Google Ara

Anyone still hyped for this?
It's old news, thought maybe there are fellow fans.

From what I've heard, retail pilot should come early 2017. Will someone preorder?

I used to be but am not anymore since I heard that the screen/CPU/ram combo will not be separate modules. Which I can understand but still. When I think about the phone I was looking to build...it would be akin to a Note 7 with front stereo speakers.

That I've heard too, but I'm still very much interested in buying Ara. Just hope module developers delivers, google puts enough marketing on this, and If it would be a success...I guess on v2 there would be even more customisation.

I'm not. I look at it this way: modularity rarely works as well in practice as it does in theory (see the LG G5 and Moto Z). It'd depend on not just a wide number of partners, but slick integration... and there's no concrete sign that you'll get either.

That and Ara comes from the same mindset that fools some hardcore PC enthusiasts into thinking that they represent the entire market. "I buy devices based on expandability, therefore everyone else always does, right?" Well, no... otherwise, laptops wouldn't be outselling desktops, and Samsung wouldn't be improving sales with phones using sealed-in batteries. (Remember, its sales nosedive started in the S4/S5 era.) At the end of the day, people want a smartphone that works well, whether or not they can swap out parts. Ara will appeal immensely to the crowd that absolutely refuses to buy devices without expansion and thinks Apple is the devil incarnate, but I suspect most people will be happier with iPhones and Galaxies.

That's one way of looking at it. I see it as some kind of playfield, which allows you to customize (with v1 of course there isn't many options, later maybe), which would appeal to any custom desktops/etc. builders. I guess that's the main idea. I guess many of us are used to sealed-in smartphones batteries, limited storage, etc. Ara isn't the case of expansion, it's playfield idea. And yeah, most of top line smartphones are all rounders, Ara offers more focus. But you can replace it with other specialised products...So I guess, yeah, playfield. If module-makers delivers, it promises quite strong start.

Tetsu said:

That's one way of looking at it. I see it as some kind of playfield, which allows you to customize (with v1 of course there isn't many options, later maybe), which would appeal to any custom desktops/etc. builders. I guess that's the main idea. I guess many of us are used to sealed-in smartphones batteries, limited storage, etc. Ara isn't the case of expansion, it's playfield idea. And yeah, most of top line smartphones are all rounders, Ara offers more focus. But you can replace it with other specialised products...So I guess, yeah, playfield. If module-makers delivers, it promises quite strong start.

Click to expand...

It's not that I don't want to see how it works... really, it's about setting expectations. Ara was announced with this "we'll change the world!" mentality when it's really more of a hobbyist platform, something for enthusiasts who like the idea of specialty add-ons. That and I've seen too many phones launch with promises that they'll really, truly support their special accessory/feature, only to abandon it in one year because it wasn't good enough or popular enough to survive. Ara will need some genuinely good and diverse components if it's going to survive for more than a year or two.

It's not looking good for Ara: Reuters claims that Google has suspended its side of the project.

The only reason given is that Google is trying to "streamline" its hardware. To me, that's a codeword for believing that the project won't fly. The report suggests that Google is willing to work with other companies to make Ara real, but... let's face it, this could easily be the death of the project. It's akin to those companies that say they're "exploring other options" when they lose a make-or-break lawsuit or fall short of a crowdfunding goal. They know they're screwed, they just want to put a brave face on it.

Google wants Android to be more like apple in sense of hardware and design. Software, updates, and experience using Android needs to come more together. Ara is a bit ahead of it time and is just not modular enough. Plus they are ugly looking phones.