Google’s modular phone to debut next year

Google's Project Ara is set to deliver a modular handset, the first phone manufactured by Google next year.

Dieter Bohn, executive editor of The Verge, who interacted with the project team reports that the modular phone is a prototype at the moment, and the eventual consumer version would look and feel much better. The developer version that will come out later this year would also be a step up from the photos that he shared.

Ara is mechanically simpler but more complex than earlier versions, though that that might seem paradoxical. The system would allow more space for modules and use a clever way to protect the contact points for the connection.

Snapping a module in and ejecting it is simple. The battery on the prototype can be changed without turning off the phone.

Dispalying the handset, Rafe Caramago, the project leader of the Ara, opened up the bottom, pulled out the battery, but the frame carried enough charge to just keep the phone running. Though this would not last very long, it would last long enough to put in a fresh battery, all without rebooting.

Bohn says the phone is still work in progress, it does work. Google would need to get module partners on board, and make the phone a little thinner and nicer  looking, he adds.

The project mission is to make a smartphone out of interchangeable parts that one can swap on the fly to make one's phone exactly what one wanted to be at  a particular point in time. Add a wide-angle camera when going for a hike.

Swap it for a telephoto and use a larger battery for the soccer game.  And the screen could be replaced with an E Ink display for reading on a long flight. The idea behind the modular design is to lengthen the life of a smartphone , with devices lasting five years instead of two - and cut the waste resulting from the rush to upgrade.