In times when every smartphone user wants a device best suited for his needs, the manufacturing companies are trying their best to cater to these needs. But, Google on other hand has a completely different approach to this. It is in process to release a modular smartphone, which can be customized as per the needs of the users on the go. This idea blooms under the name of ‘Project Ara’.
Earlier in last month, Google released the new MDK (Module Developers Kit) 0.2. In the developers conference, Google announced that the first version of such modular smartphone will be available in Puerto Rico by second half of this year.
And now Project Ara is creating a buzz in India too. Technology giant Toshiba has announced its collaboration with a Gujarat based company, Einfochips. This partnership is intended to provide chips for Google’s revolutionary smartphone project ‘Ara’.
Shardul Kazi, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Toshiba, said that Toshiba will make chips which can be used in modules and in the base plate. These chips developed in partnership will also be verified by Einfochips before launching. On price estimation for such modular smartphones, Toshiba said that the base price for the endoskeleton will be decided by Google but it can be expected that the modules can range from $50 to $5000.
Founder and CEO of Einfochips, Pratul Shrof said that such concept will open up new domains of innovation. Einfochips is set to offer its custom design and engineering services which include platform porting, multimedia integration, application development and performance optimization. The company is likely to launch a startup kit for developers in India in few weeks. This will pull small companies and teams into mainstream to develop modules for Project Ara. Earlier Vestigen, a Slovakia based company, joined Project Ara to develop modules. Check out the concept video giving out their recent developments here.
To those who are unaware about Project Ara, it is a similar concept to the applications running on your smartphones which are developed by different companies and teams around the world. Only change is that this concept is based on hardware front which will come in terms of modules.
