Google targeting Project Ara modular phone for January 2015
[Philip Lelyveld comment; first reaction - swapping out and adding components is how PCs used to be and helped birth the hacker community. Second reaction - fricking awesome idea.]
Eremenko told an audience of around 200 people at the Computer History Museum here that the general public won't have to wait long for their first shot at the Project Ara "gray phone." It's scheduled to go on sale in January 2015 for around $50.
Ara's endoskeleton, the chassis that will hold the modular components together, will last for "five to six years," said Eremenko. The components will stay attached to the frame via electro-permanent magnets, and they will use the UniPro standard for communication between modules.
Between now and January, however, Eremenko and the two other full-time Project Ara team members at Google have a lot of work to do. They collaborate with a broad range of partners, from academic experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon, to business partners such as 3D Systems, a 3D printing company that's building a massive 3D printer so components can be easily fabricated.
The idea could revolutionize phone sales. Instead of having to buy a new phone to get the latest hardware, you might simply be able to buy a new version of the component you want to replace. The modularity would let you replace parts you don't want with ones that you do.
See the full story here: http://www.cnet.com/news/google-targeting-project-ara-phone-for-january-2015/
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