TORONTO – Google’s plan to create a low-cost customizable modular smartphone is one step closer to reality.
In a video posted to YouTube this week, the tech giant unveiled the most functional prototype of the device yet, dubbed “Spiral One.” The video shows the Android-powered device boot up and launch an app.
This is the most progress we’ve seen from “Project Ara” – Google’s code name for the initiative.
The idea behind Project Ara is to create smartphones with individual components – from the processor, display unit, or the camera – that can be swapped out at any time to create a customizable device.
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The device starts with an “endoskeleton” – the structural frame of the device. The user can then add modules to the endoskeleton to build out the phone’s functionality and features.
Modules have removable shells that allow the user to create custom designs on the body of the phone.
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The goal is to keep the phones low-cost in order to target users in emerging markets.
“The smartphone is one of the most empowering and intimate objects in our lives. Yet most of us have little say in how the device is made, what it does, and how it looks. And five billion of us don’t have one,” reads the Project Ara website.
“Introducing Project Ara. Designed exclusively for six billion people.”
According to Google, it’s too early to set an exact price range for the device; however, the company said the goal is to have an entry-level device in the $50 to $100 range.
Because the device is still in the development stage, Google has not yet set a market launch date.
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