Related
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/motorola-announces-modular-smartphone-project-ara/
[Holy ****] Motorola Announces Project Ara, An Open, Modular Smartphone Hardware Platform
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/1...an-open-modular-smartphone-hardware-platform/
Motorola is inviting people across the globe to become Ara Scouts. Over the next 6 - 12 months, we'll be doing research to shape the direction of Project Ara. You can help by collaborating with us on special missions.
http://www.dscout.com/ara
After the trip, we asked ourselves, how do we bring the benefits of an open hardware ecosystem to 6 billion people? Meet Ara. - See more at:
http://motorola-blog.blogspot.ca/2013/10/goodbye-sticky-hello-ara.html
My post at http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/1...ip-and-offers-another-glimpse-of-project-ara/
I'm excited too, though still cautious/skeptical.
I'm sure MANY people have thought about such a concept Lego-type phone/everything device over the decades. My first serious but skeptical thoughts were in 2001, noting that it seemed wasteful to buy a digital video/still camera (at 2001 prices) over and over again for many different devices. But 12 years have made me even more skeptical about the practical realities.
This holds promise, but without specific guarantees; I look forward to seeing what happens.
Many/most engineers started with Lego or Mechano (my fave) when young and want to see similar in the real, practical world.
Linux is the Lego of Operating Systems.
Android AOSP is the Lego of Mobile Operating Systems.
Google, then MIT App Inventor is at least one of the Lego's of Android app development.
Arduino shields and similar are Lego for micro-controller hardware.
I look forward to Lego like pieces for phones, tablets, "laptops" and other devices.
I guess I'll sign up for the special missions of an "Ara Scout" and hope to not be disappointed: http://www.dscout.com/ara#
EDIT: Uh, oh, looks like DScout is some weird 3rd party thing that makes this all look like a lame-ish marketing ploy at this time...
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Yeah, I'm a little disappointed that the DScout is a third-party app, but at the same time, I think it is a neat idea. More importantly, this is something I want them to market to me. I don't mind providing companies with personal information or feedback about my tastes if I get what I want in return. It's when they take it without asking that bugs me. Especially when they don't seem to actually do anything in response. At the end of the day, I think it's a good thing if they're making products I want to buy and generally conducting their business in the way I want them to conduct it. If anything, I think the more glaring problem right now is companies NOT listening to people and instead adopting that stupid Apple notion that "people don't know what they want; we have to tell them what they want." If only google actually were listening in on us--then they'd at least know how strongly opposed we are to carriers locking down devices.
I'm hoping it really happens. And if it is true that Moto has been working on this for a year already then I think its at least somewhat encouraging.
My OP was moved here from the Hardware Hacking forum.
This new section is named "MDK Hacking".
MDK = Module Developer's Kit which will allow 3rd party module development. It's supposed to be released sometime "this winter".
I'm personally interested in getting an FM receiver, AND transmitter module created. While were at it, maybe w/ a chip for HD/Dab+/DMB radio. Might as well keep wishing and go for digital broadcast TV and effectively anything with a Software Defined Radio, LOL.
As for Project Ara in general, a few days of sober second thought, and the reading and thought processing of the several hundred posts I read, have put me more back in the skeptical range.
But I'd be happy even if this went no further than a reasonably successful hobbyist oriented eco-system, like Arduino.
Jane and Joe average "6 pack" could not care less how their phone or tablet were built. But the people who run custom ROMs, and they number in the many millions now, may find this compelling.
I'm imaging a robot, with an Android tablet as a head (with face(s) LOL.) Hooked to the head/brain are redundant communications paths to the rest of the body. The rest of the body may have their own small USB flash drive or less sized Android devices for specialty tasks.
Heck, with the right parts, the robot could disassemble and re-assemble itself, as needed. We've seen Futurama's Bender do so many times, ROFL.
And there are thousands of other cool and interesting non-robot uses for all this stuff. Someday soon, if not already, a sizable percentage of science fair projects will contain a connected Android device.
There may even be many useful business use cases, to add to all the fun stuff.
