Apr 22, 2014 6:30 AM

Gallery: Three Big Ideas in Google's Modular Phone That No One's Talking About

Photos by New Deal Design
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Project Ara, Google's modular smartphone concept, could reshape the entire mobile landscape. As conceived, modules could be hot-swapped from phone to phone, including different size endoskeletons.
Photos by Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
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New Deal Design, a San Francisco studio, was responsible for ushering the vision from fantasy to viable product. Here, New Deal founder Gadi Amit shows off sketches, including a hexagonal design inspired by nature.

Photos by Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
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New Deal's ultimate vision called for a design where every piece was modular. Here, a sketch showing an idea for how modules will connect to the endoskeleton below.
Photos by New Deal Design
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This is the endoskeleton--the impartial bus that holds the pieces together.

Photos by Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
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A prototype camera module, and another showing off one of the many 3D-printed textures users could potentially customize their handset with.
Photos by Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
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Another sketch for an alternate arrangement.

Photos by Ariel Zambelich/WIRED
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New Deal ultimately figured out that the endoskeleton had to have an asymmetrical arrangement of modules. Otherwise, the central block gets trapped, with no way to remove it.
Photos by New Deal Design
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Hand-Photo1
It remains to be seen if Ara will deliver on its promise. It’s an audacious undertaking.

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