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> because many of the initially removable components are no longer removable It's not that "many" of the components aren't available, it's all the components a
by squeaky-clean 10y ago
> because many of the initially removable components are no longer removable
It's not that "many" of the components aren't available, it's all the components anyone cared about. It seems like you won't be able to swap out the CPU, GPU, RAM, battery or screen. So if you want a phone with a faster CPU, you need to buy an entirely new phone, which goes against all the hype for these modular phone plans.
From the venturebeat article linked below: "The idea of Ara is to ensure that your devices are future-proofed, meaning that the whole “upgrade every two years” mentality is no longer a thing. ". This certainly isn't true. Though I guess it could be slightly cheaper, since you would be just buying a frame, and could pop in your old camera module.
There also aren't any modules being shown that can clue you into what the potential is. The only thing recognizable is a camera module, and what I'm guessing is a small e-ink display., every other module is just an unlabeled colored/textured rectangle. In every article about it the only example ever used is a camera.
The module idea actually seems really cool, a standard way for anyone to create hardware for your phone. But I think the "modular phone. Upgrade one bit a time. Never obsolete." marketing angle is a blatant lie.
Edit: I agree with one of the jokes in that Reddit thread about this
Here's what I want for my six modules:
1. Camera
2. Battery
3. Battery
4. Battery
5. Battery
6. Battery
Because really, what else is there?
- Klathmon 10y agoFrom the article: >“The key here,” Camargo says, “is to develop the functionality you don’t get on your smartphone today. I’ll give you the smartphone, so you don’t have to worry about it.” It sounds to me the reason their "dev kit" includes so much "out of the box" is to spur development of newer more interesting modules. Like you said, we all know that camera, storage, battery modules will be there, but they are pushing to see what others can come up with (blood sugar testers, credit-card readers, touchpads, temperature sensors, etc...)
- 8note 10y agoId go for two cameras, and try to hack some 3D recording out of it. and replacement inertial sensors, those always seem to break on me. edit: actually, it would be cool to put an FPGA on there.
- hutzlibu 10y agoWhat would you do with it?
- DanGarcia595 10y agoIn theory a lot of things. Depending on how much hardware you could synthesize, you'd only be limited by your IO and size. You could have a module that is able to be modified by software.
- fu9ar 10y agooff of the top of my head: SDR, Storage, bigger/better Speakers, more USB/whatever ports, HDMI output, video Projector, JTAG (why not?), RFID edit: oh, temperature/barometer built into the device would be pretty cool too.
- malandrew 10y agoDifferent types of cameras such as night vision or infrared heat camera. Also laser range finder modules or something capable of stereoscopic vision. Altimeters. Barometric pressure sensors. Communicator modules for other peripherals when Bluetooth isn't appropriate. Temperature sensor. Wind speed device (would have to protrude beyond the phone's edge so wind can pass through). Light sensor for automatic white balance measurements. Chording keypads to enable more interesting input for power users. Anyways that's just a stream of conscious I came up with in 5 minutes of noodling. There is potential. Maybe not as much for day to day, but definitely options for professionals that make their living outdoors.
- beambot 10y agoMedical sensors -- eg. portable blood analyzer.
- jonknee 10y agoTheranos can pivot!
- onion2k 10y agoHaving access to those things sounds brilliant. I'd guess that while we might see Ara on the market one day, we're also likely to see standard Android phones with a single Ara accessory port on the back, perhaps replacing the built in camera. That gives users the swappable modules advantage of Ara with the cost/weight/durability benefits of a typical device.
- tdkl 10y agoAnd Google will be glad to deliver all those types of cameras, because they can't bring StreetView in your home - yet.
- hutzlibu 10y agoSo ... streetview requires nightvision and won't be happy with cameras beeing there allready?
- 10y ago
- wubbfindel 10y ago2 Cameras for recording in 3D? ;-)
- asuffield 10y ago(Tedious disclaimer: my opinion only, not speaking for anybody else. I'm an SRE at Google.) > It's not that "many" of the components aren't available, it's all the components anyone cared about. It seems like you won't be able to swap out the CPU, GPU, RAM, battery or screen. The article addresses this directly: "After lots of research and testing, they made a big decision: rather than turn every single piece of the phone into modules, from the processor to the RAM to the hard drive, they’d consolidate all that into the standard frame. They found that people don't care about, or want to think about, the processor in their phone. And they especially don't want to worry about it being compatible with all their apps. Users just want a good phone with good specs that does all the basics well, and then they want a place to play on top of that." They did the research. It turned out that people didn't care about those components after all. If you think your research is better, build the product.
- Ressuder 10y agoAnd you don't find it curious that what made the original concept implausible suddenly is found to "not be desired" by costumers?
- asuffield 10y agoI find it entirely reasonable that research shows consumers don't want products that don't work very well. The text I quoted explicitly called out that it would be a software compatibility nightmare.
- ethanbond 10y agoSo then what modularity do they think consumers do care about? And yes, that was exactly what everyone was saying from the beginning: it's infeasible to do what Ara was dreamt up to do.
- asuffield 10y agoSure, I can find that section of the article for you: "Which brings us to the most important question still facing Project Ara: what the hell kind of modules are people going to build? Woolridge and his team took their user research to the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona in February, where they started showing it to potential partners: carriers, tech companies, fashion brands, everyone. Turns out they all have ideas. Better speakers, flashlights, panic buttons, fitness trackers, projectors, app-shortcut buttons, kickstands, a million other things. Some are incredibly high-tech—pro-level cameras clearly fascinate the Ara team, and they all get excited at the idea of replacing my hideous tape recorder with a microphone module—but some aren’t. Bertrand shows me a small compact case for storing makeup, and a small hollow pillbox. They’re also building “style” modules, which don’t do anything except look nice. Apparently, when given the opportunity to make anything that plugs into their phone, people come up with some pretty useless ideas."