Slashdot Mirror
Google, Linaro Develop Custom Android Edition For Project Ara
rtoz writes with this excerpt from an IDG story about the creation of an Android fork made just for Google's modular cell-phone project : A special edition of Android had to be created for the unique customizable design of Project Ara, said George Grey, CEO of Linaro. ... Android can already plug and play SD cards. But Grey said additional OS functionality is needed for storage, cameras and other modules that are typically inside smartphones, but can now be externally added to Project Ara. A lot of work is also being done on UniPro transport drivers, which connect modules and components in Project Ara. UniPro protocol drivers in Android will function much like the USB protocol, where modules will be recognized based on different driver "classes," such as those for networking, sensor, imaging, input and others. Some attachable parts may not be recognized by Android. For those parts, separate drivers need to be developed by module makers through emulators. "That will be need to be done in a secure system so the device can't do damage to the system," Grey said. Project Ara is a very disruptive concept, and it turns around conventional thinking on how to build phones, Grey said.
Was watching this from the time it was just a theory and renderings and I love the idea, why dish out hundreds for an entire new phone when all you want is more storage? Or a better camera? I would love to upgrade individual parts a la desktop computers, and it has a real shot of becoming a reality with backing by any of the big guys
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
I heard the phrase "We are making a supply chain for EPMs" near the end of the video (5:33)
What he meant was Electro-Permanent Magnets described here. Which could have been the reason why the phone had problems booting in the video.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Better than pluggable-into-the-phone, this lets you start using your apps on external, connected devices; eg:
How would you like to take the software functionalilty of Photaf Pro and combine it with your Canon T4i?
(Or at least have the phone act as an SD card that keeps the GPS data intact instead of rigging to a garmin or something)...
Now you can use external sensors in apps that only "know" about the internal stuff...
Just like modular laptops did? That didn't seem to have gone anywhere.
What fragmentation?
I like the idea in principle. I do think it's really useful to customize a few specific parts - one person might want a high-performance (and large, and expensive)) camera module both front anb back; another prefers just a minimal camera and gets a larger battery instead; a third has a job where cameras are banned and opts to get none at all. A fingerprint reader, a headphone jack, or an SD card slot are other options people may want to add or skip.
But I do not think upgradeable phones are meaningful. After 2-3 years with a phone, it's pretty beat up. Screen is scratched and dimming, the case is scuffed and creaky, buttons don't quite work, connectors are getting glitchy, the battery is dying and both CPU and memory are getting old. I'd want to upgrade all of it - I want a new phone, not throw money at the old one.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
The modern "tech talk" is a creation of Steve Jobs. He'd go on stage, wave his hands around, and spew hype. Maybe he'd hold up whatever the newest gadget was, but just for a few moments. It'd be a show that Apple fanatics loved to watch, but it had basically no substance to it.
Unfortunately, now we've had a generation of Silicon Valley executives who have worshipped Jobs. They try to imitate him to no end. While his techniques may be somewhat effective when the presenter is revered as some sort of a demi-god by his subordinates and customers, it just doesn't work at all when it's merely some VP of This-Week's-Hyped-Technology from some other company.
I never thought I'd say this, but give me the good old days of Bill Gates on stage, actually demoing the new products himself. His down-to-earth talks were far better to watch than the modern-day shitfests where one quasi-hipster/executive hybrid after another poops hype out of his or her mouth on stage.
First, let me say I think this will have a cult following like the hackable versions of the WRT54, I don't think MOST people want it. That said, I've never experienced this:
> it's pretty beat up. Screen is scratched and dimming, the case is scuffed and creaky, buttons don't quite work, connectors are getting glitchy, the battery is dying and both CPU and memory are getting old.
I've experienced each one of those, but I don't think more than one ever.
My last phone, I bricked the internal storage when it was only a few months old and it wouldn't boot. Its replacement had very similar specs. Had I purchased a camera module, or IR module, etc. I would definitely have reused them. The device before that, the power button broke. The device was still up-to-date enough, it just couldn't be turned on and off. In both instances, the screen and other parts were fine. I don't think I've scratched up a screen since the days of WAP feature phones with plastic screens. Glass is hard to scratch up.
Of course your experience may be different. That's the point, actually, different strokes for different folks
The other category of use-case other than the hacker/maker types may be preconfigured specialized versions from value added resellers. You may have seen firefighters trying out Google Glass. A firefighter phone would have a water resistant case, an IR camera, which is just a regular camera with the IR filter removed, a very loud speaker, a close-proximity findme feature, etc. It could even have a software defined radio module to use as a radio.
Next door to the fire training field is the search and rescue training center, and nearby the paramedic training. Search and rescue professionals might like some of the features of the firefighter phone and buy one configured with search and rescue modules like an upgraded GPS, compass, and a larger antenna for extended range.
Ps - I with the fire instructors and I'm a step ahead on that particular market. There are many other markets, though - extreme sports fanatics, outdoorsmen, MUSIC phones with great speakers ....
Are you one of those militant microsoft fanboys / shills using a piece of shit windows phone?
Are you one of those militant microsoft fanboys / shills using a piece of shit windows phone?
Worse. He is a militant Zune holdout. He's probably on a few government watchlists. Their type is known to snap.
The only part I care about is being able to take the interchangeable radio/baseband unit out of model A on carrier X and put it in model B and continue my service on X with them none the wiser, or even remove the radio entirely and operate without cellular features. Maybe even swap in a part97 radio instead. Ok, that's asking for the moon, but I can dream.
This is going to be a pain when I'm trying to convince the bosses that we should add a feature to an Android app. For example, right now it's easy to say we should add a feature that uses a camera, every phone has a camera. But if I want to add a feature that has, for example, a fingerprint reader attachment, only X% of users are going to have this attachment. It makes it a harder sell.
The thing that makes cellphones so expensive is the phone part. Why does a Nexus 7 cost less than a Nexus 5? I think it has something to do with all the (legitimate?) patents involved in making a smartphone a phone. The irony of it all, is that (for me, at least), the phone function is the one I use the least. But whenever you want a new 'personal communicator', you end up needing to buy a new cellphone, when you really don't need to upgrade the 'make a phone call' functionality. So, why not pay for that stuff once and keep it until it stops working (i.e., forever). Actually, I wonder if that's at least part of the impetus for the Ara project - getting around the patent monsters.
Anyway, I think it would be interesting if somebody made a 'cellphone' module as small as it can get that has no UI. Instead, have it tether to your pocket computer via bluetooth. Buy it once and carry it around on your key chain, purse or backpack. Then buy a new $200 pocket computer whenever the technology for the rest of the show improves to the point that you want one.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
This concept was attempted by an Israeli company way back in 2007, it didn't do well in the markets...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...