Mobile Devices

GOOGLE IO: At last! Here’s when Project Ara modular phones are coming out

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Comments (10)
  1. Mr. Oran O'Reilly Jr. says:

    I don't really see the point of project ara… Ok a part gets broken and you change it easily but I don't believe people will want their phone base for more than 2-3 years, which is kind of the same as getting new phone anyways

  2. Eriberto Fahey says:

    Now we can level up in real life!

  3. Ms. Fae Daniel DDS says:

    No prob, always up for a chat!

    TL;DR I'm super hyped for Ara and will stick with my HTC M7 until it becomes commercially available:

    I get that a lot of consumers nowadays have been conditioned into thinking that they *must* get new phones as often as possible and that I'm probably the odd one out for thinking otherwise, but as I said a while back I'm weirdly sentimental.

    About specs, won't it be possible to swap out the SoC on the frames? I mean, as long as OEMs can agree on standard connectors and whatnot, then staying on the bleeding edge could become as simple a matter as getting a new component as opposed to getting a whole new phone. As for its design, I think this phone's simplicity actually works in its favor. You know how people can go all-out making wacky and cool cases for iPhones, and they know they can mass produce since iPhones are fairly ubiquitous and are, after a fashion, pretty similar? I'm hoping the same happens with Ara. Besides, I think people will NEED cases to keep those blocks from getting knocked off.

    And I happen to think that chucking phones away for scrap is a waste of resources, so the eco-friendly factor Ara has going for it is another plus point in my book.

  4. Deshawn Ritchie DVM says:

    I think it is a really lame and shameful after all that time and talk
    Camera,speaker,flashlight,fitness tracker, app shortcut buttons ..etc
    You can already add them by accessories on the phone so this is different kind of accessories .
    You can't even change batteries, CPU or display so I guess that won't be a real success.

  5. Kim Hoppe says:

    as some of the users have alerady discussed below..not sure how many people will board the ARA bus apart from nerds and many enthusiasts. For most people nothing is more exciting than a brand new shiny phone that they take out of a box after the end of their contract..thats the excitment of an upgrade and customers dont pay for a new device. Apple sell most of their phones through contract and I think it is true for some major brands like samsung, HTC and LG. When samsung released their S7, all the major retailers put big posters of S7 on their shops. Thats why companies come up with an upgraded device every year because a) it helps to get them new customes b) you get new technology with no (or little) added cost. Now with Ara I dont know if they want to sell these devices on contract or is this only for pay as you customers where customer pays a huge sum to buy a device. Again as the technology advances, phones are getting slimmer and power is getting bigger. The form factors are changing, with ARA I dont think that is possible because once the frame is fixed, it will never change. Every component of the phone has to be of the same dimensions even after 5 years otherwise the phone will be of no use which directly contradicts what the Phone is trying to achieve, longevity.

  6. Torey Wuckert says:

    There will be a standard frame(base) that will house RAM, Soc, and main storage. In my eyes ARA is only reasonable for MIDrange phones. I mean I like the Idea of only changing Screen if you manage to shatter yours but there are few things that bothers me:

    -Upgrade point of view(only counts if you buy flagships): If you want best of the best you buy a flagship, I don't believe ara will magically offer better specs that are in each years flagship and you normally buy a new phone specifically because of specs(RAM&SOC, camera, screen) so you need to buy a new frame anyway(which probably isn't very cheap either?). Ok you buy a new frame and then with time other specs like screen and camera will be "old" so you buy new modules and in span of 2 years you end up spending same or more as you would buy a flagship.

    -Adaptive point of view(again only counts compared to flagships): They say you can adapt the phone to your liking, so let's say you need a bigger battery. Phones today or at least flagships have biggest possible battery installed allready for their design. what will you sacrifice ? the camera? the speaker ?

    -Compatibility point of view: I kind of like the idea of ARA for budget phones, BUT let's say you don't need monster specs but you want a good camera… will the cheapest SOC be able to push the better camera ?

    I am trying to like it, but somehow I can't see any benefit for avarage consumer in getting an ARA phone. It is something for those that use their phones for something special and that today's flagship can't achieve..

  7. Derek Mueller says:

    I think it has to do with being able to adapt the phone to specialized situations. The guitar girl in the video, for example, looked to have stacked a crud ton of microphones to help record her playing, which I doubt a person would want to keep on all the time.

    Also, considering that you can swap pretty much every piece of the phone out except for (including?) the screen, I think Aras will last a bit longer than current phones. The only reason I swapped out my Galaxy S (the first one, which was also my first smartphone) back in 2013 was because the camera and battery weren't really up to scratch anymore— I might just be sentimental, but I keep crud around for way longer than I really need to. All I think it'd take to make a phone last indefinitely is the ability to change batteries and chipsets, plus cameras and all that jazz.

  8. Dallas Rau II says:

    Heh yeah, but what is different from buying top level as soon as you can ? ☺ also think about design. A lot of phones today aren't just ugly bricks anymore, they are almost like fashion devices.

  9. Prof. Kasandra Conn Jr. says:

    Very good news!

  10. Bennett Weimann says:

    Ok I see your point of view. But I don't think it will be a big thing amongst consumers. Most people I know buy phones based on 2 year contracts in my country and want to have the latest and greatest in terms of specs and design. You can change some specs on sea phone but base of the phone will still look old and people treat phones almost as fashion add-ons' if you look at iPhone or galaxy and I don't think ara will compete in terms of design.
    Just my thinking and thanks for discussing.

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