Google Targeting ‘Project Ara’ Modular Phone for January 2015

Google has revealed new details about its plans for Project Ara, the company’s highly anticipated Android-powered modular smartphone.

For those unfamiliar with the Project Ara, it is Google’s attempt to launch a phone where all of the main components are interchangeable via modules that click in and out, attaching via electro-permanent magnets. It aims to create a smartphone that can be upgraded easily and cheaply. Thus, saving you for buying a new device.

Paul Eremenko, head of Project Ara, said two more developers conferences are planned for July and September of this year to give developers a better understanding of how they can take advantage of the platform.

The first smartphones are expected to ship next January. Android will be updated in December, prior to the release of the phones, to support Ara’s modular components.

Eremenko said the first phone released will be a generic “gray phone,” which will cost developers about $50 to make. However, he did not reveal what the eventual retail price would be. The phone will be purposely designed to be “drab” to encourage owners to be creative, and personalize their devices.

Source: Mashable