Modular Google: One Day with Project Ara

In the hands of Seth Newburg (Seth Newburg) phone. New phone. More precisely - the prototype. Virtually no one at Google has ever seen him. Newburgh and I, Wired correspondent Mat Honan, are sitting in a meeting room at Google’s Mountain View office. Behind Newburg is a photographer who "clicks" a supernova phone. More precisely - the prototype. No one has ever seen anything like it. This is the "Googlephone" of the future. What can I say! This is the future of all phones. Unless, of course, everything goes according to plan.

True, so far they have not all went according to plan. At least at conferences. Newburgh plans to launch a prototype of Project Ara, a modular smartphone from Google. And this is its latest version - Spiral 1. The concept is revolutionary: the phones can be completely made of individual components, which their owners can freely replace. And it's not just about increasing battery life. You can, for example, replace, say, only one camera. Or just a processor. This approach will greatly speed up development. In general, you get phones that are even cheaper, better and more environmentally friendly. And these are the three main points due to which Ara enjoys special attention.

But he has already managed to decry several times. The last two times, Newburgh, the chief engineer of the project, tried to turn the phone on in public, and both expected it ... well, let's call it a bummer. During the first performance, the phone had a broken screen (this led to jokes about modular phones, developed on the basis of replaceable components, but which could not be turned on due to a broken display). The second time, at the Google IO conference, the prototype still loaded, but then it hung. But at least everyone saw the word “Android” on the screen. But it is better to consider the demonstration unsuccessful. Well, at least right after that, the cartoon Duet, drawn by Glenn Kin, was shown, which made the entire hall throw a tear (well, not all, but at least people left the conference discussing Duet). And forget about the phone that did not boot.
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Project Ara prototypes are miniature and medium versions. The cat version, as it were, says that a modular phone can be easily customized (photo: Talia Herman / Wired)

To be honest, this is a really difficult project. Ara is something like a Lego-phone: separate modules, each of which is responsible for some function - they are all inserted into the frame-basis and held in place with the help of electrically-controlled magnets. One is for the battery, the other is for the display. Another one - for the camera, antenna, and something similar to the LED. Another, perhaps, to determine the level of sugar in the blood. Well, yes, but what's wrong with that? Project Ara is somewhat reminiscent of Southern California punk rock from the 1980s - it will be what you want.

“This, of course, is not rocket science,” notes Paul Eremenko, who, before joining Google, was involved in rocket science. And now he is running Project Ara as part of Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP), one of the company's divisions - like Google inside Google. The idea of ​​ATAP is borrowed from DARPA: the department specializes in developing incredibly complex, practically impossible projects, each of which is given no more than two years. Interestingly, Eremenko worked precisely in DARPA, where he was responsible for the work of the Tactical Technology Office division. Among other projects, he oversaw something called System F6, the program "fractionated spacecraft" (fractionated spacecraft). As part of System F6, the functions that one large satellite currently performs are distributed among several smaller modular satellites that fly in close order. Something like, yes? In general, it was something like a space version of the Ara.


Paul Eremenko at one time led the DARPA program to create modular satellites. Now his area of ​​responsibility is Google’s project on creating modular phones (photo: Talia Herman / Wired)

Perhaps these are different levels, but modular telephones, as it turned out, are no less complicated. Project Ara depends on many manufacturers in different parts of the world who create components in parallel and at the same time do not have the opportunity to test them for compatibility with other components. It sounds crazy. Google will have to develop a method by which not individual modules will be tested, but how each of them interacts with other modules.

The only thing that Google will do is a carrying frame, an endoskeleton that will hold onto all other modules. Today we are talking about three different sizes of such a frame - miniature, medium and large. Since all modules are interchangeable, you can assume that in your pocket will be three phones with different dimensions. For example, the smallest is similar in size to the old iPod nano: it is long and thin - its width does not exceed 5 centimeters.

“I don’t understand why the phones are getting bigger,” says Eremenko, rotating the mini-frame in his hands. - Everything around us is getting smaller. I want to play this trend. I want to bring a mini-version to the market. ”

We have to argue: big phones are very popular, more than that - it's just fantastic! But Eremenko replies that “magic” is that you do not have to make a choice: “You, as a user, may have several such frames - you can take a mini-option with you, put tight jeans in your pocket and go to the club . A great option is useful to you in the office to work with the mail. "


In the hands of Eremenko, the Project Ara endoskeleton will hold all modules (photo: Talia Herman / Wired)


On the table are early prototypes of Spiral 0 (photo: Talia Herman / Wired)


Individual modules are easily and effortlessly removed (photo: Talia Herman / Wired)

Great idea, just great. Just imagine: first take your phone with you when you go to have fun, and the next morning you go to work where you use it for urine analysis. What time we live!

