Build your own smartphone, courtesy Google's Project Ara

New Delhi: Google is planning a "modular" smartphone that allows consumers to configure it with different features and build their own perfect smartphone. The product, which will bring a significant shift in the smartphne landscape, would go on sale in 2015. According to Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division, a device like Ara will empower a smartphone buyer to make his own choice. Buying a smartphone often means a gamble – a matter of sacrificing some features in favor of others. The company believes with Ara, consumers can decide exactly what they want in their phone. In essence, it sounds like Google's hoping to "disrupt" the traditional phone makers like Samsung, HTC and LG.Project Ara consists of a metal endoskeleton, which is essentially the spine of the phone, and slots for replaceable components known as modules, which look like tiles. Each module would perform a particular task. These swappable modules give users the power to create a phone that works exactly how they want. Users can add modules such as processor, RAM, WiFi, power jack, baseband, display, battery, and plenty of other features such as camera, speakers and storage space. Each module will connect to the other working parts through capacitive interconnects, which are essentially wireless pads that are smaller than standard pins. The modules are held together by electropermanent magnets and act as a toggle switch, thus allowing a user to easily turn that element on and off. Cameras, antennas, batteries, processors, and anything that can be fit into a module shell will be available. The shells of those modules can be 3D printed to a user's specified design."We want it to be like an app store," said Kaigham Gabriel, deputy director of Google's Advanced Technology and Projects Group, which developed the concept for the phone. "You may want a blood-sugar monitor and a cigarette lighter on your phone. Why should you not have that?"The project Ara could be launched in different sizes, ranging from a smaller six-module option to a large-screened model with more modules. The medium “Ara” prototype is inline with an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S5. To build a large ecosystem of hardware modules the company is betting big on creativity of thousands of developer. And if everything goes well, then an entry-level phone with basic functions would cost just $50 (Rs 3000) to make.In addition, the company is also looking to offer an online marketplace where consumers can buy additional modules, depending on what they want their phone to do.Regarding the software, currently Android doesn't support a modular system, but the operating system is being updated to support it, with an expected release date of early 2015.Analysts believe the Project Ara would make it easy for smartphone users to upgrade their gadgets more cheaply and more often, rather than replacing the entire device every 18 months.The major advantage of an Ara smartphone is that when a new processor or high-megapixel camera is introduced, it'll be available as a module for Ara owners to purchase.Certainly, Google is betting on a future where functions are what you update, not phones.