A few months ago Google confirmed Project Ara, the supposed modular smartphone. Finally, a prototype of this smartphone was presented during the Google I / O 2014 conference.
The talk was led by the project leader Paul Eremenko which showed the progress of its team in the development of the first modular smartphone. During the presentation they showed a functional prototype, or it should have been functional if the presentation had not given them some problems.
The demonstration started with the assembly of the different Smartphone modules. After the assembly, the device took a while to turn on, but even so it was applauded by the audience. During operation, Ara crashed on the boot screen during the entire presentation, which is a problem that must be understood because the device is only in the testing phase. Paul Eremenko also announced a challenge for all developers. A prize of 100 thousand dollars will be offered to those who manage to create a functional module for the project that does something completely new, that is, different from anything a phone has ever done.
Anyone who wants to know more about Project Ara can watch this video released in April this year:
Project leader Paul Eremenko also spoke about the criticism the project received from certain people who said that it was not possible to be 100% modular. And he said that “we started by turning affirmations like 'this is impossible' into numbers, quantifying exactly what made this project so difficult, so that our team could solve these problems".
The technical difficulties were immense, one of the obstacles was the transfer of data through capacitive interconnectors. The Android system itself needs to undergo some modifications to support modular hardware, and the Ara project will be the biggest stress test for the flexibility of the OS Google. The person responsible for the project also gave some examples of how it can be applied, such as a device to open and operate your car, cameras with different qualities and functions such as night vision, etc.
The Ara Project pieces will be made on specially modified 3D printers. To make the modular phone work, 3D Systems is reinventing the 3D printing process, leaving aside the traditional format for a new continuous-motion system in which printing works in several independent stages of finishing and manipulation of the modules.
The chief developer closed his talk by saying that a preview device will be available by the end of the year, so that other companies can develop software and hardware for Ara.
Source: Slashgear
