Project Ara – Google's modular phone project • Hacker News Board

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#21

Post by josefresco » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:32 PM UTC

sdfx wrote: post #8

I think John Gruber over at Daring Fireball said it best: "I remain highly skeptical that a modular design can compete in a product category where size, weight, and battery life are at such a premium. Even if they can bring something to market, why would any normal person be interested in a phone like this?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/04/15/project-ara

Size matters? My Android friends have huge phones (and cases) - Clearly they don't mind a phone being big and if the phone had cheap replaceable parts, that giant "life proof" case wouldn't be needed.

Weight matters? I have never heard "I wish my phone was lighter" from anyone, anywhere. In fact I've heard from several who think a heavier phone means it's "better made".

Battery life - Again my Android friends (and a few 5c friends) suffer from poor battery life - How would a phone where you could easily swap for a new/better battery be inferior?

Gruber should remind himself of the first generation of pretty much any tech product. Bulky, ugly, and clumsy could describe a lot of projects that push technology to it's limits.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#22

Post by jan_g » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:33 PM UTC

sdfx wrote: post #8

I think John Gruber over at Daring Fireball said it best: "I remain highly skeptical that a modular design can compete in a product category where size, weight, and battery life are at such a premium. Even if they can bring something to market, why would any normal person be interested in a phone like this?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/04/15/project-ara

I tend to agree with Gruber on this one. Modular phone might be perfect for me (will see when and if it gets released), but I am not sure it can attract the masses as well as polished, high-end phones from Apple, Samsung, Nokia, etc. Size, weight and appearance do matter a lot to average customer.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#23

Post by andosa » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:35 PM UTC

higherpurpose wrote: post #9

If you read Clayton Christensen's Innovator's Solution [1] book (sequel to Innovator's Dilemma), you'll see him talk about "integration" and "disintegration" (basically the modularization of a product or market). So in the early days of a new market/category of product, the products are highly integrated, for several reasons. One is that the market is still new, so there isn't much of an "ecosystem" to begin with. An…

> So in the early days of a new market/category of product, the products are highly integrated

Not sure about this one, seems like the opposite to me. Twenty years ago, PC's were very modular, and it was very common to add/upgrade a sound card, memory, cpu, video card etc. Fast forward to now, and for the most common computing devices (think tablets and smartphones), there is almost zero modularity or upgradability. Even with current PC's (i.e. mostly laptops), it's increasingly limited.

The same trend is apparent in other similar technology. For example with analog TV, people could add a PAL block if their TV was NTSC or SECAM. Upgrading your car used to be significantly easier etc.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#24

Post by josefresco » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:36 PM UTC

CHY872 wrote: post #14

Yeah this is probably just one of Google's projects where they try and make a device that totally uses the concept, realise that most of it's pretty bad and redo it with a device that uses it for the single part that worked. The cynic in me says 'replaceable battery' but I'd like to see replaceable SOC.

Screen and battery are the two most common complaints/issues with current phones. Simply allowing consumers to buy and swap these two parts would go a long way.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#25

Post by Zak » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:37 PM UTC

I find this interesting in contrast to Nexus devices. Two or three years ago, most Android phones had SD cards and removable batteries. These features have been conspicuously absent from recent Nexus phones in spite of their appeal to the power-user and developer markets who are among the most likely to want such features.

I hope it gets some traction. I'm seeing a lot of sameness in high-spec Android phones, and something like this might help manufacturers learn what kinds of variations might sell without having to take the risk of mass-producing and marketing a new model.

P.S. - if any manufacturers are reading this, I want a high-spec Android phone the size of an iPhone. My Nexus 5 is somewhat uncomfortable in my pocket and too hard to use one-handed due to its size.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#26

Post by jan_g » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:42 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #21

sdfx wrote: post #8

I think John Gruber over at Daring Fireball said it best: "I remain highly skeptical that a modular design can compete in a product category where size, weight, and battery life are at such a premium. Even if they can bring something to market, why would any normal person be interested in a phone like this?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/04/15/project-ara

Size matters? My Android friends have huge phones (and cases) - Clearly they don't mind a phone being big and if the phone had cheap replaceable parts, that giant "life proof" case wouldn't be needed. Weight matters? I have never heard "I wish my phone was lighter" from anyone, anywhere. In fact I've heard from several who think a heavier phone means it's "better made". Battery life - Again my Android friends (and a…

It does matter when comparing with alternatives. Modular phone with comparable specs to other phones (screen size, cpu, camera, etc) would probably be bigger, thicker, heavier and uglier. In other words, even when a customer is buying a big 5"+ phone, then I think he/she will probably not choose the modular one.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#27

Post by psbp » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:47 PM UTC

Zak wrote: post #25

I find this interesting in contrast to Nexus devices. Two or three years ago, most Android phones had SD cards and removable batteries. These features have been conspicuously absent from recent Nexus phones in spite of their appeal to the power-user and developer markets who are among the most likely to want such features. I hope it gets some traction. I'm seeing a lot of sameness in high-spec Android phones, and som…

Moto X.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#28

Post by jeez444 » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:47 PM UTC

sdfx wrote: post #8

I think John Gruber over at Daring Fireball said it best: "I remain highly skeptical that a modular design can compete in a product category where size, weight, and battery life are at such a premium. Even if they can bring something to market, why would any normal person be interested in a phone like this?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/04/15/project-ara

Agreed. This is yet another product that will appeal to techies and first adopters only.

For instance, people could -- in theory -- build their own computers with a bunch of modular components, but instead a lot of them buy a Mac or some other variation of all-in-one solution.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#29

Post by zheshishei » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:51 PM UTC

skywhopper wrote: post #18

higherpurpose wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He doesn't see any advantage to a modular phone? Then I don't think he's looking hard enough. I stand by my belief that Gruber has backed himself into a corner where he now needs to defend anything Apple does, and attack just about anything the competition does that is at least seen by others as a threat to Apple, if not by him.

You've misread his statement. He sees the benefit, but points out that the tradeoffs will be the main areas of competition among smartphones: size, weight, battery life. All three will be worse in a modular phone. You'll also get less for your money overall. Not to mention that having to choose among components just adds an additional layer of option stress that most consumers don't want. Sure, there's a market for a…

>Not to mention that having to choose among components just adds an additional layer of option stress that most consumers don't want.

I think consumers actually like a little choice in their products now. I mean, take a look at the apple laptop website.

Also, I could imagine vendors offering different phone presets (e.g. battery life, photo-taking, media consumption) and then letting the customer further customize it if they want.

Re: Project Ara – Google's modular phone project

#30

Post by phaer » Wed, Apr 16, 2014, 12:52 PM UTC

sdfx wrote: post #8

I think John Gruber over at Daring Fireball said it best: "I remain highly skeptical that a modular design can compete in a product category where size, weight, and battery life are at such a premium. Even if they can bring something to market, why would any normal person be interested in a phone like this?" http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/04/15/project-ara

Well, it has some other benefits which might outweigh those points. Beside the added flexibility in general, ecological benefits might be one of those because you can avoid highly toxic and expensive-to-recycle waste if you can replace parts of your phone and escape the "I need to replace my phone every two years because one small part is now outdated or broken"-cycle.