Items tagged with Project Ara
Motorola Throws Shade On Google’s Failed Project Ara Modular Smartphone, Touts Moto Mods Superiority
Google’s initial plans for Project Ara modular smartphone concept were ambitious, with the company hoping to allow consumers to swap out their displays, processor and even RAM. However, “refinements” made to the program over the course of its development led to prototypes that had all of those aforementioned components integrated into the base smartphone, greatly diminishing the usefulness of the modular concept. After years of development, Google finally pulled the plug on Project Area in early September. According to the folks at Motorola, Google’s decision to eventually abandon the endeavor didn’t come as a surprise. To their eyes, Google went about the modular approach the wrong way from...
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Google parent company Alphabet apparently has zero tolerance for failure and money-losing endeavors. We’ve seen Alphabet toss its Boston Dynamics robotics division to the side, and the company recently slashed Google Fiber’s staff in half. And now it looks as though the latest victim is the ambitious Project Ara modular smartphone platform. Both Reuters and Recode are confirming the news, with the former saying that it represents a “broader push to streamline the company's hardware efforts” according to sources within Google. Project Ara, which was part of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, could possibly live on in some form. Google is reportedly open to licensing the technology...
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Do you folks remember Project Ara? It seems like ages ago when we last talked about Google’s modular project that would allow you to essentially build your very own “perfect” smartphone and swap out components with ease. Want to swap in an always-on secondary display? No problem, just slide the module in place and you’re ready to go. Want to upgrade to a better camera? Toss in a new module and you’re off and running in seconds. Well, we’re happy to say that Google hasn’t forgotten about Project Ara and that the Developer Edition will begin shipping this fall. In its current form, Project Ara can support six modules operating on a “Unipro” network that allows each to bi-directionally transfer...
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Just a few days after postponing the Ara modular smartphone pilot, Google seems to be cluing disappointed users into one reason for the delay: The smartphones didn’t pass drop tests. No more electropermanent magnets. #ProjectAra #FailedTheDropTest — Project Ara (@ProjectAra) August 19, 2015 Yesterday, Project Ara posted “No more electropermanent magnets,” to its Twitter account, along with the hashtags #ProjectAra and #FailedTheDropTest. Twitter followers quickly supplied ideas for protecting the modules. The most commonly suggested plan: slap a removable, protective case on the phone so that it’s protected in use. Another suggestion put forth by some Twitter users: slide-in or matching...
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Google has a tendency to get our hopes up with awesome “pet projects” only to later shoot them down with delays or cancelation. One such promising Google endeavor is Project Ara, which can be summed up as LEGO for smartphones. Project Ara takes a modular approach, allowing customers to purchase a single “basic” smartphone frame and then build upon it with individual models that easily plug-in, giving you additional functionality. If you want to swap out your puny 5MP camera for a higher resolution 12MP camera, the choice is yours. Or let’s say you don’t want a camera at all and would prefer to swap in an additional battery pack to extend your runtimes? That’s perfectly feasible. Or what if your...
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Google has making some huge strides in perfecting its Project Ara modular smartphone platform. Project Ara will allow customers to customize nearly every aspect of the their smartphones from processors to batteries to wireless connectivity to display. You want a higher resolution display? Just swap out your old display module for a new one. Is 16GB of storage not making the cut for you? A 64GB module upgrade is a simple plug-and-play affair. But while Google is still working through the late prototype stages of its smartphone platform, European company ImasD is putting the finishing touches on a modular tablet platform. The Click ARM One tablet looks to do most everything that Project Ara accomplishes,...
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Google’s efforts to build a modular, “LEGO” smartphone are coming closer to fruition. When we last visited Project Ara back in late December, Google was in the midst of testing early version of its Spiral 2 prototypes. At the time, project lead Paul Eremenko revealed that not only would production Ara smartphones be available in two form-factors, but they NVIDIA’s powerful Tegra K1 would be one of two possible processor options available to developers and consumers. Today, during the Project Ara Module Developers Conference, Google provided another status update on its modular smartphone efforts, and things are progressing nicely. Spiral 2 prototypes mark a huge upgrade from the earlier Spiral...
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Google’s modular phone may be a long shot, but the prototype is ready and the project is still alive and kicking – and it may now get a boost from the recent popularity of health tech for mobile phones. Paul Eremenko, the head of Project Ara, spoke recently at the Engadget Engage conference and demonstrated a pulse oximeter module that can be connected to the Ara phone. He also suggested that Project Ara will be having a pilot in 2015, with a launch date named early that year. So, why would health tech drive demand for a modular phone? The pulse oximeter module is a good example: if you have asthma or other lung issues, a pulse ox is probably a familiar friend of yours. It measures...
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When Phonebloks visionary Dave Hakkens began evangelizing the idea of a modular phone with interchangeable components, many scoffed at the idea saying it couldn't be done or wasn't commercially feasible, that is until Google stepped up and backed a team of engineers for Project Ara. Ultimately, Project Ara's proof of concept efforts bore fruit and the vision is quickly becoming reality, now with apparently new competitors entering the fray. A start-up company by the name of Vsenn has come out of cover to disclose it's intention to start a "smartphone evolution" and it also turns out that company has been co-founded by a former Nokia Android X Program Manager, according to the tease at their web...
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The idea of a modular smartphone is still an intriguing one. Imagine being able to swap out components in your smartphone to upgrade it rather than buying a completely new phone. If you don't know by now, Google has been working on Project Ara and, despite some hurdles such as the company selling off its Motorola division, the project is still in motion. In fact, Google recently announced that it has teamed up with Rockchip to provide the processor. While Google has decided to go with NVIDIA’s Tegra K1 for Project Tango, it has opted to go with the Chinese-based business which will be creating a mobile SoC that will have a native, general-purpose UniPro interface for Project Ara. This will...
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There's probably a million and one reasons that skeptics can think of as to why Project Ara is doomed. And to be fair to the naysayers, the initiative certainly seemed doomed when Google sold its Motorola Mobility division to Lenovo for $2.91 billion earlier this year. But Project Ara lives, and though it remains to be seen if we'll be touting modular smartphones as early as next year, a semi-working prototype gives hope that Project Ara will reach the finish line. Speaking at Google's I/O developer conference, Project Ara's technical lead Paul Eremenko decided to show what kind of progress has been made by demonstrating the first prototype capable of powering on. It was a somewhat rough presentation...
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Look at your smartphone. Do you love it? Do you hate it? Is the screen cracked? Is the camera junky? Is the phone too slow? As things stand now, it doesn’t matter what you think; if you like your phone, fine, but if there’s anything you don’t like about it, the only thing you can really do is buy a new one. But this current paradigm of smartphones being a single, un-upgradeable unit is shifting, and it could very well change everything about the mobile industry for the better... Thank you to Sprint Faster for sponsoring this article. Get inspired by innovation and see what’s next at Sprint.com/faster. Sprint Faster is a great site to visit if you're looking for the latest...
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