Motorola announces Project Ara, its open hardware platform

Looking to do to hardware what Android has done with software, Motorola on Tuesday morning has announced Project Ara. The idea is to allow third parties to offer modular parts of a smartphone that would lower the barriers to entry for competition, increase the pace of innovation and compress development time. Going well beyond the customization of the Motorola Moto X, Project Ara would allow smartphone buyers to truly decide what they want their smartphone to do, what it looks like and how much it will cost.

In the next few months, the wholly owned Google subsidiary will release an MDK (Module Developer’s Kit) and third party developers will be begin creating the modules. The design consists of an endoskeleton (endo) and modules. The endo is a frame on which the modules are attached to. The latter, as Motorola points out, could be "a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter--or something not yet thought of!"

Motorola has been working on this project for a year and is asking for your help. You can sign up to be an Ara Scout and get emailed each month with the opportunity to share your ideas on the project, using an app available for iOS and Android phones. Motorola also met with Dave Hakkens, the creator of Phonebloks, who has a similar idea for a modular phone. We told you about Phonebloks last month.

This all sounds like a very interesting idea that could very well change the way we buy a smartphone. You will be able to build your own individual handset picking the camera you want along with the display and all powered with the CPU that you want running your phone. And think about how much easier repairs would be. Snap out the defective part, snap in the new one and you're good to go.

Motorola has shared some pictures with us that show off some of the modular designs already made in tests. You can see these truly customized models by clicking on the slideshow below. 









source: Motorola