“Designed exclusively for 6 billion people.”
That is the tag line for Google’s still in development Project Ara. Project Ara is an upcoming fully modular cell phone being developed under the Motorola brand. What does “fully modular” mean exactly? Well the phone itself is made up of a frame with different sections and each section can fit a different attachment. Here are some pictures to demonstrate:
The first image shows a 5 and a 13 megapixel camera. This is part of the appeal of Ara. If someone is the type of person that doesn’t take photos with their phone, they can get a cheaper camera (or even no camera at all). Alternatively, someone who does take a lot of photos on their phone can get a better camera. This also means that when an even better camera is eventually released, the current camera can be upgraded without having to get an entire new phone. The old camera can then be sold or passed on to a friend or relative so that it doesn’t have to go to waste.
The best part of this is that it doesn’t only apply to the camera. The screen, battery, speakers, WiFi module, and any other part of the phone can be swapped out and upgraded or purchased individually to build a phone tailored to what that user wants from their mobile experience.
That leads into the second image. Selecting each part individually can get overwhelming for some users. To solve this Google will be offering pre-selected kits that are tailored for different lifestyles. You can have a phone that is suited for mobile gaming, a photography kit with the best camera and screen available, a music kit with better speakers and audio processors, or any other kit for other different lifestyles. The ultimate goal is to not compromise. Instead of choosing a phone for its hardware, the hardware can be chosen for the phone.
The last two images not only show how the phone is assembled, but it also shows another form of customization. The modules can either be plain black/white or whatever color the manufacturer chose, or the user could create their own “canvases” for each module and stick them on. This completes the custom nature of this phone as every individual piece of the phone can now be customized as opposed to just different cases.
Project Ara is the next evolution in the world of mobile phones, and personally, I can’t wait for it to arrive.
