14 DAY TRIAL // Last year in October, Motorola announced that it was working with Google to bring modular smartphones to the mass market. The concept is no news as our tech-savvy readers might remember the Israeli company Modu, which is the inventor of the modular cellular phone.
Modu was founded seven years ago and died in 2011 due to lack of fund. The Israeli company invented a modular device that was ahead of its time, as people didn’t seem to care too much about it.
Well, it appears that not all has been in vain, as Google acquired Modu’s patents, which are now at the base of Project Ara.
Project Ara is trying to improve on Modu’s modular cellular phone, which only allowed customers to order predefined models. All future devices based on Project Ara should allow customers to choose display, keyboard or extra battery, which will all fit in a structural frame.
More importantly, any of these parts can be changed in case they broke down, or they can even be upgraded, which will certainly lead to a much longer lifetime cycle for smartphones. Who knows, maybe you will be stuck with a single device for all your life.
Obviously, that device will suffer multiple modifications and in just a few years, it might look pretty different from the original. By swapping various parts of a modular device, one will be able to upgrade or simply replace malfunctioning pieces.
Since Google and Motorola parted ways, the search giant is now the sole developer of the project and the first palpable result that has just been announced by the company is the first MDK (Module Developer Kit), which is now available for download.
Google’s move is proof that the company is serious about the project and that we will probably see a working prototype much sooner than we thought. In fact, the folks over at technologyreview say that the first prototype based on Project Ara may be finished by no later than next month.
Along with the MDK, Google also offered some tidbits of information regarding multiple versions of the module smartphone. For example, the mini version of a Project Ara device could take advantage of 2x1 and 1x1 modules, while others will be able to use up to 2x2.
More details on the Project Ara and the modular smartphones are promised next week, when Google has confirmed that it will host the first Project Ara Developers Conference at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.
