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Project Ara has a Lion King moment at Google IO

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Project Ara-tested.com

We didn’t know what to expect from the Project Ara team at the ATAP Google IO session. Would we finally get news on a widespread launch? New modules to show off? Perhaps just a quick update on their progress?

Well, we didn’t get any of that, unfortunately. What we did get was a majestic moment of pride from one of the project leads holding the a working Project Ara prototype up like the infamous scene straight out of Lion King.

project-ara-mufasa-moment-phandroid

Seriously, dude, way to be proud!

That wasn’t all that was noteworthy, though. We do get our first look at hot-swappable Ara modules, though, with the team attaching a camera module to the frame of the phone while it’s powered on and having it seamlessly recognized and functional. They then proceeded to take “the world’s first Ara photo in public” with the audience.

We’re also told that Ara prototypes are now running the latest version of Android, though we’re not sure if they’re referring to Lollipop or the new Android M developer preview. Cool stuff, that, but we’re honestly yearning for any bit of word regarding when we’ll be able to hold one for ourselves. Stay tuned.

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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39 Comments

  1. so far IO has been a big yawn.

    1. so ur not impressed with anything?

      1. Fucking McKayla, am I right?

        1. wtf is this?

          1. mckaylaisnotimpressed.tumblr.com

          2. lol! i had no idea what u were talkin bout

      2. Show me a final product. Audio profiles, Dark themes on Android M, Cardboard box for phone touring for education, easter egg meh, and a modular phone we’ve been hearing about and seen prototypes of for years still not ready….c’mon. Cool stuff but nothing ground shattering. Hell lollipop is barely on any phones still and here we are talking about android M. One line of phones will get M, the nexus line. Lucky if the flagships have em within 6 months. Yea the wearable idea is cool but again, show me a finished product until then its just pie in the sky.

        1. I’m right there with you man. It’s a yawnfest.

        2. Very well said. Google keeps pushing new features, but haven’t fixed the core problems with Android.

          I/O hasn’t been magical since Ice Cream Sandwich. Compare this with an Apple event…no comparison.

        3. Things are slowing down from what it seems. I feel like a huge breakthrough is going to happen. I think in the late 1800’s they were talking about closing the patent office because supposedly we had everything. That may have been a slow growing moment like now.

          I think a major breakthrough is going to happen really soon. Actually, I believe a lot of advancements are waiting for a better energy source. Batteries need to evolve.

          1. The AGI revolution is near.

      3. David, you’re more shredded than a julienne salad. Any tips?

        https://youtu.be/FnEINZx12Us?t=5s

        1. lol! thanks, just find what ur body responds to and go hard. eating right is the hard part.

    2. Seriously? There’s some really futuristic stuff coming down the pipe that was announced this week.

    3. Yeah my biggest dissapointment with I/O was a couple weeks ago I read on phandroid they were hinting at a fitness device that would ” blow everybody’s socks off ” and I was hoping we would see that yesterday. Last years was so much better IMO.

  2. There is supposed to be something “infamous” about the scene from Lion King? lol

    1. “Notorious” may have been a better word. There’s a meaning that says “known for something particular”.

      1. Notorious can be a synonym for infamous, and is most often used in a negative sense.

        Maybe a better word would have been: “famous”

    2. What does that mean? “In-famous”?

      In-famous is when you’re more than famous.

      This man El Guapo is not just famous, he’s in-famous.

      1. Your lamp-shady tactics aren’t going to work on me, buddy!

  3. I am kinda disappointed by the lack of new info about project ara. To be honest it was the only thing that I was looking forward to cause I hope to replace my nexus 5 for a modular phone

  4. A new wind is coming… I can feel it. Things aren’t advancing so much anymore. That means they’re waiting of a particular technology to evolve. I think once we get a new smaller energy source things will start becoming extraordinary again. Batteries need to evolve.

