• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Ara- what modules would you want or not want

boathead

Android Enthusiast
May 26, 2013
355
106
project Ara interests me. i'd leave out certain modules to either keep costs down, to eliminate some stuff that i never use, or to increase battery life.

i'd leave out:

camera- just never use it quite frankly. i'm not a camera guy. and every phone forces it on me. i understand that everyone else on the planet wants it, but if i can opt to leave it out and save a few bucks, i'll save a few bucks.

cell radios- just give me the wifi, and i'm a happy guy. i think in the past year i took 2 calls over cell. everything else is over wifi.

gps- not sure what it adds to my world. i know where i am.

i'd put in:

bigger battery

some sort of cpu arrangement akin to the moto x, with the low power chips for always listening, and the faster cores for when needed.

bluetooth

wifi


so, i'm curious what you guys would do...to create your OWN balance between costs and features...your own, instead of what an OEM decides should be your balance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: funkylogik
Hmm, I think my requirements are different. I'd want the best cellular radios I could get, do find a decent GPS useful, and find it useful to have a camera of some sort (but as I mainly use it for photographing receipts and whiteboards, and use a real camera for actual photography, I'd not shell out for anything fancy there).

I'd happily lose video recording to save cost, but probably nobody will offer a camera that doesn't do that. And I don't need a front-facing camera, have never used the one on my current phone. Not interested in heartbeat/pressure/humidity/ley line sensors. I use bluetooth so rarely I could probably live without that, but assume it would come in most radio modules anyway.

Bigger battery, yes. Actually not very interested in the "always listening" stuff, so something powerful enough and power efficient will be fine for me. Decent speakers are useful though.

Do wonder how hardware customisation and software customisation will combine: how much will custom software availability depend on the hardware choices you make (e.g. which cpu modules)?
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones