Back at Google’s I/O conference this year, the search giant planned to showcase a working prototype model of the Project Ara phone; but the device failed to boot into Android. Fast-forward to a few months later and the company has now given us an update about its progress and has also disclosed that the first prototype is ready and functional.
A video uploaded to the Phonebloks YouTube channel highlights that the first prototype is being built by an engineering company called NK Labs. The device which will serve as predecessor to the Spiral 2, was basically designed by the Project Ara team which was formally part of Motorola, but wasn’t sold to Lenovo in the recent acquisition.
The prototype which you’ll see in the video below is called the Spiral 1 Ara phone and it sports improvements to the connectors to get the modules to fit properly. The device carries an LED module, a battery, an AP (application processor), a loudspeaker and a USB charging port.
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Around 50% of the module size is said to be taken up for modularity with no space for developer functions. However, the second prototype which will be called Spiral 2, will have chips made by Toshiba and provide ample space. The device will be showcased at the next Developers Conference which is scheduled to take place on January 14 in the US and later on January 21, in Singapore.
The two events will be for the same purpose, so there won’t be any need to attend both. Also, Google is still sticking to its current schedule of bringing the modular Ara phone to the market in 2015 itself. More information on the DevCon 2 Developer Conference can be found on this page.