Google to release Project Ara modular smartphone in January

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 16 (UPI) -- Google said it will launch the first Project Ara "Gray Phone" in January, which will be a customizable modular smartphone that is intentionally drab and boring.

"It's called the Gray Phone because it's meant to be drab gray to get people to customize it," said Project Ara leader Paul Eremenko.

The announcement was made at the first Ara developer's conference Tuesday at the Computer History Museum. The phone is scheduled to go on sale January 2015 and will cost $50. Ara phones will support Android, but currently the operating system does not support the drivers necessary for it to control modular components.

"It's true that Android does not support dynamic hardware today," said Eremenko. "The good news is that we're Google," said Eremenko.

Ara will have an exoskeleton, the framework on which all the components will be attached using electro-permanent magnets. The components will use the UniPro standard for communication between modules.

Project Ara is the brainchild of the Advanced Technology and Projects division Google retained before it sold Motorola to Lenovo. The team is led by Regina Dugan, the former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Project Ara could change the way people buy smartphones. Rather than having to buy a new device to get the latest hardware, users could replace the component that they wanted upgraded.

Google has a distinct advantage in this field as its mobile operating system is the most widely used OS, largely thanks to the success of phone makers like Samsung, who have embraced the system wholeheartedly.

Apart from potentially changing how users buy phones, Project Ara will also make advances in other future-forward technology, such as reliance on miniaturized components and 3D printing. Google has partnered with 3D Systems, a 3D printing company that's building a massive 3D printer so components can be easily fabricated.

[Project Ara] [CNET]