I could definitely see it happening, mainly because I think the project is keeping its aspirations in check. From what I've heard, at least, Ara is not looking to take the idea quite as far as Phonebloks was suggesting. I think that, rather than a Lego phone--where you can make anything you want--they are looking to bring phone hardware more inline with the hardware on computers (excluding those made by Apple, of course). You can already customize pretty much every aspect of your average PC. And the parts are more or less universally compatible: you can put basically any brand of hard drive in basically any computer. But even though it's not quite a Lego-phone, it would still be pretty amazing. Even if the only thing they did was allow you to choose what kind of camera you want on your phone, that would still be a significant improvement over the way things are now. Right now, you can sort of pick the color on some phones. and even that you can only do once, at the time of purchase. (I guess you also get the choice of buying a phone with more storage, but that's only because those phones don't come with external SD card slots. I refuse to count that as an example of customizability.)
Yeah.
PhoneBloks so far is 2 guys "on a mission", not too unlike a 2 guy FSF. The first part of that mission includes gathering enough money for a discussion forum and even that is not complete yet.
Project Ara seems like a "skunkworks" project of a large company doing some research ideas.
Google has a history of starting unusual projects. Most of them are eventually defunded and canned.
But that's OK IMO. Google seems to me to be run by very smart people focused on making money, in the long term. Part of that is "crazy" projects that mostly eventually disappear and sometimes turn into something great.
hai vl con bo
sharknado said:
Yeah, I'm a little disappointed that the DScout is a third-party app, but at the same time, I think it is a neat idea. More importantly, this is something I want them to market to me. I don't mind providing companies with personal information or feedback about my tastes if I get what I want in return. It's when they take it without asking that bugs me. Especially when they don't seem to actually do anything in response. At the end of the day, I think it's a good thing if they're making products I want to buy and generally conducting their business in the way I want them to conduct it. If anything, I think the more glaring problem right now is companies NOT listening to people and instead adopting that stupid Apple notion that "people don't know what they want; we have to tell them what they want." If only google actually were listening in on us--then they'd at least know how strongly opposed we are to carriers locking down devices.
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trthrujy ghikvb dfhg
---------- Post added at 11:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 AM ----------
mikereidis said:
Yeah.
PhoneBloks so far is 2 guys "on a mission", not too unlike a 2 guy FSF. The first part of that mission includes gathering enough money for a discussion forum and even that is not complete yet.
Project Ara seems like a "skunkworks" project of a large company doing some research ideas.
Google has a history of starting unusual projects. Most of them are eventually defunded and canned.
But that's OK IMO. Google seems to me to be run by very smart people focused on making money, in the long term. Part of that is "crazy" projects that mostly eventually disappear and sometimes turn into something great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
navg fghj fduyhjm
---------- Post added at 11:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 AM ----------
sharknado said:
I could definitely see it happening, mainly because I think the project is keeping its aspirations in check. From what I've heard, at least, Ara is not looking to take the idea quite as far as Phonebloks was suggesting. I think that, rather than a Lego phone--where you can make anything you want--they are looking to bring phone hardware more inline with the hardware on computers (excluding those made by Apple, of course). You can already customize pretty much every aspect of your average PC. And the parts are more or less universally compatible: you can put basically any brand of hard drive in basically any computer. But even though it's not quite a Lego-phone, it would still be pretty amazing. Even if the only thing they did was allow you to choose what kind of camera you want on your phone, that would still be a significant improvement over the way things are now. Right now, you can sort of pick the color on some phones. and even that you can only do once, at the time of purchase. (I guess you also get the choice of buying a phone with more storage, but that's only because those phones don't come with external SD card slots. I refuse to count that as an example of customizability.)
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con bo
Code:
[FONT="Fixedsys"][SIZE="2"][COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"] First and foremost, Thanks for stopping by, you may become intreged if you continue reading my thread.
This Idea came to me a long time ago but I am unable to do anything with it as I am not a developer/programmer so I would never be able to create this on my own.
