January 15, 2015

Creating your own mobile phone with features you want is the goal of Google’s Project Ara and a market pilot is planned for 2015.

Project Ara: Part of it (Video: Google ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects group)/YouTube)

The goal of the project is to develop a modular phone, which allows consumers to buy a phone frame and data backbone, and then add the building blocks they want to personalise the features they want.

For example, they could choose the camera they want rather than having to buy a whole phone for the camera.

Each building block or module will have replaceable covers or shells, allowing the user to create a unique looking phone.

An end to throwing out mobile phones every few years?

In future, people will be able to build an Ara phone from scratch, buy a complete phone or purchase additional modules.

If your display broke, you could also buy a new one rather than having to buy a whole new phone or upgrade functions as new modules came out.

The goal is also to deliver the mobile internet to another 5 billion people.

When will you be able to buy an Ara phone?

At the moment, the project website says it is still a “development effect” but that the team is working towards a limited market pilot in 2015.

In terms of cost, the cost of building an entry level Ara device is in the range of $50-100 (£65 – £85) – although that is just the cost of components and not the final pricing.