Project Ara shows signs of life, pilot program headed some place new
If this year’s current Android devices left you feeling a bit underwhelmed, you’re not the only one. While these newcomers do improve on older devices in a few select areas (while sometimes neglecting others), some of last year’s Androids are still going strong for many of you, fully capable of taking you another 6 or 9 months before feeling the itch to upgrade.
For others, your current phone might only be lacking in a few areas, but nothing big enough to warrant purchasing an entirely new device. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could update each hardware spec on your phone individually, without throwing out the baby with the bathwater? That’s exactly the idea behind Project Ara.
It was definitely one of the more interesting projects coming out of Google, one that rekindled our excitement about the future of mobile. What was odd was Project Ara sort of fell off the map. The last we heard from them, there were showing us was a working Ara prototype on stage at Google I/O complete with a hot swappable — functioning — camera module. After that.. nothing.
But, in the last 24 hours, Project Ara’s Twitter account once again began showing signs of life. Today, amidst the Galaxy Note/S6 Edge Plus mayhem, they announced that they have been busy “making stuff” while teasing that their market pilot — which was originally supposed to launch in Puerto Rico — could be re-routing to someplace new. Unfortunately, they weren’t ready to reveal where Project Ara would be headed next, only that they would have more to reveal next week.
Before they left, Project Ara reminded us that they’re not going anywhere, merely “recalculating.” Sounds like they’ve got their hands full. Stay tuned for more next week.