say that it's not possible to make a modular phone that people actually want. "We started by turning statements like 'it's impossible' into numbers," he said. By quantifying the exact things that would make it difficult, his team was able to better tackle the problem. The technical problems are many, and the Ara group is investigating new ways to solve them. One of them are "novel" ways to handle the data transfer from the modules to the body, using capacitive interconnects and other new connectors. He also noted that Android will need "changes" to support modularity, and that it will be a "stress test" of the operating system to see if it's flexible enough to allow it.
Eremenko also imagined possible modules, like a key fob for your car, an expensive camera that different people would be able to share with each other, and night-vision modules. Ara is also investigating new battery technology that's much more powerful (though with a shorter overall lifecycle) than standard batteries. We also saw potential new module shells, which give the phones their designs. They're made with a 3D printer that prints at 50 times the speed of a normal 3D printer.
"Guys, this will be hard, but we're going to do it together," Eremenko said. A developer preview device should be available in the fall.
Comments
We want MORE! . . .
So I’m guessing we won’t see anything resembling retail until Google I/O Next year I’m assuming.
By Good_ole_Pinocchio on 06.26.14 12:49pm
They already stated that next year June is there target date for retail.
By Dominic Powell on 06.26.14 12:51pm
who would want this crappy brick in their pocket when they could have a much slimmer, better performing non-modular phone at similar price? Yeah, they would not have the upgradability but when was the last time you want to upgrade a single component of your phone?
By ausernameneeded on 06.26.14 3:03pm
I put an extended replacement battery in my Nexus S, and my T-mobile G2 before it. Longer battery life was worth the trade off of having a thicker phone.
I’d upgrade my N4’s battery today if it was an option. In general, I’m still pretty happy with my device. Assuming replacing a component is much cheaper than replacing the entire device, I’d much rather do that every few months than replace the whole thing every 1-2 years. The cost might come out the same in the long run, but that’s ok with me.
By rahulp on 06.26.14 3:41pm
For me its not so much about upgrading as it is deciding what is important to me in a phone and being able to buy what I use and not pay for what I don’t want.
Example being I dont need a camera on my phone at all, but battery life is important to me, so if I can buy a phone that lets me choose battery size and choose not to have a camera (much less the two my current phone has) thats an exciting phone from my POV.
By Warbert on 06.26.14 3:46pm
Except the camera on a phone is tiny, and batteries are large so you aren’t going to get much in exchange for not having a camera.
By esper256 on 06.26.14 4:40pm
I’d definitely swap the usually shitty front facing camera for an SD card reader a lot of phones lack.
By dsp4 on 06.26.14 5:41pm
err… about 7 minutes ago, approximately
so you never wished for a better camera, higher resolution, new battery, different radio, more storage, new sensors? grandma, is that you?
By ins0mn1a on 06.26.14 4:04pm
Higher resolution? Good luck with all of the components you’d need to swap for that to work.
By darkcrayon on 06.26.14 4:51pm
He’s saying you’ll want ALL those things. You wouldn’t want a faster CPU and keep the same ram for example
By jonshipman on 06.26.14 5:02pm
i think cpu and ram have to be on the same tile anyway, for technical reasons. my point is that it’s perfectly plausible for someone to want to upgrade only one (or a few) components. even if i want to upgrade a bunch of them, there is usually no pre-built phone that contains everything the way i want it. the prospect of building my own sounds absolutely glorious.
By ins0mn1a on 06.26.14 7:39pm
No, I just upgrade my phone every two years or so. For each upgrade, I’m quite satisfied on pretty much every aspect of the new phone. I would much prefer having a phone that is thin and sleek over one bulky but upgradable. Upgradability is never the top priority for portable devices.
By ausernameneeded on 06.26.14 7:40pm
But look at how thin this prototype is…!
By darkcrayon on 06.26.14 4:49pm
Since when have you been able to upgrade a single component? Outside of SD cards or batteries…never. So obviously people have never done this…it hasn’t even been possible.
By tiedood on 06.26.14 7:26pm
It’s the difference between having a console and a PC. You can only do so much with your static devices, where as this modular device can be upgraded like a Tricorder so perhaps a Micro3/4ths module, or one with enhanced sensors, etc.
By Kyunaga on 06.26.14 10:17pm
It’s not like tech companies don’t create needs all the time. Hell, I have yet to figure out what tablets are for aside from consuming information and the iPad is still wildly successful. You can’t predict what people will want until you dangle it in their faces.
By GateNk on 06.27.14 8:21am
I would love to upgrade the camera in my Moto X. I love this phone to death but the camera could be better. I don’t want to change anything else. So, there you go.
By mldi on 06.27.14 9:45am
Its almost unusable in current condition.
By Lumiafied on 06.26.14 12:50pm
You summed up the first paragraph pretty well. But are you making a point? You’re not obligated to comment, but if you choose to, wouldn’t you choose to make your comment worthwhile?
By randomaccount12312 on 06.26.14 12:53pm
Because it’s unusable and worth mentioning.
By Morningrise on 06.26.14 12:53pm
Flying cars are unusable as well. I guess we should all give up on developing new technology because it isn’t already in a usable state.
By AnomalyTea on 06.26.14 1:38pm
You mean airplanes? Pretty sure those are usable.
By mcbutterbuns on 06.26.14 1:42pm
Airplane turbines run on Brayton Cycle, car engines use otto/diesel.*
Difference.
*Almost exclusively.
By KSulli on 06.26.14 2:00pm
I think you are leaving out an awful lot (the majority?) of planes with piston engines using the Otto cycle.
By NetMage on 06.26.14 2:22pm
Hm, yeah….I am haha
I guess I always just disregard those cause I find jet turbines to be so much more interesting…I’m ashamed.
By KSulli on 06.26.14 5:50pm