Google Ara - The Modular Smartphone

Satisfied with the phone they have got. Either the processor is not up to the mark, or the camera clarity is not good, or the RAM needs a serious upgrade. And if everything is perfect with the phone, it is out of your pocket’s reach. Now, it’s technically impossible to get premium quality in fewer bucks. What if you could choose each and every part of your phone?

The world’s largest IT firm, as always, is making a remarkable leap in the world of smart phones. Google in collaboration with Motorola, is on its way to launch the first ever modular smart phone, under the project, “Project Ara”. It is a bold plan to create an open-source smartphone hardware platform. Also, the moto is to reduce electronic waste generated globally.

Users could start with a skeleton/Endo, which could hold various modules in it. These modules can be camera, processor, battery, wireless radios, screens and potentially a host of other options from a fingerprint scanner to a heart rate monitor. Imagine a camera module from Canon, speaker module from Sony, a processor from Intel, and an amazing ecosystem of phone parts to choose from. It will run on a customizable Android OS. The hot – swappable modules are held together with extremely strong Electropermanent magnets, which can be turned on or off, thus there’s no doubt of the phone just shattering off.

The best part of this phone is, if you got your processor stopped working, just replace the processor module. If you want to upgrade your camera, just replace the camera module. You aren't getting battery backup, just replace the block. This all can be done, without replacing whole handset. You can adapt new upgrades, just by replacing the modules. Also, you can customize and choose each and every module of different company and integrate them into the Endoskeleton, which is best for you.

Have a glimpse of the working Demo of Ara.

The plug-n-play modules gives us the power to create a phone that has and works exactly the way we want. If someone drops off your phone and cracks the screen, just replace the screen module and its done. With new innovations in electronic market, the phone can be upgraded by just replacing the old modules with new ones. This increases the longevity. Google has made it easy-for-buy phone, as the Endos will be available at just 3k INR.

There is no doubt in the fact that this invention is going to revolutionize the Electronics world. Google creates wonders, and is planning to launch the phone by the end of Summer of 2015 with a bang. Brace yourself, your next phone could be more like individual Lego blocks instead of a single brick.

- Vish