Google’s Project Ara Disappoints Phonebloks Creator

Google's Project Ara is not exactly the type of revolutionary phone as originally thought. The bold statement comes from Phoneblok's creator Dave Hakkens.

His revelation was featured in his recent blog post where he describes Ara falls short of becoming a modular phone. He mentioned that he had imagined Ara differently.  According to Hakkens, the skeletal framework of Ara is equipped with features of a regular phone. It has built in antennas, battery, CPU, and display.  There are also six modules on the rear side of the phone which enable it to function as a camera, scanner, etc.

The weakness of the 'modular' phone, according to Hakken, it that it would still require the owner to replace the whole phone if it gets broken or obsolete. And just like a typical phone, it could possibly slow down after just a couple of years.

The tech expert also added that Project Ara seems to be just a continuation of what another tech giant, LG, has done to innovate its G5 model. The parts and the definition are modular.  However, in spirit, it is not.  Hakken's original idea concept of Ara is that it was created to act as modular shell from which the device is created.

Hakken also emphasized that the failure of Project to truly deliver is a testament to how tech giants are more focused on competing when they should be collaborating.  Companies are keen on creating their own version of a modular phone - which produces a number of modular phones that are not compatible with each other.

One of the highlights of his blog post places a chief focus on the need for companies to collaborate and create an open standard that is owned by one industry.  For Hakken, this is one of the most effective ways of creating a modular phone that works well on a number of platforms.