Google is piecing together a smartphone with interchangeable parts, a total game changer in the smartphone industry.
With the launch of Project Ara sometime last year, consumers were introduced to the concept of the first truly customizable phone, where people build their smartphones using interchangeable parts. This allows full customization of the smartphone, and upgrading doesn't mean that people will be swapping their old handsets with new ones.
After last year's reveal of the Ara prototype, there were rumors that Project Ara was shelved, due to a number of failed demonstration attempts, as Gizmodo reported last year. The project also had a rocky start as the team's original head, Paul Eremenko, left the company.
Those rumors were now put to rest by Google itself, as confirmed in a CNET interview with Project Ara's CEO Rafa Camargo. Camargo made a demonstration of the new Ara prototype at Google's I/O developer conference. During the demo, Camargo places the phone on a table, and says, "Ok Google, eject the camera." The phone's camera pops out, and the crowd goes wild. This time, the demonstration was a roaring success.
The original Project Ara was meant to mirror the way people build their desktop PCs from scratch. The new prototype has all the basic functions and core components built right in. "When we did our user studies, what we found is that most users don't care about modularizing the core functions," Camargo said. "They expect them all to be there, to always work, and to be consistent."
"Our initial prototype was modularizing everything...just to find out users didn't care." he added.
So instead of becoming a fully customizable future-proof phone, Project Ara took a step back and stuck with the basics, giving the users the ability to 'mix-and-match features you can't get anywhere else'.
The Project Ara Developers' kit will contain modules like a speaker, camera, and expanded memory module, and an E-Ink display, similar to the ones used on an Amazon Kindle e-reader. While it may sound basic at best, Camargo pointed out that these were the basic functions that some other phone companies fail to deliver on. With the Ara smartphone, you can put in two speakers at the same time, turning the phone into the ultimate party sound system. Users will also have no problems with battery life as they can deck out the phone with two batteries at the same time, perfect for out of town trips or, more importantly, power outages.
Google said that it will not give Project Ara to other phone companies like Samsung or Sony, and is aiming at producing the phones themselves.
Project Ara is a promising project indeed, and with the consumers possibly getting their hands on it next year, Google's once crazy idea might just really change the smartphone industry.
Watch the Google ATAP's video of Project Ara below:
