Google just made the Module Development Kit (MDK) version 0.10 of its project Ara available to developers in anticipation of the first conference for Ara developers being held on April 15 and 16 in Mountain View, California.

This is a preliminary version, but it will allow Google to get feedback from the community, to better prepare the project for its launch, which should take place at the end of the year. A forum and mailing list have also been established.

The project has taken another step forward by providing the developers with guidelines to create a mobile device with unique features. First, Google indicates that there will be three different sizes for Ara smartphones (small, medium and large) to which you must adhere not only to particular screen dimensions, but also fit the remaining components; each format will therefore be characterized by a basic endoskeleton therefore able to accommodate the elements necessary to power the device.

After choosing the size of the Ara phone, the manufacturer must also comply with the rules imposed by Google for the other core modules such as display, Wi-Fi, speakers, camera and battery. The 81 page long document also expresses the rules for connectors, definitions for each part of an Ara mobile, geometric lines, module assembly, and more.

Innovation is good for business

This project is under the supervision of the ATAP team (Advanced Technology and Projects), which was born in collaboration with Google and Motorola. The same team is responsible for project Tango, a smartphone equipped with sensors able to scan and capture its 3D environment. Throughout 2014, the Project Ara team will be working on a series of alpha and beta MDK releases.

The concept, which really came to life when ATAP team was originally launched by a small team named Phonebloks. It aims to revolutionize the mobile phone making highly customizable devices, thanks to a combination of different physical modules. The phone will adapt to the customs of each and have a duration of tenfold life.

The MDK defines the Ara platform for module developers and provides reference implementations for various design features. The Ara platform consists of an on-device packet-switched data network based on the MIPI UniPro protocol stack, a flexible power bus, and an elegant industrial design that mechanically unites the modules with an endoskeleton.

In the MDK, there’s even talk of a Pulse Oximeter Module as well as a Thermal Imager Module. As you can see, the possibilities are pretty much endless with an Ara device. The kit includes guidelines for for things such as super-strong magnets that can be turned on and off keep the modules in place, ensuring it won’t fall apart if it slips out of your hand.

Google has some plans for the future flexibility of the Ara mobile and in this sense provides an example for battery modules. “Users of a telephone Ara will be able to power the device with one or more batteries; will be able to change a battery with a new one, without turning off the phone; will be able to insert one or more batteries into their phone by one or more charging devices.”

For Google, it is important that users are able to make choices about how their smartphone is put together. The company asserts that the success of Ara will be carried out by a rich, vibrant and diverse ecosystem of modules from a myriad of developers.

Project Ara is supported by a large number of companies that develop special modules such as an infrared camera module, a thermal imaging camera module and modules to measure oxygen in the blood. The Google project Ara currently belongs to the interesting developments in mobile communications.

The modular design could lead to lasting changes in cell phones of the future when it comes to the design of mobile devices. However, significant changes in the user experience are possible through modular models, since each mobile phone can be built for the individual consumer and thus put together according to their current requirements.

In addition, the approach could herald a revolution in the smartphone industry–which is based primarily on devices with pre-built equipment sold without options, forcing consumers to choose a different device altogether for a different configuration.

[Top image credit, Motorola Mobility LLC, 2013 from The Official Motorola Blog, http://motorola-blog.blogspot.com/2013/10/goodbye-sticky-hello-ara.html]