After such a long period of research and development, Project Ara finally saw the dawn of its listing. Today Google has announced that Project Ara mobile phones will be the first public beta in Puerto Rico. The public beta code is Spiral 2. Today, the completion of the prototype we play is very close to the official version, which is the dawn before the rise of modular mobile phones.

Since it is called Spiral 2, Spiral 1 naturally exists, but Spiral 1 is not publicly displayed. On Spiral 2, all modules and the inner skeleton of the phone are fixed with permanent magnets, Paul Elemenko, the head of Project Ara, said that such a design can save space and enable more modules to be placed on the same skeleton. Google also announced that the Spiral 2 has added a 3G module and an RFID module, enabling users to use different antennas on the same baseband. A new pollution detector was released along with it.

However, the biggest change is in the beauty of the appearance. Google first wanted to customize the Ara phone through 3D printing. Later, Google felt that it was too risky to do so, so the customization of the Spiral 2's body was very simple: users chose high-definition pictures, and then put the pictures in high-definition full-color specifications, Printed on the polycarbonate shell of Spiral 2 by thermal sublimation printing.

So the appearance of the mobile phone in the figure above comes from this. At present, Google has developed 11 different types of circular modules. The machine we started playing with has eight modules on the back and two on the front. The transceiver module in the front also integrates the earpiece and distance sensor. The display module has a 720p resolution and integrates the volume button and power button. The back is the camera module Wi Fi and Bluetooth modules, USB interface module, 3G baseband module, processor module from Marvell and the most indispensable battery.

If you are dissatisfied with the above module, all you need to do is to remove the dissatisfied module, buy a new module and install it (which is of course a future thing), for example, want a higher resolution screen? That's all right. Want the front camera and rear camera to have the same quality? That's all right. The purpose of this design is to make a mobile phone have a longer life and lower long-term use cost.

The replacement of all modules is quite simple. One module will come down after being pushed and rubbed, but the module and the skeleton will not be very smooth. So those who are worried about falling down when using the module can be relieved. Each module is super lightweight, and even if they are carrying an additional battery module, they will not take up too much space in the bag, Eremenko said that Google has also made great efforts on the durability of each module to cope with daily shocks and other situations. But then again, the thickness control of the Spiral 2 is not ideal - at least thicker than the current flagship phones.

Finally, Eremenko told us that if the battery module needs to be replaced when the phone is turned on, the battery replacement must be completed within 30 seconds - otherwise, the phone will automatically shut down, Eremenko said that Google is working hard to extend this time to 1~2 minutes when the Ara mobile phone is officially launched. However, the biggest resistance of the Ara mobile phone is the power consumption of communication between modules, because the energy consumption alone accounts for 20% of the total energy consumption of mobile phones.

Of course, Google has not given up its efforts. Maybe it can solve those problems when Ara is officially launched or the next generation public beta camera Spiral 3 meets us. In fact, Google has begun to continue to improve, such as 4G LTE network, better camera module, and a battery that can be used all day long (=_=), but does not know Spiral 3 (if it is still called this name) We don't know when we will be able to meet and when the Ara mobile phone will officially enter the market, but the only thing is that it will not be so soon.

Want to experience Ara modular mobile phone? Better move to Puerto Rico.

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