A new phone, currently known as Project Ara, is set to release in Puerto Rico and is set on changing the way we use, replace, and see smart phones in the near future.
The main selling point of the new project is to create a smartphone that is completely modular. This means that users can take out, put in, or replace parts of the phone, like the camera, screen, or battery, and substitute them with many different models to their liking. Think of how one can replace a foggy headlight or cracked windshield on a car, Project Ara shares the same idea but with phones. This allows massive phone customization and can deplete the amount of discarded phones and electronic waste per year.
For instance, say that you have dropped your phone and the screen cracked from side to side, making a considerable part of the screen unusable. Now, you would have to send your phone off to a factory or a professional screen replacer and spend about $150-$200 getting it replaced. With Project Ara, not only could you just buy a new screen for a less expensive amount, but you could quickly replace it by simply sliding out the old screen and sliding in the new one. This works with all of the components, making it cheaper to own and maintain a phone.
The phone is able to do this by utilizing “Bloks,” which are small back-plates that slide into the phone and can be used when added. Bloks can be customized to be any color and have any design on them. Thanks to the large number of third-party developers, many different blocks with many different uses can be created to create more and more uses for one phone. In an almost short amount of time, a phone can be used as an infrared camera, as a full-fledged gaming console on the go, or even as a thermometer.
This new phone, which is still currently in development, is set to be first released in Puerto Rico. The reasoning behind this falls upon the fact that 77% of Puerto Rico gets the majority of entertainment or information from cell phones. Motorola, the company making the phone, chose Puerto Rico for this reason and doesn’t want to release it to the United States and the rest of the world unless it proves popular there first.
So if you want a modular phone, wait until 2016, which is when Motorola is set to release Project Ara in the U.S. or move to Puerto Rico. I heard it’s nice there during the winter.