Project Ara - The Building Block Smartphone

Dave Hakkens was the brilliant mind behind what many are calling ‘the lego phone’. Dave came up with the idea when a single component in his favourite camera was damaged and he was advised that it would be cheaper and easier to just buy a new camera than it would be to buy the single component and replace it. He wanted to create a device where this would no longer be the case, where buying and replacing damaged or less desirable components became so easy that your grandmother could do it.

The concept was called Phonebloks. When Dave first announced the idea he set up a website, a prototype and a plan – he wanted to find 500 supporters of the idea, but by the 29^th of October had more than 381,000,000 supporters. The project was of course seen as valuable with so many people willing to get behind it, now it is no surprise that Motorola, one of the Google owned mobile phone production companies, has taken up the project with the full intention of producing the modular phone, which will be called Ara.

So – how come Motorola can just take this fantastic idea and make a phone? There are a surprising number of people looking at the Project Ara news and thinking ‘that looks just like phonebloks’; that would be because it is. Ara is not a similar idea, it’s the same idea, using the same concept, plans and designer. Yes; Phonbloks’ Dave Hakkens has teamed up with Motorola to product this fantastic device, with one simple goal in mind – to make a phone that will last a lifetime. There are many people who would consider this impossible, but the amazing fact of the matter is that technology is now ready to produce this and Dave Hakkens has made it possible with his simple but revolutionary idea.

The problem with technology at current is that it becomes outdated; new versions are released and when something more suitable for you comes along or your needs increase your old device just doesn’t hack it any more. Five years ago the phone you had was probably one you had owned for three years, at least, it may have been repaired a few times, some bigger memory cards and a new battery perhaps but it had been the singular device on which you had relied for quite some time. Today things are a little different; the average phone lasts 10 months before being replaced. Either because it was damaged (and replacing it was just easier than repairing it) or because something better came along.

With the Ara this wouldn’t be considered as great a problem; first of all Motorola would not be producing the phone itself, but rather the components for it. Cameras, batteries, clocks, storage, connectivity units; everything would be available separately and in multiple variations (such as bigger or smaller units to suit your individual needs). You build the phone yourself to include everything that you want it to and exclude the components that don’t matter to you, you select the components to be the size and capacity you need them to be and you worry only about the factors that actually matter to you individually. Each part, including the screen might I add, can be removed, upgraded and replaced later as new components are released and the technology itself improves, while you maintain the same device and other components.

Essentially this is evolutionary technology; you help it to evolve and change to meet your own needs and in turn the device will grow and adapt while still being the same device. The mass production of individual parts means that finding and purchasing a replacement part need never be a difficult or hugely costly task and is demonstrated as being very simple. Personally, after the disappointments that have come from some of the recent iOS updates, I am looking forward to seeing this highly flexible and adaptable smartphone, which is likely to be seen running Android when it is released though this has not been directly confirmed it has been said that the phone will “do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software”. 

Kate Critchlow has a keen interest in technology, in particular technology news such as Motorola’s Project Ara.