Google announced the Project Ara developers conference for April 15th and 16th that began yesterday. Google would release the Project Ara gray phone in January 2015, according to CNET. The Project Ara team from Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division at Google is working hard to bring the modular smartphone that would let users to swap the components easily to upgrade the phone.
Google released a Modular Development Kit last week that would let developers create different modules that will eventually turn up on your own custom Ara phone. Motorola announced Project Ara, an open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. Google sold Motorola to Lenovo, but it announced that it will keep Project Ara.
The generic gray phone will cost developers about $50 to make and is purposely designed to be drab to encourage owners to be creative, and personalize their devices, Paul Eremenko, head of Project Ara said at the conference. This would have five 2×1 unit modules and two 2×2 unit modules that would attach to the physical skeleton using electro-permanent magnets. Android drivers that with support for Ara would be available in December, just before the public release.
Users will be able to use the Ara Configurator to create their own custom look for each of the phone’s individual modules. Since all the parts are user replaceable, it is easy to change the look of the phone. The modules would be available separately from the hardware manufacturers. Google plans to hold two more Project Ara conferences in July and September this year.