Google's Project Ara is entering another phase, as development boards are almost ready to be delivered. Google has already informed interested developers that they can now request for development boards and submit their applications.
The development boards will help facilitate the development of Ara modules. The Module Developers Kit or MDK defined these dev boards to help the development and prototyping of the modules.
Google cannot ship the development boards to some countries though: Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Iran. The company is also limiting the applicants to only one per organization. Google prefers those with experience on embedded boards and those who are technical leads within a company.
Google will be reviewing each application by developers. The company said requests would be prioritized based on the experience of the applicant. It will also base its decisions on the strength of the developer's plans for the module.
Three dev boards will be available as described by the Project Ara team:
1. An application processor (AP) board with a strawman TI OMAP 4460 AP and modified Linaro Android
2. UniPro switch board representative of the network switching functionality of the Ara endoskeleton
3. General purpose endpoint board for developer-unique functionality that supports the tunneling of legacy DSI, I2C, I2S, SDIO, and GPIO protocols over UniPro
Google also plans to release a second version of the development hardware (v0.20 MD) after this first release of the v0.10 MDK dev boards. No specific date yet but sometime during the Fall season.
Applications will be reviewed in stages according to the Project Ara team. The present review period will end on July 17. Another period will start the next day, July 18, which will end on the 17th of August 2014.
Once the module concept is approved, a developer can expect to receive the dev boards as early as this July. Quantities of the development hardware will be limited so Google will carefully select the developers who have the best concepts.
Google has also provided the necessary information and documentation for the development boards at projectara.com/dev-boards/.
Google Project Ara hopes to make awesome modular smartphones. The modular phones would also cost $50 if Google gets its way; after all, the company has kept Motorola's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) unit. The Project Ara never went out of circulation despite the acquisition of Motorola by Lenovo.
The Project Ara recently went on beta stage but chief designer Dan Makoski left Google. That's one surprising news but the Project Ara goes on and there are about 100 beta testers already enjoying their devices. The beta testers are called Ara Scouts. There are only a hundred of them as opposed to the 90,000 people who signed up last year.
Looks like the Project Ara is almost set. Only a few months and some more tweaks from module developers and Google will be ready to start a new tech revolution.
