Project Ara is real, and
Google has its fingers on the pulse of the technologies required to make
modular smartphones a reality. Given the overwhelming public response
to the Phonebloks concept,
it's something that users seem to want, too. But whether or not Project
Ara modular phones have a future in the smartphone marketplace will
largely depend on whether or not there's a strong hardware ecosystem to
support it. The custom PC market wouldn't have flourished a decade ago
if component manufacturers weren't making user-friendly video cards,
storage drives, motherboards, and power supplies--the building blocks of
a PC. That's the point of this week's Ara Developers Conference:
getting partners excited and educated about how they can build hardware
to support that vision for a modular phone.
The two-day
conference, which was also streamed online, coincided with the release
of the Project Ara MDK, or Module Developers Kit. This MDK provides the
guidelines for designing Ara-compatible hardware, and along with the
technical talks presented at the conference, offer the first clear look
in the technologies that make Ara possible, if not completely practical.
I attended the conference and read through the MDK to get a high-level
understanding Google's plans for Ara, which goes far to address the concerns
we and experts have had about the modular phone concept. I'm not yet a
believer, but at least this clearly isn't a pipe dream. The following
are what I consider the important takeaways from what Google has
revealed so far.
Project Ara is two core components: the Endoskeleton and the Module
On
the hardware side, Google has laid out specific guidelines for how
Project Ara phones can be built. The most important piece of hardware is
the chassis, or what Project Ara leads are calling the "
Endoskeleton."
Think of this as an analogue to a PC case--it's where all the modular
components will attach. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the design of Razer's Project Christine,
in that a central "spine" traverses the length of Project Ara phones,
with "ribs" branching out to split the phone into rectangular
subsections. In terms of spatial units, the Endoskeleton (or Endo) is
measured in terms of blocks, with a standard phone being a 3x6 grid of
blocks. A mini Ara phone spec would be a 2x5 grid, while a potential
large phone size would be a 4x7 grid.
Fitting into the spaces allotted by the Endos structure would be the Project Ara
Modules,
the building blocks that give the smartphone its functionality. These
modules, which can be 1x1, 2x1, or 2x2 blocks, are what Google hopes its
hardware partners will develop to sell to Project Ara users. Modules
can include not only basic smartphone components like the display,
speakers, microphone, and battery, but also accessories like IR cameras,
biometric readers, and other interface hardware. The brains of a
Project Ara phone--the CPU and memory--live in a primary Application
Processor module, which takes up a 2x2 module.While additional storage can be
attached in separate modules, you won't be able to split up the the
AP--processor, memory, SD card slot, and other core operational hardware
go hand-in-hand.
Project Ara's prototype Application Processor module, which house the CPU, memory, SD card slot, and other core hardware.
Three new technologies make Project Ara work
Project
Ara is only viable because its a confluence of new technologies that
have been in development for years, and are almost ready to be put in
consumer hardware. These three are the most important:
The first is UniPro,
which is a high-speed interface protocol that Project Ara uses to allow
its modules to speak to each other, though the hardware of the Endo.
They share a common low-level language for communicating and building a
network. The UniPro protocol has been in development for several years
as a way to build a standard for mobile phone accessories--think of it
like the USB protocol, but optimized for mobile. Its development is
overseen by the MIPI Alliance, an organization composed of over 250
mobile companies, and Project Ara is tapping into the latest UniPro 1.6
spec, which offer high-bandwidth and low power connections between the
modules.
Even
though the modules know how to speak to each other, they need a way to
physically connect to the Endo. The second technology Project Ara uses
is capacitive M-PHY,
a physical layer spec also developed by the MIPI Alliance and made to
work with UniPro. For Project Ara, M-PHY is a capacitive interface,
which means that the connection points won't be worn down over time from
swapping modules in and out of the phone. Ara's implementation of the
M-PHY interface block calls for 10 connection points, eight of which are
for data (four pairs of lanes), one for power, and one for ground.
The final technology in Project Ara's module design is the use of electropermanent
magnets for affixing the modules in place in the Endo. This is really
cool--normal electromagnets magnetize depending on if current is running
through them. That would be a battery drain, but electropermanent
magnets only use current to flip magnetization on and off; it's able to
retain its magnetized state without draining additional power. Project
Ara engineers are hoping that electropermanent magnet design can be
further miniaturized before modules go into production, since every bit
of PCB space in the module is precious.
