Project Ara is dead.
Just four months after Google officially announced that it would work on a developer sample for the rest of the year and a commercial sample in 2017, the program was buried. Was anyone really surprised? From the very birth of the idea, everything was against it.
The idea itself was great. We're not talking about people claiming to be lugging around different cameras, or different speakers, or whatever, because we end up with another unnecessary thing in the drawer. But Google's example of an insulin meter that can be plugged in when a blood test is required is just fine. Surely people who are not deprived of intelligence have other options for what benefit can be derived from a modular device. Actually, this is how great things are born – from a big idea to small details. But back to reality.
Phones and other small electronics that use embedded hardware are very special devices in terms of the software they run on. When writing software, the code is necessarily optimized for a very specific set of components. You have a limited amount of memory and energy, and you absolutely must make the most of both. And if you write software so that it supports more than a specific component with a specific function, your task becomes much more complicated. Yes, it’s real, and Google might have a serious plan to make it work. However, Google is not the only company involved in this business.
Android can be an open platform, but open parts cannot be used to write a working operating system. Manufacturers of a processor, or camera, or memory controller will need software written for a specific model. And without these files, your phone simply won't work. The modular phone will need software support not only from Google, but also from the companies that manufacture each individual piece. Google will then have to convince these companies to allow the software to be distributed as downloadable packages. And we've already seen how one company can stump the whole process if the idea is not to their liking – when Qualcomm delayed the necessary software to update the Nexus 7 2013 to Lollipop. Things can get unpleasant. Quite decent people can quit their jobs in horror.
Now let's extend this situation to the number of companies making components compatible with one of the 6 slots in the Ara chassis. And suddenly, unoptimized software that takes up too much space will no longer seem like such a big problem.
We do not know why the project was hacked, and no one says that for the above reason. But, nevertheless, this is a big stumbling block that even Google is unlikely to step over. And the industry had a similar feeling, and one could even pick up a hint of doubt about the future of the project at Google I / O 2016 when the news about Project Ara's prospects emerged.
And other companies continue to work on modular smartphones. And one day one of them will succeed in this and create a machine that we want to buy.
