4 ms·

Anything niche but important enough to warrant a $1000 phone that could take another $xxx component is also something that could easily have a $xxx USB-C compon

Anything niche but important enough to warrant a $1000 phone that could take another $xxx component is also something that could easily have a $xxx USB-C component.

LeifCarrotson 10y ago
> a $xxx USB-C component Which you plug into your laptop. Which is a technological device that everyone has, and which is (to a degree) extensible. Or it's a PCIe card, and it slots into your PC. The idea behind Ara is that your phone could do what the laptop or PC can do. I'm running an LG G5 with the Cam+ adapter right now. It's a fantastic idea, but hamstrung by the fact that there are only a handful of modules and they're all proprietary.
- wtallis 10y ago
  Phones can use already USB peripherals. Just look at the FLIR One and Seek thermal cameras, which start at $200 compared to ~$600 for a mediocre phone with a thermal camera or ~$500 for a dedicated thermal camera device.
- ClassyJacket 10y ago
  No, I think the person you replied to meant that you can make a USB-C accessory for the phone. USB-C ports are on phones, in fact the majority of new Android phones now have them.
  - vidarh 10y ago
    Yes, but that also has the advantage of not tieing you to the phone, and not tieing you to a specific phone. At the very least, if someone wants to make a componentised phone like this, they should make (at least a subset of) the interface electrically compatible to USB C, so you could have a cheap/simple mechnical adapter to use most modules with any USB C capable hardware to widen appeal. Some sort of standardized form factor for small embeddable hardware with dimensions that makes it feasible for one of the "carriers" could be a phone would be interesting. In fact, doing it by starting with creating some dev boards with various functionality + the adapter first, and only considering a phone if/when it gets traction could make it viable for someone to bootstrap or do on kickstarter. The problem was going straight for a phone which has pretty much no advantages applicable to a large enough group of users to be viable until/unless there's a large ecosystem of interesting modules first.
    - LeifCarrotson 10y ago
      > At the very least, if someone wants to make a componentised phone like this, they should make (at least a subset of) the interface electrically compatible to USB C, so you could have a cheap/simple mechnical adapter to use most modules with any USB C capable hardware to widen appeal. Good point. I see the Ara project as trying to pioneer PCIe for phone modules. If a lot of phones had Ara-compatible modules, that would be great. It's just that there's only Ara right now.

Anything niche but important enough to warrant a $1000 phone that could take another $xxx component is also something that could easily have a $xxx USB-C component.

LeifCarrotson 10y ago

> a $xxx USB-C component Which you plug into your laptop. Which is a technological device that everyone has, and which is (to a degree) extensible. Or it's a PCIe card, and it slots into your PC. The idea behind Ara is that your phone could do what the laptop or PC can do. I'm running an LG G5 with the Cam+ adapter right now. It's a fantastic idea, but hamstrung by the fact that there are only a handful of modules and they're all proprietary.

wtallis 10y ago
Phones can use already USB peripherals. Just look at the FLIR One and Seek thermal cameras, which start at $200 compared to ~$600 for a mediocre phone with a thermal camera or ~$500 for a dedicated thermal camera device.
ClassyJacket 10y ago
No, I think the person you replied to meant that you can make a USB-C accessory for the phone. USB-C ports are on phones, in fact the majority of new Android phones now have them.
- vidarh 10y ago
  Yes, but that also has the advantage of not tieing you to the phone, and not tieing you to a specific phone. At the very least, if someone wants to make a componentised phone like this, they should make (at least a subset of) the interface electrically compatible to USB C, so you could have a cheap/simple mechnical adapter to use most modules with any USB C capable hardware to widen appeal. Some sort of standardized form factor for small embeddable hardware with dimensions that makes it feasible for one of the "carriers" could be a phone would be interesting. In fact, doing it by starting with creating some dev boards with various functionality + the adapter first, and only considering a phone if/when it gets traction could make it viable for someone to bootstrap or do on kickstarter. The problem was going straight for a phone which has pretty much no advantages applicable to a large enough group of users to be viable until/unless there's a large ecosystem of interesting modules first.
  - LeifCarrotson 10y ago
    > At the very least, if someone wants to make a componentised phone like this, they should make (at least a subset of) the interface electrically compatible to USB C, so you could have a cheap/simple mechnical adapter to use most modules with any USB C capable hardware to widen appeal. Good point. I see the Ara project as trying to pioneer PCIe for phone modules. If a lot of phones had Ara-compatible modules, that would be great. It's just that there's only Ara right now.