However, being the MadScientist I am (likely only in my own mind) I feel the only thing to do is to pass on the idea to somebody, anybody with the skill set, talents, abilities, or even the right friends list to make my dream a reality. So to the big idea.
I always had the cheap generic phones that were free with the contract, I would go through these phones like water and I came up with an idea that if I could put two phones or even three phones together and make them run as one phone it would be a pretty great phone [¿¿some Dr. Frankenstein ****??lol]
Over the past couple years I've always been interested in developing and apps in programming computers and how they work and operate so I now I'm in love with the expensive flashy phones and I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S6 and the S7 both Android 6.0.1 O.S.,
Both fully functional. (I'm afraid trying to customize ROM I'll turn my $500 BEAUTY into a fragile useless brick) (or even worse ruin the security features) because of my ignorance in Android Development.
None-the-less if anybody can come up with a way to join two phones to run as one without tearing them apart even if they only communicate with each other through Bluetooth or through Wi-Fi and can even Share/Clone to the partner phone screen through an encrypted nonbroadcasted network or connection that would be neat but it would be great to be able to share processors and sensors or leave on in my car in the parking lot at work and have it relaying a signal to the one in my pocket. I'd love to have them setup where I could use either number on either phone or share one number between the two. If there is any possible way this can happen I would really appreciate some feedback or I might just on a crazy rant and just happened to be the world's smartest retard.
I appreciate you reading the entire rant I appreciate any feedback positive or negative dream Weavers and dream killers is all welcome.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT="Courier New"][COLOR="red"]Coming live from the other side.
This has been a rant from the MadScientist EvilGenius[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="4"][COLOR="purple"][I][U][B]MrEcho666[/B][/U][/I][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[COLOR="yellow"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Asking you to "[U]Stay Classy and Assey[/U]"[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE]
so we all know HTC is in trouble. The cellphone market is constantly moving forward and looking to the future for their next big thing. I, however, suggest that htc should take a page out of their old book and come out with a next-gen hd2. When I think about freedom in a handset, I think about this phone first and THEN android's early days. We live in a time where mainstream phone manufacturers give us a product and thats that whether we like it or not. my last 4 android phones weren't able to be rooted and so I gave up altogether. I'm currently an iphone user. Not because I think it's better but because I just gave up. I am not happy with todays offerings. I feel like phones should be more advanced now. I mean yeah there are very nice phones today with tiny bezels and crazy specs but I'm speaking more from a OS perspective. Yes pixels are nice, yes samsung has amazing phones but at the end of the day they're only still running android. Android has evolved but, in my eyes, just barely. It's still the same at its core. Back on topic, I think it would be in everybody's best interest if htc were to look back to this phone for the future. This time next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the HD2 and they're in a very troubled state right now so why not? HD3, the all new HTC HD, whatever they may call it is irrelevant as long as they just do it. The smartphone market is stagnant right now, there's countless evidence to support this claim. Manufacturers should start focusing more on operating systems than bezels. It is clearly inevitable that there will eventually be new contestants in the duopoly we have right now.
I'm not sure how to approach this but let's just put it like this. If i had it my way; it's November 2019 and HTC releases the hd3, theres a whole back to the future campaign. they trademark the phrase "the future is in your hands." it's on billboards and ads with the phone sitting comfortably in a pair of palms. there's black hands, white hands, brown hands, robot hands to show that this is the phone for everybody. it runs android by default but it is meant to run other operating systems. HTC has invested money into smaller os manufacturers and home-based devs to develop/port their existing OS. they run competitions and such for people to show off their OS offerings. Not for them to purchase and license but to show that the whole movement is about the people and their freedom phone. the device is a tinkerers dream. The app stores are limited but that isn't the point. We're approaching a time where AI is slowly eliminating the need for 6 billion apps. XDA is the go-to spot again. We need a more capable mobile OS and why shouldn't HTC be one of the first to push that with their hardware. I know microsoft will be putting out the surface phone soon and I'd be willing to bet it will run full windows 10. Why not have a legitimate early competitor to push the agenda? If I want to run ubuntu desktop or kali linux on my phone fluidly why can't I? This may very well be a niche product but it will be huge for developers and will most definitely be a big conversation. That alone would gain some traction. hardware revisions thereafter could include multiple usb-c connectors, maybe an x86 architecture, maybe modularity, maybe this maybe that. I just dream of a pocketable device that would truly feel free of restraints and I believe HTC is the one for the job. Manufacturers are always giving us what THEY think we need instead of actually leaving it up to us. Ask any savvy person what the most legendary smartphone was and they'll say the HD2, ask them why and I guarantee every answer is the same. This is something I am passionate about and I haven't slept yet and I know the format is all messed up but I just wanted to put the idea in peoples heads.
