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Project Ara: Inside Google's Modular Smartphones

Posted by samzenpus on from the one-piece-at-a-time dept.

harrymcc writes "Google is releasing more details on Project Ara, its effort — originally spearheaded by Motorola — to reinvent the smartphone in a form made up of hot-swappable modules that consumers can configure as they choose, then upgrade later as new technologies emerge. Google is aiming to release about a year from now."

7 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. How much you wanna bet by msobkow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How much do you want to bet they end up like most "upgradeable" PCs -- never touched from day of purchase until they hit the landfill or the recycling company.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:How much you wanna bet by Baloroth · · Score: 4, Informative

      How much do you want to bet they end up like most "upgradeable" PCs -- never touched from day of purchase until they hit the landfill or the recycling company.

      Most of them will. However, my current desktop has gone through a motherboard swap, CPU upgrade, 2 graphics cards swaps, several HDD upgrades, added RAM, PSU swap, and a new case (technically, the only original component is 2 of the current 4 sticks of RAM, the Wifi card, and one of the HDDs).

      Most people probably won't use the modularity much, if at all. But some people will, and those people who do can benefit from it tremendously.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    2. Re:How much you wanna bet by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      However, the industry itself only really exists because of that modularity. Small vendors being able to assemble niche systems from modular components, without having to do high-end electrical engineering and manufacturing.

      Modular "phones" won't be modified by more than a fraction of the most nerdish end-users, but they will be a boon to other device makers. Companies are already using cellphone and tablet parts as cheap, standardised, easy-to-design-for control systems and/or displays for their products. Likewise, companies are making niche products that plug into a standard cellphone, rather than require their own computer/display/battery/etc.

      With modularity, that ability increases exponentially.

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  2. Re: Hot-swappable? by DeTech · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You Jest, but a Iridium module could be a god-sent to hikers or captains.

  3. As someone that had a 486... by HockeyPuck · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I do remember upgrading CPUs from 486sx to dx to adding in a 66mhz overclocking chip etc...

    However, it wasn't very long before upgrading a cpu meant buying a new motherboard.

    A phone on the other hand... if you want it to be small and lightweight with no bulky connectors... it won't be field upgradable. Look at ultrabooks with their soldered on ram and SSD modules vs a W series Lenovo with dual expansion bays...

    I also seem to recall at the S5 launch that the audience applauded the phone being dust and waterproof. Not sure how you can do this with all sorts of connectors.

    Though I do applaud them for trying and maybe something good will come out of it.

    1. Re:As someone that had a 486... by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Interesting

      For this to take off, it has to offer more than just upgradable specs... because people generally buy what they can at purchase and phones are at a place now where computers were at around 2003-4, speed gains still to be had but the majorly common tasks no longer benefitted from upgrading the bleeding edge hardware as much because the old stuff didn't feel quite so anemic anymore.

      That means modules with hardware that adds capabilities and not just speed. Problem is that, as seen in the console market, most apps don't cater to what can be connect but what is connected by default.

      Google could carve out a definite niche with this, but I'm not really seeing it as a marketshare dominator.

  4. Re:Cool, but possibly not mass market by The+Rizz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    R & D costs on a mass market phone are relatively easy to recapture with millions of identical units sold, and as fascinating as these are, I suspect their dissimilarity will lead to higher consumer cost.

    You're missing the point; the idea here is to make the components mass marketed, rather than have it be the entire phone. Right now if you buy a phone from Apple, you get an Apple camera built into the Apple circuit board. The idea here is that Nikon mass-markets the cameras, and you plug it into your Motorola processor with a Lenovo battery and a Linksys broadband module. Don't like those brands? Pick whoever you want, in what combination you want. There will be pre-configured package deals, yes. But the fact that you can swap them out afterwards is the idea.

    The point is that while the base phone may cost more, the modules will be cheaper (due to competition), and you can choose what quality level you want on each. And, instead if having to throw away your whole phone to replace/upgrade the camera/processor/antenna/whatever, you just buy the new module and the rest of your phone stays the same. So, more up-front cost, but less long-term cost.