Google will show off new Ara prototype and developer tools in January

When Phonebloks first talked about the idea of modular mobile computing last year, we all thought the idea sounded cool but not exactly feasible. And then out of nowhere came Motorola ATAP Group's announcement of Project Ara. Since then, ATAP has become part of Google and the project has evolved considerably.

As Google marches towards a limited commercial release (expected in early 2015), Ara's project leaders have been slowly sharing new bits of information including a report about how Ara will support hot-swappable modules thanks to a modified version of Android L. For those looking for even more info on Ara and its upcoming launch, Google has announced that it will have plenty of new details at the next set of Ara developer conferences in January.

The fact that Google is presenting its Ara conferences to so many different regions makes it clear that they take this project seriously

There will actually be two different conferences with the first one taking place on January 14th in Mountain View, with satellites in New York City, London and Buenos Aires. The second conference for the Asian market will be held on January 21st in Singapore with satellites in Toyko, Bangalore, Taipei, and Shanghai. Google says that the content of the conference will be identical with leadership from the project showing off the latest Ara prototype(s) and there will also be talk about the "major changes and advances" to the tools it will provide to module makers. In addition, Google will also highlight its commercial plans for the project as well.

The fact that Google is presenting its Ara conferences to so many different regions makes it clear that they take this project seriously and are keen on attracting developers from all across the globe. For those interested in attending, you'll ned to pay a $25-$200 fee and the deadline to apply is November 26th.

While we wait for the latest Ara news in January, Phonebloks hopes to tide us over a bit by providing us a new video that shows off work being done at NK Labs, a contractor involved with the Ara Project. Even more exciting, a new prototype called Spiral 2 can be seen in the video:

What do you think of Ara, excited for the initial release or still think this project is too ambitious to ever be successful?

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