Is the world ready for a phone that you put together yourself? Google thinks so...
BBC highlights the search giant's recent partnership with a Dutch designer to create a build-it-yourself modular mobile.
Called Project Ara, the modular system consists of a screen in front and a system of specially sized trays in the back. What slides into these trays is up to you, as you determine (and snap in yourself) which processor, whether you want a cheap or more expensive camera, memory upgrade slots, hard drive size, etc.
Consider it sort of a "lego phone". Motorola says they've been working on Project Ara for over a year, according to Technorati listed tech site Mashable.
I'm not sure how well Project Ara will catch on. Sure, consumers love choice, but we don't tend to want to have to make singular decisions about so many aspects of our phone. Most of us will live with one smart phone shortcoming or another, just so that we can go into the store, choose a color and hard drive size, hand over our money and move on with life.
For those who love do-it-yourself projects, and revel in the multitudes of options, however, Project Ara just might be up their alley. Not happy with your camera? Don't buy another phone, just another camera module. Your phone can't handle Android's newest OS, KitKat? Get a faster processor and keep the rest. Sounds like a great way of avoiding filling landfills with old phones so quickly...
Remember the days of Yugos? The world's first "smart cars" were absolutely barebones, simple and economical. You started with a base model and upgraded bit after bit as you pleased, one piece at a time. Jokes flew over how much the steering wheel would cost, and eventually Yugo simply disappeared from the economy of choice.
Did Google just mix things up in a big way, or did they lend their good name to a mobile Yugo?
via Technology articles at Technorati http://feeds09.technorati.com/~r/tr-technology/~3/rfu1RYdkC7w/