Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on April 23, 2014, 09:14:58 AM
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Interesting concept. Very little information at the article, but if they design it so that you can (at a reasonable cost) not only update it to new technology, but swap parts to change providers at will, they might have a winner. I think they would have to make it pretty perfect though, otherwise with the current marketing of a reduced cost phone with two year plans, people will still want the latest, greatest, biggest, smallest, lightest, etc.
http://sofreakingcool.com/23794/project-ara-googles-new-modular-smartphone/
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I very much hope this goes to market. I'd likely not buy a different phone (or rather, phone system) for decades. Only sticky widget will be the screen, if that is more or less easily/economically replaceable or not.
Also, product sites:
http://www.projectara.com/
https://twitter.com/ProjectAra/
Better article:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/04/15/google-courts-developers-for-modular-smartphone-project/?KEYWORDS=globalstar
Phone frame to be (hopefully) $50.
Article collection on Project Ara:
http://motorolaara.com/
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I just read something about Google selling Motorola to Lenovo.
Yep here it is: http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/29/5358620/lenovo-reportedly-buying-motorola-mobility-from-google (http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/29/5358620/lenovo-reportedly-buying-motorola-mobility-from-google)
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Been following this for awhile now.
Likely to be (at least at first) a very niche device: most andoid users are well steeped in modern consumerism, and are comfortable with buying the new "latest model" every 2 years. There does seem to be a fairly big niche for this, though
One thing that is going to have a big effect on the Ara's success or failure is going to hinge on hardware manufacturers. If the different hardware companies get on board, the Ara will be a success. If they only have Motorola making the parts, it'll fail (or just limp along in the niche).
As for swapping out the screen: my understanding is that the screen is also supposed to be swapable (including being able to switch from a large touch screen to a smaller screen with hardware keyboard). Not sure if that's how the final product will go or not. I know an easy to replace screen would, all by itself, eliminate a large number of phone sales...
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most cell phone users are familiar with the crappy build quality of a device that should be intended to see fairly rough use, and are comfortable with having to replace it a lot more often than every 2 years.
FIFY
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Likely to be (at least at first) a very niche device: most andoid users are well steeped in modern consumerism, and are comfortable with buying the new "latest model" every 2 years. There does seem to be a fairly big niche for this, though
Makes life great for those of us with an ounce of sense. I buy either used or obsolete android phones, tablets, etc. They work perfectly fine, for a fraction of the cost. Just upgraded to an S3 now that the S5 came out, and folks rushed to upgrade. =D
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Makes life great for those of us with an ounce of sense. I buy either used or obsolete android phones, tablets, etc. They work perfectly fine, for a fraction of the cost. Just upgraded to an S3 now that the S5 came out, and folks rushed to upgrade. =D
This, and you have the advantage of good documentation of any bugs that haven't been fixed yet. Sort of like buying a used car that was popular a few years ago; the owners' forums are full of what to fix and exactly how.