

​

Last year we’ve heard about Google Inc. is working on modular phone kits inspired from “Phonbloks” named “Project Ara”. Google is developing this modular phone with their Motorola mobility division. After the deal of Motorola with Lenovo, it was clear that Project Ara will remain under Google only. This Project Ara is about developing modular phones that will allow user to build their own mobile device with the use of snap-together parts. For example, if user wants a good camera they will be able to change the existing one to new camera module just by attaching new camera part to the device.The good news is that this developer conference will be held on April 15-16 and there will be a live web-stream with a Q&A session. But the bad news is that limited number of participants can attend this conference in-person at the Computer History Museum, Mountain view, California and if you want to attend this conference, you will have to register on conference’s webpage and will have to pay $100 and if you are a student, it will cost you just $25. The Ara Module development kit is available free to all developers.The main purpose of this dev conference is to introduce the Ara module development kit (MDK), that will guide hardware makers to design their own modules for this modular phone. This dev conference will consist of a detailed walk-through of existing and planned features of Ara platform. The MDK will be an Alpha release. As stated on Project Ara’s official website this MDK relies on a prototype implementation of Ara on-device network using the MIPI Alliance’s Unipro protocol implemented on FPGA(field programmable gate array) and running on a LVDS(low-voltage differential signalling) physical layer. And further version will run on capacitive M-PHY physical layer using more efficient and higher performance ASIC(application specific integrated circuit) implementation of Unipro.The dev conference will also consist of a prize challenge for module developers. According to the website complete agenda will be out in few weeks.Source: Project Ara