I second this motion. The HTC HD2 Leo I own is a beast. I will admit that it was frustrating at first. I must have soft bricked it half a dozen times messing with settings and software I had no business touching as I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Then I found some good tutorials and finally, the promised land. XDA DEVELOPERS FORUM.
I found that the HD2 was an incredibly versatile and robust piece of tech. I did soft brick it again a time or two, but always I was able to rejuvenate it. The downfall, I believe was Microsoft ending the 6.5 os right after release. That coupled with the power house of android and the backing and resources it had soon overshadowed the HD2. But quite a few kept a place in there heart for it. The capability of the device and the developers to modify and utilize the platform to do extraordinary things has, in my opinion, never been matched. HTC needed a flagship. They were in the pack, but had a desire and opportunity to pull to the forefront. With the HD2 they did surge ahead. They didn't fail us, the market and consumer failed them. Too many got overly frustrated as they failed to understand the accessibility and basic root to pathway to app to accessories. The various models also caused consumers, who were hearing of this wonder of Google and Android, some with the apple iPhone in hand and its "friendly yet restrictive" os, and they rage quit on the HTC.
After reading the above post, I have thought long and hard on what was, what is, and what could be for HD devices. I have several interesting observations.
1. The versatility of the HD2 opened it up to power-users, techs, devs and wide eyed dreamy technophiles like myself. The ability of the HD2 to use Java, WinMo, PPC software, Android and linux gave so many a highly adaptable device for personal preference, personalization and experimentation.
2. The HD2 could act as a PDA, Phone, PC, Diagnostic tool, Microsoft Office companion and controller... The list goes on. Yes you can do all those things with an android or apple device now, but the ability to adjust the hardware settings, application features, information export and format has been greatly handicapped by a gap between developer abilities an end users abilities. Rooting helps with this, but rooting itself is a tricky and iffy prospect. I have noticed that certain areas of focus and purpose for applications have software that does not cover everything desired, or is entirely too broad and basic to be fully accurate. I have found myself and others needing 2 or three applications to accomplish with accuracy what could be done with one openly versatile and layered 'package'.
3. The HTC HD2 is still capable of competing with most of the low to mid level devices on the market today. I can hear some of you rolling your eyes, but I stick by that statement. Even with some outdated components and slower buss and cache speeds, it can hold its own. I attribute that to the versatility.
4. The vision of the HTC HD3 MODULAR COMPONENT ENGINE. Yup. I may be insane after all. Yet my madness has reason, I am just not linguistically skilled enough in Techaneeze to put it to words. Basically, the device by itself is a fully functioning phone with the latest capabilities and trends. The average user will be able to use it straight out the box, though with multiple new options such as dual OS preinstalled, dual SD card slots, Mega More than anyone needs camera resolutions, speakers that actually work loud and clear, maybe predocked gizmos, chochkies and dodads like Bluetooth earpiece(beats me on the design so far), NFC tags or keyring fobs(whatever those are called), a hidden micro sim/sd card compartment, an actual headphone jack, plasma lighter/taser, multi use survival card, toothpick, tweezers, det-cord crimper. OK OK i am being silly, but its late and I am hungry.
The added wow factor is that the HD3 is a driver/interface for a modular expansion platform that can be customized for various trades. IT tools like frequency counter, component tester, etc.; scientific lab tools and sensors; in the field career specific tools for geologist, meteorologist, anthropologists, etc.
