Google's Project Ara is a modular phone that lets you swap out different parts instead of upgrading the whole phone
Imagine owning a mobile phone that doesn't need to be upgraded every couple of years.
Instead of trotting off to your local mobile provider's emporium to pick a new handset, all you’d need to do would be take your current one in and get some new parts put in it.
That’s the dream in Google's Mountain View headquarters, where such a phone is being developed.
Right now, it's called Project Ara and Google hopes it will be the future of mobile phones.
It’s based on the 'plug and play' system – Google will design and build the frame of the phone and develop the module development kit (MDK).
The idea is that if third-party manufacturers can build components that work in conjunction with the MDK, they’ll be able to sell them for the Ara phone.
Think of it as being similar to plugging things into your computer via USB – as long as it fits the MDK, anything is possible
You’ll be able to upgrade your camera as and when a newer, better one appears on the market.
Or, you might just want to upgrade the processor and make your phone run faster.
With Ara, Google's aim is that phones will be better, cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
The only slight snag so far is that… it doesn't work all that well right now.
Project Ara's principal engineer, Seth Newburg, has been raving about it to Wired magazine, but admits that it needs work.
On the last two occasions when he’s tried to boot up Ara in public, he’s failed.
What’s more, he’s running out of time – a key part of the development deal means that results are expected as soon as Spring of next year.
The clock is ticking – will the mobile phone as we know be reinvented over the next few months…?
