Project Ara is a project that has become popular because of its unique modular design. Sometimes described as a 'Lego-phone,' the device allows users to do in and out swapping of parts depending on what they need. If the user is not happy with the camera, he can freely swap it out for a much better one. Even the battery can be swapped for a larger one if desired.
People are saying that the idea behind Project Ara is absolutely cool as it has the ability to change the specs of one's smartphone piece by piece. The use-cases for the device are almost infinite.
"Our goal is to drive a more thoughtful, expressive, and open relationship between users, developers, and their phones. To give you the power to decide what your phone does, how it looks, where and what it's made of, how much it costs, and how long you'll keep it," said Paul Eremenko, head of Google's Project Ara in a blogpost.
Project Ara is expected to launch in 2015. It was revealed that the device could feature some health-focused modular attachments. Eremenko demonstrated these attachments at the recently concluded Engadget Expand conference.
One of the attachments is a pulse oximeter prototype which works by measuring oxygen content in the blood. According to Eremenko, devices such as Ara can become a central hub for small medical devices and a repository of one's health data. He added that Project Ara offers a huge opportunity to access crowd sourced data patterns.
"The endo is the structural frame that holds all the modules in place. A module can be anything, from a new application processor to a new display or keyboard, an extra battery, a pulse oximeter - or something not yet thought of," said Eremenko.
As mentioned in the past, Google shall host a Project Ara market place which is akin to the Play Store. This is where all of Project Ara's modules would be found.
Though it's highly unlikely that the device may not take the place of every medical apparatus in the hospital, its swappable modules could be a great concept for consumers particularly those who are having blood oxygen issues.
Eremenko plans to have a consumer pilot launch next year. He says that the announcement of the actual release date will be made by Google at the company's Project Ara developer conference which will be held this coming January.
