During the second developer conference for Project Ara that is underway, we already learned that the team has dubbed the second iteration of the modular smartphone as “Spiral 2″ and plans to use Puerto Rico as a test market later this year. We now know a little bit more about what has changed in the Spiral 2 compared to previous versions of the device.
Probably the biggest change that has been made in response to developer feedback is to move the electro-permanent magnets from the modules to the chassis, or endoskeleton, of the device itself. According to the ATAP team, developers indicated the magnets were consuming as much as 40% of the useable space on their modules.
Another change that was made was to place the 3G antenna in its own module. Down the road this will make it easier for consumer to select the kind of antenna they want to include when 4G antenna modules hit production.
Some of the other hardware included in the Spiral 2 includes a 1280 x 720 resolution display, a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, a Receiver module with light and proximity sensors, a 5 MP camera module, the 3G antenna module previously mentioned, a Band 5 antenna module, and a processor module. Currently the processor module can include either an NVIDIA Tegra K1 or a Marvell PXA1928 chip.
Looking ahead to the Sprial 3, which is the device expected to be used for market testing in Puerto Rico, Google anticipates having a 4G LTE module available, inductive connections for modules, and a Rockchip AP reference design. If sales commence, even on a test basis, Google also anticipates having a marketplace setup and available for buyers to purchase modules from.
One other bit of news that surfaced is that Google has determined they will not be able to utilize 3D printing of the modules, at least not for the next iteration or two of Project Ara devices. This will likely result in some limitations to the level of customization available for buyers. Google sounds like they are still planning to implement 3D printing at some point though.
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