With smartphones such an integral part of our day-to-day lives, people are constantly on the look out for whatever seems to be the next big thing in the industry. Currently, Google seems to think that they have created what will gradually become the future of smartphones. It’s called Project Ara; a custom phone that allows users to take apart or add and particular features they desire. The logic behind this being that if desire something such as a more powerful camera or have broken speakers, you can replace just those individual pieces instead of having to pay hundreds of dollars on purchasing the latest model of their phone. Of course the basic components of the phone such as the processor will be standard with each phone, meaning that this will not be like the “build it yourself” computers that tech lovers are used to dealing with.
However, while the initial roll-out for the Ara will only really feature options for multiple speakers, cameras, and batteries, Google hopes that it will be a jumping off point for third party companies to create their own additions. For example, certain medical features could be added to the phone, such as a glucometer for diabetics. Those at google state that part of the problem with phone technology is that, ultimately, you are creating a product meant to be marketed toward a mass population of people. Certain features are simply too high of a risk because they do not appeal to the market in a broad sense. Tech engineers can now get more creative in the the kind of features that are possible on a smartphone.
For now, Google is focused on getting everything squared away for a release sometime next year. There is no word yet as to how much the individual modules will cost but the company does say that the initial phone will be roughly the same price as the competition as well as be up to par in terms of performance. Yet, the success of this new breed of smartphone is still very much uncertain. While tech lovers may enjoy customizing their own personal pieces of technology, the general public generally tends to move toward a more straight forward option. The one thing that could come back to bite Google on their venture is if customers simply find the idea of a custom smartphone to be too confusing with too many different options.