So far, i just have envisioned a framework buss with plug in ports for specific electronics and sensors, etc.
I will try to expand on this idea, but I am now at the point that I believe I need to poll the public. I will attempt to create an effective poll(s) at a later time when I have all cylinders firing.
Good night, and good luck!
I just stumbled on to this forum browsing xda in the new year..and as each year passes i feel sad that these HD2 forums get more and more silent ( I bot the HD2 in 2009, the year of its launch) ...strange this phone got so many people to love their device like no other, I guess people remember the joy they felt when they used it and the fact that it was probably the most modded phone on the planet....fact that it ran android marshmallow not too far back is testament to the loyalty of developers and users of this phone who never gave up on it, kept it alive and relevant .... I guess we all miss the extreme flexibility of our beloved device today, of course also miss the huge flutter of activity on the xda forums for this phone, the forums were always buzzing with something new ( ROM, app ) the phone could run or some feature that was finally made to work...so so great to see the above 2 posts in 2018, good to see activity and that people still remember this great device and are still hoping it will be reborn in some form in the future, cheers to that!!!!
Same sentiments here. I bought the hd2 on release in 2009 and it was a lovely device. I remember installing the latest Android ROMs and kernels on it, was so fun. We're at a point if perfection though, most modern devices run at well you hardly need to tinker with them anymore. My Galaxy note 9 and Huawei mate 20 pro are proof to that, these 2 phones are Android in it's perfection but the hd2 will always have a place in our hearts!
I am still amazed to see what the HD2 achieved.. I also bought it in 2009.. had loads of fun flashing it (or may i say them, i ended up having 4 of them at the same time ) whith android and windows.. I still have 2 or 3 of them laying around somewhere.. was an incredible device that gave loads of fun
I'm looking for a smartwatch for about $100. I might be willing to go up to $150. Refurb or used is fine. I definitely would like something thats got a fairly acurate hear rate monitor and step counter. Ecg and blood 02 would be nice but probably asking a bit much in this price range. I don't care about taking calls on my watch but do want the ability to atleast see who is calling and the option to answer or reject would be nice. If my Tinwoo Smartwatch from Amazon for $40 can do it, I dint for see that being an issue. A keyboard function on the watch would be nice. It definitely need to receive notifications for the Workplace Messenger by Facebook app. Any advice? Oh and ill be paring it with a Samsung Note 10+.
Check information over in the smartwatch forum:
Smartwatches
forum.xda-developers.com
Sadly the xda mobile app claims the forum doesn't exist when trying to start a thread there.
I don't use or know about the app. Noticed this thread and watch discussion:
What smart watch to buy?
I never bought a smart watch in the past but am interested in doing so now. What's the best bang-for-the-buck smart watch I can buy? I use a Samsung Galaxy Android phone so I'm guessing an Apple Watch is off the list. I would prefer one that has...
forum.xda-developers.com
I appreciate the response but don't really see much useful information there. I see links to youtube review playlists, which would be great if I wanted to spend 10 hours watching reviews. Other than that, I see what seems like a reasonable statement. There is no smartwatch that will truly tick all the bells and whistles. Also, when it comes to many of the Chinese variants available, you have a 50-50 chance on any one particular model as to whether it it works good or works like cheap knock-off tech. So I was looking for suggestions on a watch that ticks the particular boxes I am looking for. From there, all I can do is order and pray for a good batch.
Good day, friends and lovers of a little programming.
The other day, I faced a problem. My iPhone 11 Pro Max, unfortunately, broke down, and after sending it for repair, I thought about something. Should I buy me a new phone, but on Android?
Looking through a bunch of new products, I came across an inexpensive but attractive looking phone with a cool screen, Nothingphone 1. But when I looked at his reviews on YouTube, I realized that this is a very buggy system and was very upset about it. Suddenly I had an idea, why not buy this smartphone and write a cool firmware for it?
But after weighing all the pros and cons, I realized one thing, I need a team!!! They should be enthusiasts who are interested in creating a cool product for a small price, which will be a pleasure to use, like an iPhone, but in the world of Android with your own hands!
