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Google's Project Ara is set to be one of the most customisable smartphones on the market when it comes out next year. However, it won't be a simple case of buying the ‘skeleton' and upgrading the hardware when it starts getting slow as the CPU, RAM and main display won't be touchable Google has confirmed.
While last week during Google I/O, the company confirmed that there would be a new development kit out this year, with a consumer smartphone planned for launch in 2017, speaking with Wired, Google also said that the 5.3-inch display, CPU and RAM would be static as apparently, that level of functionality isn't what consumers want.
Google came to this conclusion after a change in leadership on the Ara project as well as “lots of research and testing”. So instead of making every part of the phone modular, the key parts of the device will be implemented into the ‘skeleton'. From there, users can swap out modules for less essential parts of the device, like the camera, speakers or a secondary display.
For those wondering how the module system actually works, the skeleton supports up to six of them at once. It uses a ‘plug and play' system so all you need to do is plug a module in and you are good to go without any device restarts. Ejecting a module requires a little more work though, you can either talk to the phone and say “Okay Google, eject this module”, or you can go into the settings, which will bring up a map of your modules and select the one you wish to disconnect, from there the magnet holding it in place will release.
KitGuru Says: While it is a shame that the Ara skeleton won't be a one time buy device that you can upgrade when it starts to get a little sluggish, Google still has a lot of cool ideas going on with Project Ara. Perhaps one day we will end up with a fully upgradeable version but first Google would need to see some demand for such a thing.
we realized that we’re not going to make as much money as companies like apple, that sell a slightly tweaked update every year at premium cost. so we took out the consumer friendly functions while leaving the business savvy ones, because peripherals are big business.
Totally killed the great idea this once was then
I Thought that was the whole point of Project Ara, to be able to replace the screen if it’s broken or upgrade CPU and RAM, i’ve been following this since they first announced it, but with this i am slowly loosing interest
I imagine they’ll update the skeleton every few years to add better screen and the updated CPU. They really don’t need to be upgraded much anymore. 1080p or 1440p is more than enough as is 3GB RAM and a Snapdragon quad core. Good move I think, providing they keep compatibility of the modules through all versions.
But you’ll only have to replace the skeleton and pop your old modules back in, so shouldn’t be as expensive as replacing the whole phone which seems to be necessary if you crack the screen in a lot of phones these days.
failure. Some like bigger screens, Some might want a weaker cpu and less ram while investing in other modules,etc etc. Thanks to google now I know I can stay away from Ara
so no more modular than an lg g5 but with the looks of a lego brick? cool story bro!
I always thought Ara was a bad idea> an ugly large brick to lug around with a small screen. Now basically this thing is even worse. Why would anyone buy this? They are going to lose a ton of money on this thing.
Kids will have fun taking it apart I guess, or you could just buy them some legos.
Woah. Well we want every part of the phone can be ejected including the RAM and the CPU of course. That’s what every smartphone user wanted (including me).
without a swappable CPU then you’ll still want a new phone every few years when it starts to feel slow, making the whole thing pointless
So they just took away what makes project ara revolutionary… meh…
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Price and longevity matter most. What are the modules going to be, cameras? Speakers? Those are going to be serioisly boring.
No the current smartphone CPUs suck, I want to be able upgrading them once a year…
They don’t suck. They are 3x what is needed for 99.9% of the population. There is no reason to require more power on a phone. Use a laptop or desktop if you need more power. It’s more convenient than doing anything like that on a phone.
well, what if I want to play actual games on my phone?
Buy a machine that is designed for portable gaming. It’s a phone, not a console. Plus some of the graphics on mobile games these days are about on par with 360/ps3 graphics in a lot of cases.