Google expects the Endoskeleton cost to be under $100
When
users buy a Project Ara phone, they'll start by buying just the
Endoskeleton and basic components, which Google has priced at around $50
for what they call a basic "grey" phone. That includes $15 for the Endo
frame, $15 for the display, $5 for a battery, $10 for the main
Application Processor module, and $5 for a Wi-Fi unit. These are just
the bill of materials cost, and aren't what users will actually pay for
modules, but Google is confident that getting started with a working
Project Ara phone will cost well under $100. In terms of overall pricing
for building a full-featured Project Ara phone, Google says that the
only real cost overhead for Ara modules are Unipro technology and the
electropermanent magnets. In addition, they expect that a flourishing
component ecosystem will drive down prices and offer users more options
for pricing.
Endoskeletons will last 5-6 years
Once
you buy an Endo, Google expects that it should last you 5-6 years. The
capacitive pads for the modules go a long way to keeping the metal Endos
durable, and the UniPro/M-PHY interface has enough bandwidth for
futureproofing (10Gb/s for most modules, 20Gb/s for large modules). The
Endo will have a small battery built-in to supply reserve power, and
that's one of the limiting factors for the lifespan of a Project Ara
shell.
Modules are hot swappable
That built-in
battery in the Endo is separate from the battery that will normally
power the phone, and is needed to support hot swapping. Users will be
able to swap out almost every module type without having to power down
or reset their phone, the display and AP notwithstanding (for obvious
reasons). That means that you'll be able to replace the main battery
when it's low without turning off your phone, something that no
smartphone can do today, even with external power attached.
Modules can have multiple functions
Google
showed several prototype modules, including a Wi-Fi unit, biometric
sensor (which measured pulse using an IR camera), and a dummy module
that does nothing. The dummy module showed that developers will have
about 40% of the PCB add their own hardware, with the rest dedicated to
Ara-specific chips and tech, such as the magnets and UniPro processing.
For larger modules, developers are able and encouraged to maximize their
use of space, meaning that modules can have multiple functions. In
fact, to build the display module, the Project Ara team used a Samsung
screen that didn't take up all of the space available, so they packed in
another small battery. Batteries everywhere, please.
3D Printing will get a boost from Project Ara
Even
if Project Ara doesn't work out, there's one industry that may benefit
from the R&D conducted for it: 3D printing. Google is working with
3D Systems in developing a new 3D printing machine that can print
efficiently at volume, something that existing printers are not very
good at. 3D printing will be used for Ara phone users to customize the
casings for their modules, which are user-serviceable and snap fit
around the PCB and safety shield.
The 3D printer in developing will print acrylic-based plastic, similar to what Shapeways calls its Detailed Plastic
material. It'll be able to print cases in CMYK color (plus clear) with
detail at 600DPI, and a sub-micron surface finish. The new printer,
which is expected to be completed for Alpha testing mid-summer, prints
using an assembly line track that goes in oval, like a racetrack. Unlike
3D printers like the MakerBot, the print head or build platform doesn't
move back and forth across two axes--multiple heads and platforms work
in unison, moving in just one direction to increase print efficiency.
Google
is also working with Carnegie Mellon to develop conductive ink
printing, so 3D printers can print electronics, like a Wi-Fi antenna
while making a module casing. This technology is still a ways off, and
won't make the 2015 Project Ara launch. There will also be a second
Project Ara developers conference the July for artists and 3D printing
companies to get involved.
Project Ara will not run stock Android
Because
of the driver code required to support UniPro modules and other
accessories, Project Ara phones will run a fork of Android for the
foreseeable future, less the core Android team deems those features
worthy to include in the mainline release. The software stack for
Project Ara is one of the development threads that needs to be resolved
before these phones can work, since Android doesn't support dynamic
hardware configurations today. Ara will introduce generic class driers
for UniPro modules (similar to how USB is processed), and some hardware
drivers will be to be downloaded through a software distribution system
like Google Play.
Project Ara isn't for the Internet of Things
Project
Ara's leads made it very clear that they were not trying to build a
jack-of-all-trades platform that would serve to be the hardware for the
Internet of Things. That is, don't expect to plug Project Ara modules
into watches or refrigerators. They want to build a viable smartphone
platform first. But that doesn't mean that Project Ara devices have to
be used as phones. You could imagine giving a child an Ara Endo with
basic media and camera functionality but no Wi-Fi or cellular modules,
allowing them access only when they're ready. It's like buying someone
an iPod Touch that could later be upgraded to an iPhone.
Project Ara will launch early this year
As
part of Google's ATAP (Advanced Technologies and Products) division,
Project Ara is only given 24 months to go from concept to real product
that users can buy--or at least one that demonstrates market viability.
That urgency, along with the fact that only three Googlers are working
Ara full-time, allows the team to take more risks and recruit
technologists without having to commit them to a long-term tenure. It's a
model that Google is adapting from DARPA, where Project Ara lead Paul
Eremenko worked before Motorola and Google. Eremenko will take Project
Ara through fruition in April 2015, which means Project Ara phones are
much closer to reality than concept.
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