Google will have to find a new way to attach the modules for its modular Project Ara smartphone because the device has failed a drop test.
The admission, made via Twitter, comes a week after Google said it is delaying tests of the phone until 2016. It had been scheduled to enter limited testing in Puerto Rico this year.
The electropermanent magnets Project Ara depends on are unlike regular magnets can have their external magnetic field switched on or off. Presumably, Google was hoping to use them to hold modules of the phone in place until a user wanted to remove one to upgrade it – which is what Project Ara is all about. A failed drop test could potentially send modules flying.
The hiccup illustrates one of the challenges Google faces in engineering a workable Project Ara phone. The smartphone is designed to give users more control over the upgrade process, partly by letting them swap out components like the camera or sensors.
It’s a radical departure from how people buy or upgrade phones today. But it might be some time before the phone is available to consumers. Earlier this week, the team said it was delaying an initial launch of the device in the US until next year.
In a separate tweet Wednesday, the team said it was testing a new way of attaching and detaching the modules, though it didn’t say what that would be.
Apparently, one of the team’s main challenges is finding the best way to pack the core components of the phone into a small enough space to give users maximum leeway for modifying the replaceable parts.
Zach Miners, IDG News Service
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