Motorola Close to Completing 'Project Ara' Prototype

By Jane McEntegart
published

The days of upgrading your smartphone's hardware at home grow ever closer.

Motorola's Project Ara continues to progress at a steady pace. This week brings reports that the prototype phone is almost ready. Speaking during a Google Hangout, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside confirmed that an Ara prototype is 'pretty close' to completion. Though we're still a long way from seeing the modular smartphone in stores, Woodside said the phone may eventually be available through Moto Maker.

For the moment, MotoMaker is only used for customizing Moto X devices (customers can choose colours for the front and back of the device as well as accents, storage, and wallpaper. You can also pre-configure your Google account. If Project Ara was available through MotoMaker, the options for customizations would no doubt be far more abundance. Ara allows you to select different components for your phone based on your preferences. For example, folks that want their phone to last all day can choose a larger battery but a smaller camera module. 

Project Ara was announced back in October and hopes to increase the life of smartphones via upgradable and swappable modules. These modules would cover everything from the keyboard to the display and the battery, to more unique models like the pulse oximeter. The company partnered with Phonebloks creator Dave Hakkens. Hakkens first talked about his concept for a modular, open source phone in mid-September.

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Jane McEntegart
16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • JD88
    Sounds promising and would definitely fit with Motorola's recent design philosophies. Looking forward to seeing more on this.
    Reply
  • sanctoon
    I love the whole Phonebloks idea, do yourselves a favor and watch a few Youtube videos about it (if you haven't allready). I'm glad Phonebloks got partnered with Moto, now it actually stands a change of becoming a reality.
    Reply
  • spentshells
    Cell phone mania reminds me of pokeman or pogs.
    Reply
  • biohazrdfear
    This has failed before. And will fail again. Good luck, Motorola.
    Reply
  • the1kingbob
    Just out of curiosity, who has it failed for in the past? I think it is a fantastic idea, in reality I am pretty sure they are designing a beast of a phone and then parting it down with weaker components.
    Reply
  • biohazrdfear
    There have been a few brands, but I don't really feel researching at the moment. The biggest thing is the cost of the individual parts. The phone designs are blocky and undesirable, and in a nutshell...no one will buy them.
    Reply
  • doron
    12137178 said:
    This has failed before. And will fail again. Good luck, Motorola.

    "People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."
    --George Bernard Shaw
    Reply
  • JD88
    12138842 said:
    There have been a few brands, but I don't really feel researching at the moment. The biggest thing is the cost of the individual parts. The phone designs are blocky and undesirable, and in a nutshell...no one will buy them.

    To Translate: You don't feel like researching because you know there's nothing out there that's been done before that even comes close to something like this.

    I really like it when people crap all over a company trying to do something unique and innovative. Your closed minded statements sound kinda like Steve Ballmer did when he was talking about the first iPhone. The first cell phones were "blocky and undesirable" yet they have revolutionized our society. We need to recognize something as just a prototype. If we know anything about Motorola and Google it's that they know how to design a product. Just give them a chance.
    Reply
  • biohazrdfear
    Modu, Modula, Brix, etc.
    Reply
  • JD88
    12138979 said:
    And it has been done before. You're just oblivious to what's been done in the past...because they FAAAAILED.

    Nice try, but none of those are even remotely close to the concept mentioned here and none of them had the backing of a major corporation behind them. That Brix concept was certainly interesting though. Reminds me of the Padphone from Asus in some ways.
    Reply