Project Ara

[deanb]

So this is a bit more of a possibility than I originally gave it credence for. Potentially looking to launch in year or so, it's currently in early early prototyping stage (non bootable device alongside industrial design prototype)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18LU5UtG5-M&feature=share&t=5m16s

 

It'll be interesting to see how well it works with Android and updates cos it's hard enough at the moment getting updates rolled out to singular non-modular devices. The guy also hit's what'd seem to be a sore point at the moment about how affordable it would be compared to a pre-built phone. It'll be interesting to see, it's currently under Google's wings and (alongside whatever patents they kept) about the only thing they kept from Motorola. So it seems Google wants to have this be a thing that will happen, but Google so far is struggling to enter the hardware space. Hence selling Motorola off at a loss in the first place. One to watch with interest, I guess it'll get bigger come April at thier dev conference.

[madbassman39]

When I first saw the post on reddit about a year ago I thought it would be awesome. Everyone in the comments said "As an engineer, I know this is impossible." and I have no background in anything related to phones, I just figured they weren't wrong. Looks like it is possible, and hopefully it works really well because I would love something like this.

[Mercurial]

What about it would be impossible?

[deanb]

I believe the main issue folks have had with it is the part where most phones are as small as they are due to everything being packed in in a very neat and snug and perfect fashion. In compartmentalizing everything it's harder to have some components fit in so snug around each other. More than likely these devices will still have lower battery than similar sized phones, but it seems they're fine with how they're sorting all other components out so far.