So, Google will make a common framework, as well as create a software package that will help developers overcome compatibility issues. The module development kit (MDK, module development kit) will allow manufacturers to test and prototype their components completely in a software environment, avoiding the need to test them with all possible combinations of components. The idea is that if you use MDK, whatever you create will work in the assembly. And all you have to do is connect your component to the others on the frame.

In fact, this idea, of course, is not new. “The principle of plug-and-play was implemented on many other platforms, and not only mobile ones,” recalls Yeremenko. There are many examples of using common data or power lines, which give users the ability to connect additional components. For example, you can purchase any peripherals and connect it to a computer using a USB port - and everything will work fine. Inside the modern car has its own bus network exchange, which allows the various electronic components to interact with each other. And even in airplanes this principle is used. But modern phones are something else: almost everything, except for batteries and SIM-cards, is tightly connected to one another. “Mobile phones are almost the only thing that does not have a single tire,” says Eremenko. “This is a rudiment that we're trying to get rid of.”


Project Ara Project Chief Engineer Seth Newburgh and the black box with the Spiral 1 prototype (photo: Talia Herman / Wired)

They will have to get rid of this rudiment very quickly - after all, one of the main requirements of ATAP is a two-year restriction. The paths of the IT market and Project Ara should cross no later than next spring.

In order to make the gears go round, Google has scheduled a second series of conferences for developers Project Ara, which this time will resemble an international tour. On January 14, 2015, a conference will be held in Mountain View, and a week later, on January 21, in Singapore. In addition, teleconference will work with New York, Buenos Aires, London, Bangalore, Tokyo, Taipei and Shanghai, where developers can gather at Google offices and participate in conferences remotely.

The reason for such a global involvement - unlike the one that took place only in Silicon Valley in April of this year - is that Google understands that it will have to bring its idea to the whole world. And, above all, not 6 billion people to whom she wants to sell one of these phones, but developers who can offer these very billions completely different reasons for buying. Many of the developers live in different parts of the world. In general, Google is trying to plant the whole world on its common bus.

At the next conferences a new prototype will be shown - the long-awaited Spiral 2, inside of which there will be a specially created chipset, and not a chipset-emulator, as in the first device. Electrically controlled magnetic connections will be smoother - the process will look more natural and inconspicuous. Google has a partner in charge of design and production - the Taiwanese company Quanta. All the early prototypes - like the one that lies before us - were made by Newburgh and Ara Knian (Ara Knaian - the project got its name in his honor) in their Boston laboratory.

And then there is hope. The real hope is that Ara will attract completely new developers who have never worked with mobile platforms before. It will also require the participation of large manufacturers, which, for example, can make photomodules perfectly. And it is also planned to pull up manufacturers who have not previously worked with mobile components - due to large volumes and low profits. But the real potential lies in startups.

“I met with one startup who came up with his own microfluidic sensor,” says Eremenko. - This sensor can analyze any fluids - blood, water, saliva, urine, etc. But even if a company makes great microfluidic sensors, it is unlikely to be as good in other areas aside from — for example, industrial design or an operating system that tells people in real time about the results of the analyzes. Ara solves all these problems, among which there is one important one - sales channels. ”

I remind you: if everything goes according to plan. Eremenko has not forgotten that the phone does not turn on. Neuburg has not forgotten either. Yes, and I, too - at first he did not join in April, then in June. Interesting: and now he will earn?


The Spiral 1 prototype is loading - the lock screen ... (photo: Talia Herman / Wired)


... and this is how the screen with Android application icons looks (photo: Talia Herman / Wired)

Without any fanfare, Newburg connects the prototype to a power source. Pressing the button ... The screen comes to life, finally the familiar Android desktop with rows of icons appears. The engineer touches one of them and launches a video with a Stephen Colbert sketch. Then switches to an application that controls the operation of electrically operated magnets. Its interface is similar to the drawing of the device itself, in which each of the modules is highlighted. Newberg touches one of the images - it corresponds to the oximeter connected to the prototype, which, in essence, is a LED - and this image goes out on the screen. He removes this module from the phone, sends it to me and replaces it with another - the phone continues to work all this time. I hold a miniature module in my hand. And I feel awe ...

PS In preparing the material used the article A Day With Project Ara, Google's Crazy Modular Phone

PPS Do not forget, the future is in our hands !