Project Ara is the codename for an initiative by Google that aims to develop a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. The platform will include a structural frame that holds smartphone modules of the owner's choice, such as a display, keyboard or an extra battery. It would allow users to swap out malfunctioning modules or upgrade individual modules as innovations emerge, providing longer lifetime cycles for the handset, and potentially reducing electronic waste.
The project was originally headed by the Advanced Technologies and Projects team within Motorola Mobility while it was a subsidiary of Google. Although Google had sold Motorola to Lenovo, it is retaining the project team who will work under the direction of the Android division.
Project Ara smartphones are composed of modules assembled into metal frames
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?
Designed exclusively for 6 billion people.
10 things you need to know about Google’s Project Ara modular smartphones
1. Availability: The phone is still in the early phases of development. But an introductory phone is expected sometime in 2015.
2. Cost: Google is hoping to introduce an entry-level Grey Phone into the market that will cost $50 to produce. Paul Eremenko, head of the Project Ara was quick to point out that the street price of the phone would be determined by commerce partners. Google is also planning a high-end phone with a $500 production cost. Like the Grey Phone, that is a manufacturing cost not the street price.
3. Size: Google showed off the “medium” Ara prototype today. The size is inline with an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S5. A mini phone is also outlines in the MDK and a large phone for fans of the Samsung Galaxy Note line is on the product roadmap.
4. Modules: The feature tiles known as modules will connect to the phone’s skeleton, known as the Endo via electropermanent magnets. When the magnets are hit with an “On” electrical pulse they will create a solid bond between the Endo and module. When they are hit with an “Off” pulse, the magnets will release the bond and you can replace the module. The magnets don’t need a constant charge to keep a bond. These modules will be created by various developers using the open source MDK that was released today. Cameras, antennas, batteries, processors, and anything that can be fit into a module shell will be available. The shells of those modules will be 3D printed to a user’s specified design.
5. Buying Modules: Google will have a ecommerce site that will work alongside the Google Play store. Like purchasing an app, you will be able to purchase modules online. To help you decide which modules to purchase, Google has three potential systems. One is to sell the Grey Phone and allow users to purchase modules via an app that demos module functionality. The second is to use a friend’s phone in guest mode to test out modules on that phone. The third option is physical pop-up kiosks.
6. Updating Android: Currently, Android doesn’t support a modular system, but the operating system is being updated to support it, with an expected release date of early 2015.
7. Prototype: A pre-production prototype will be shown off in September of this year. The current prototype shown off at the Project ARA event doesn’t have the electropermanent magnet system. It uses clips to keep the modules in place. The power bus is also still being worked on. And unfortunately, today’s prototype had a cracked screen. (haha wut??) Although Paul Eremenko joked that the phone’s screen could quickly be replaced with a different module in the future.
8. Modules can have multiple functions: A module can support as many features as a developer can cram into it. A rear-facing display module could also be a tiny battery to offset the power drain of the display. If it fits within the module’s physical constraints, it’s good to go.
9. Why you should care: Project Ara phones are expected to have a life of five to six years – far longer than your current smartphone. Instead of updating your phone every two years, you save up for the latest modules. The goal is that when a new processor or high-megapixel camera is introduced, it’ll be available as a module for Ara owners to purchase. Plus, like the prototype at today’s event, when you break the screen, you can quickly replace it with a module.
10. Why should developers care: The modular system is a way for developers to create a device that plugs directly into a phone with having to design and build a third-party piece of hardware. It removes the much of the industrial design elements and having to deal with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi radios for connectivity. Plus, there would be a built-in market of users ready to customize their phones with whatever niche functionality developers can build.
Google is betting on a future where functions are what you update, not phones. It’s also hoping to get a bare-bones Ara phones into the hands of feature phone users. If it can get developers to start building modules, your next phone could be more like individual Lego blocks instead of a single brick.
Sumber: http://www.projectara.com/