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Google Project Ara Design Will Use Electro-Permanent Magnets To Lock In Modules
MojoKid writes: "Google's Project Ara, an effort to develop a modular smartphone platform, sounded at first as much like vaporware, but Google is actually making it happen. In an upbeat video, Dave Hakkens (the guy who created the Phonebloks design that appears to be the conceptual basis for Project Ara) visited the Google campus to see what progress is being made on the project. The teams working on Project Ara have figured out a key solution to one of the first problems they encountered, which was how to keep all the modules stuck together. They decided to use electro-permanent magnets. In terms of design, they've decided not to cover up the modules, instead making their very modularity part of the aesthetic appeal. 3D Systems is involved on campus, as they're delivering the 3D printing technology to make covers for the modules."
But neither the summary, nor the terrible overly "modern" designed marketing website, makes much attempt at explaining intent. It's like wave "we're replacing email" doesn't explain anything to anyone. "We're making modular phones" doesn't tell us, at the very least, what might actually be different, day-to-day for users.
Because a mechanical connector is too good for them and we're all anxious for new ways to waste battery power and wipe our mag stripes.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
I have to put it back together again?
Well, they'd have to actually build one first for me to be able to drop it. (Not that I'm one to often drop a phone.)
A modular phone will never work. The masses don't want modular devices. They want a solid slate they can get laser engraved more than they want the ability to customize, modify, or repair things.
Because nothing screams "this isn't vaporware" like "we discovered magnets stick together". As if keeping things in place was the major road block for this endeavor.
Sounds like you need to be careful if you put this configurable phone in your pocket. It'll likely corrupt any data on your floppy disk (and maybe your card strips too).
"We're making modular phones" doesn't tell us, at the very least, what might actually be different, day-to-day for users.
You know how smart-phones these days have really good cameras?
Well in the GFuture, instead of the great cameras you have now, you'll be able to chose from several different mediocre cameras!
And, you can chose the outer case color - want a crappy pink camera module? Well here you go!
Of course, along with that don't forget a side order of drivers that mostly work with connectors that sometimes fail!
Ahh, GFuture. Finally bringing the PC experience to your pocket.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
These ideological projects all follow the same pattern:
Think about what ought to be, in an emotional and social sense.
Then design something that plausibly fits within those parameters, although not in such a way that it will be a necessary solution.
Gather tons of money, hype, CV points, etc.
Fail.
Sort of like the French Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution, and all other liberal efforts since the dawn of time. Those people are pathological.
Futurist Traditionalism
this reminds me of those micro 4/3 cameras with the interchangeable lenses, except surveys find that many of the consumers never switch lenses...
While an interesting concept I don't see how it will work in practice. Ultimately the modularity of the design is going to cost you battery life or size or both and as far as I can tell it is unavoidable.
Adding modularity adds to the size of the components. You need connectors. You need casing protecting the individual modules. You need a frame to connect everything to and to connect it all together. These all take up space and in a phone that means either a smaller battery or a bigger phone to keep the same size battery. You can try to minimize the space wasted in various ways but you can never completely eliminate it. A non-modular phone with an equivalent amount of design effort and the same non-modular components will have less wasted space resulting in a larger battery or smaller phone or both.
On top of that you are going to use more power because longer buses that have to function over connectors need more power to hit the same speed. You also loose the ability to optimize your bus for a specific target because you have to design for the highest speed needed for any component you could use there not what you know will be used there in a fixed design.
On the software side you are going to end up wasting a lot of power because of driver problems and limitations on the power saving techniques. On a battery powered device the best way to make it work longer is to not use energy when you don't need to. That means aggressive power saving techniques. Turning off components that aren't needed. That is all much more simple when you have a fixed design with specific components while in a modular phone a single module with a bug or bad driver could mess up power management badly and drastically impact battery performance in a negative way. As a perfect example of how critical this is check out the improvements they got in the Surface Pro 2 with a firmware update.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7478/microsoft-surface-pro-2-firmware-update-improves-battery-life
Google is amazing.
http://de.mon.st/RyEq2/
I have an idea I should consider patenting, but I can't help myself An interchangeable battery !!
Why continue this while selling motorola?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Nice, MEMS, compasses, RF, batteries, inductive charging (in today's phone) and memory.
Mix that with strong electromagnets and you will like have a Ara that could just a simple 5" LCD monitor (cause nothing else will work) once the magnets turn on.
Never play complex music/sounds over your voice. It is possible to accomplish, but extreme care should be taken. It distracts the viewer from your message.
From TFS: ""Google's Project Ara, an effort to develop a modular smartphone platform, sounded at first as much like vaporware, but Google is actually making it happen. In an upbeat video, Dave Hakkens (the guy who created the Phonebloks design that appears to be the conceptual basis for Project Ara) visited the Google campus to see what progress is being made on the project."
How is this not vaporware? Kewl magnets and flashy app screens barely qualify as sizzle and are nowhere near steak.
Google has re-invented LittleBits, a family of electronics modules which are attached with magnets. With their new "Cloud" module and their Arduino module, you might even be able to build a wireless VOIP phone.
This is a fun hobbyist concept, but you don't actually use things built that way. Either this will be bulky or the components will be fragile. You pay a penalty for all that casing and standard form factor.
Somebody (Wyse, I think) built a PC like this in the early 80s. Each module looked like a book, and plugged into the module next to it. You lined up all the modules, pushed them together, and put a big pin with a knob through the stack to lock them all together. Total failure as a product.
What Google should be doing, after buying all those robotics companies, is designing a phone for 100% robotic assembly, so they don't need Foxconn. (Except that Motorola did that a decade ago.)
So much for the hipster market.
Have gnu, will travel.
Heh heh, no magnetic storage for you !
Will slipping this into your back pocket by those of use that don't use a wallet or purse, screw up your magnetic stripped cards?
I'm sure this has been thought of but how would you stop it.
From what I read you apply electricity to remove a component, otherwise it's going to be held fast by I imagine rare metal magnet's, else fall apart on an impact. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...