So, if you are a young or not so designer, programmer or human resource manager, and you are interested in creating a cool product, contact me or let's together in this discussion create what we all want for so long, inexpensive, but competitive and very cool smartphone!
You can contact me by email: [email protected]
Nothing OS is far away from "a very buggy system".
What are you talking about?
AroFear said:
Good day, friends and lovers of a little programming.
The other day, I faced a problem. My iPhone 11 Pro Max, unfortunately, broke down, and after sending it for repair, I thought about something. Should I buy me a new phone, but on Android?
Looking through a bunch of new products, I came across an inexpensive but attractive looking phone with a cool screen, Nothingphone 1. But when I looked at his reviews on YouTube, I realized that this is a very buggy system and was very upset about it. Suddenly I had an idea, why not buy this smartphone and write a cool firmware for it?
But after weighing all the pros and cons, I realized one thing, I need a team!!! They should be enthusiasts who are interested in creating a cool product for a small price, which will be a pleasure to use, like an iPhone, but in the world of Android with your own hands!
So, if you are a young or not so designer, programmer or human resource manager, and you are interested in creating a cool product, contact me or let's together in this discussion create what we all want for so long, inexpensive, but competitive and very cool smartphone!
You can contact me by email: [email protected]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you search for each smartphone a bad review exist, you can't trust a review for a product without having testing the product yourself.
Actually NOS is young but pretty good and certainly not a "very buggy system".
But asking for create a new product without know the product is useless.
Maybe your message is just a hidded advertissement, if not i advise to simply return on your iOS environnement instead because your "idea" is already the Nothing Compagny spirit.
Cheers
Don't be so dismissive.
He is actually right, and I can confirm this firsthand. Many of the reviews were written shortly after the launch, and some of them (GSMarena, for example) have yet to update the audio section of their review, despite the fact that several updates had been released, some of which addressed the audio issues
So, all in all, from what you can see at a first glance when searching for "nothing phone," there are many positive hypes and articles about how the phone deserves praise for being such a complete product, but on the other side, if you go deep into YouTube wildness, you will find people who, when stating bugs and shortcomings, are really overstating them a bit, and objectively, you will conclude something along the lines of "seems good, but young and unfinished."
To answer your question, you don't need to build a custom ROM. As a decade-long user of them on every Android phone, I can only confirm that this one feels like it will not need any custom ROMs for regular users since updates are frequent and (for now) it seems that the community is being listened to. It can all still fail, naturally, but in the next 6–12 months, it will be more clearly defined whether the communication with the users and the promises made will be maintained and fulfilled. It feels and behaves like a basic pixel experience, minus all the pixel goodies while adding some of its own—essentially a blank slate for you to customize to your needs.
kriistofor said:
Don't be so dismissive.
He is actually right, and I can confirm this firsthand. Many of the reviews were written shortly after the launch, and some of them (GSMarena, for example) have yet to update the audio section of their review, despite the fact that several updates had been released, some of which addressed the audio issues
So, all in all, from what you can see at a first glance when searching for "nothing phone," there are many positive hypes and articles about how the phone deserves praise for being such a complete product, but on the other side, if you go deep into YouTube wildness, you will find people who, when stating bugs and shortcomings, are really overstating them a bit, and objectively, you will conclude something along the lines of "seems good, but young and unfinished."
To answer your question, you don't need to build a custom ROM. As a decade-long user of them on every Android phone, I can only confirm that this one feels like it will not need any custom ROMs for regular users since updates are frequent and (for now) it seems that the community is being listened to. It can all still fail, naturally, but in the next 6–12 months, it will be more clearly defined whether the communication with the users and the promises made will be maintained and fulfilled. It feels and behaves like a basic pixel experience, minus all the pixel goodies while adding some of its own—essentially a blank slate for you to customize to your needs.
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Click to collapse
He talk about create a new smartphone, not a custom rom...
how did i miss that last part :')
well my bad
Just downloaded android 13 and this phone is damn near perfect, love the feel of the phone and how snappy it is.