    1. Things aren’t advancing much anymore? HAHAHAHA. The pace is still increasing exponentially overall.

      1. Why are you laughing? He is talking about the device technology. It actually has leveled off. The difference between my two year old N5 is not much different than the Samsung S6. And he has another point, battery technology is the next big thing. Yes overall technology advancement is exponential but the personal device industry has leveled off. Now it is about who has the best gimmick not best technology. This blog is about that industry.

        1. he’s laughing because it’s simply not true…what’s true is that OEMs are slow walking tech not that tech has slowed down

          1. They are slow walking tech because device tech has slowed down. The OEMs need to be just below the front of high tech. They need room to have their minor upgrades. While in the past the high tech front moved forward fast so they needed to keep up.

          2. you obviously don’t understand the term “slow-walking”…look it up…someone can’t be slow walking something that doesn’t exist. erego, if someone is slow-walking technology the technology exists. thanks for playing.

            device tech has NOT slowed down…that is a FACT. i’m not arguing that with you. go learn about what’s going on in the world of technology.

          3. I am very aware of what slow walking means. Re-read what I am saying. You have the tech front…. the front is the edge of new tech advancements. In order for corporate greed to take heed, it needs to slow walk the tech just behind the tech front in order to have buffer to release upgrades to pull in the buyers. These upgrades have slowed down. A step forward in CPU speed, and higher def screen…. these upgrades are linear not exponential. So since my N5 is not that much better then the Samsung S6 two years later it is obvious that the slow walking is at the pace of the device tech front. Otherwise there is no reason to slow walk if device tech is advancing exponentially just like the years after the first iPhone came out. So device tech HAS slowed down, exponentially to linearly. The FACT is you do not understand me.

        2. 100% agree. There’s honestly no compelling reason to upgrade a Nexus 5 to an S6. Completely unlike the difference between a G1 and a Nexus S.

          CPUs have hit a saturation point, where we’re now seeing marginal improvements in performance and battery life. Most of the improvements now are coming in the form of software algorithms and functionality, which the Nexus 5 can handle just as well as the S6, especially when those algorithms typically run in the cloud.

          The biggest reason to upgrade the Nexus 5 to a new Nexus this year might just be to get a USB-C connector — which really isn’t that compelling of a reason.

          1. My biggest reason to go from the Nexus 5 to the Nexus device that will probably be released late this year would be to get a device with better battery life.

    2. I can feel a new wind coming too. It’s the wind that escapes from my behind on a regular basis and it’s always new.

  5. So glad I went ahead and got the Yota. I was waiting for Ara, but it’s obviously not ready anytime soon.

    1. Is it as cool as I imagine? Because I imagine it’s pretty cool!

      1. Well I did it through Indiegogo because I need that band 12 on T-Mobile. They already charged me for it, but I won’t get it till September. So I’ll let you know then.

  6. I’m surprise at people wondering why google i/o didn’t have product announcements. They should have known next to nothing hardware wise was going to be announced. Its been that way for the last 2 google I/O. If google hinted at it any harder you would be wearing a t-shirt that says they ain’t announcing new hardware so stop drooling with anticipation. They realized that it was fast losing its stated purpose of being an event for devs and replaced with people falling over themselves trying to get a ticket to the show in hopes of a bag full of new hardware worth thousands and spend all day with one tablet announcement after another. No you’re not going to see nexus announcements or new watches or self driving car models. Those things happen throughout the year. Leave this event to the developers. Thats its stated purpose.

    1. They announced the GoPro 360 camera module and the new Cardboard for what it’s worth

    2. The point of the event was to show that there focusing back on their core revenue, the web and advertising. They can’t afford to ignore the increasing threats of mobile apps and social media competitors anymore like they used to.

      Hardware can only go so far, especially since they’re still newbies in this category.

    3. I/O is a developer conference. It’s not meant to be like an Apple Product Launch.

  7. If i wanted a phone made out of lego pieces i go to lego land and build one myself and show Google how its done! ?

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