Project Ara is getting ready to see the light of day, and it will be an incredibly short wait for Android enthusiasts.
Would you rather build a tower PC than settle for a much pricier, restrictive laptop? Or maybe build your own smartphone?
Imagine having a smartphone that is customizable to a modular level as opposed to choosing one which is only an almost-perfect-fit for you. Appealing, right?
Project Ara was put together with this mentality in check. They began working on the project with rockchip AP modules. Recently, Google announced that Marvell’s 64- bit PXA1928 chip and NVIDIA’s powerful Tegra K1 will be thrown in as alternative options for the processor.
Furthermore, Google has made more announcements with respect to the Spiral 2 prototypes, which are claimed to look beautiful with their custom module shells.
The Spiral 2 prototypes have first gen UniPro switch and bridge ASICs from Toshiba implemented. The Project Ara team has expressed their excitement about the AP module “successfully connecting to the display over the UniPro network and through the switch.” Although, it is noted that there are more improvements to be made on the firmware.
The Spiral 2 prototypes are set to be showcased at the Developers Conference in January.
Moving quickly, there has already been talk of the Spiral 3 which they report to include Toshiba-built second gen of UniPro switch and bridge ASICs. These allow for contactless M-PHY data transfer capable of up to 3Gbps data transfer between mobile phone components (camera, display, data storage, radio interface, etc). Another feature is inductive AC-coupling for wireless charging.
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