Hight Capacity Battery Module for ARA

[Garrett Kinsman]

I've been doing quite a bit of thinking on how ARA will impact the world around us. The changes will be staggering, and I have come to realize something very important:

ARA is not a smartphone. ARA is an adaptable supercomputer that can be built into anything.

What we think of as a smartphone will change completely. Here is a module that I believe should be built, but at first it's going to sound strange: A high capacity battery module.

Most of you are probably thinking, "Where's the screen?!"  and I'll explain. As ARA progresses in the next 5 years, the computing power inside will surpass modern desktop computing. 

The most powerful supercomputer between 1985 and 1990 was a Cray supercomputer, running at 1.9 Gflops. Modern smartphones are capable of running in the measly 100 Gigaflop range. That's in a mobile environment, while running powerful radios. And what do we mostly use these machines for? Instagram.

With a screen and keyboard, this module will allow the replacement of desktop computers (If the software allows). CubeSats, game systems, weather stations, and driverless cars come also to mind. Thousands of applications will arise where ARA is not used as a smartphone at all, but as a replacement for a powerful computer. 

A high capacity power supply on a networked smartphone also opens up an interesting new module idea.... But I'll leave that to the future. 

What are your thoughts?

[Tim Southwick]

You seem to be confused about how Moore's Law works. If smartphones in 5 years are as powerful as desktops are now, then desktops in 5 years will also make significant advances. And while a smartphone today may be 50 times more powerful than the mainframes that handled the graphics of TRON (an impressive feat), a smartphone is by no means a supercomputer by today's standards (think hundreds of thousands of gigaflops, or in terms of ram: smartphones -> 3GB of RAM, desktop -> 16GB of RAM, server 128GB of RAM, supercomputer -> 16TB or 16384GB, to list some examples). Now that that's out of the way...

Your battery idea is not a bad one. I am personally looking forward to the day when I have an ultra power efficient Ara phone made almost entirely of batteries, and I can charge someone's dying iPhone while telling them about it. (I'll try to be nice about it, I just find the idea amusing.) In one of the previous DevCons, the Ara team mentioned the idea of having screens on the rear modules to act as virtual versions of other modules in stores. Hypothetically, you could use a single 2x2 module as the Application Processor (AP) module and screen combined, using the majority of the remaining device as power sources. At some point, however, you would have to wonder if it would have been cheaper to get a dedicated battery, as those already exist in sizes similar to smartphones, and one would expect the majority of their internals to be battery instead of interconnects between modules.

There are also various threads in the Ara Module Developers forum for keyboard modules, display modules, gaming controllers, and all sorts of sensors. The driverless cars idea is also possible, though it will not be happening nearly as soon as the release of Project Ara.

Though another idea I would like to add to the Ara battery phone, (for I get tired of repeating my description of the thing and want to give it a name,) would be a built in wall charger. The plug could fold into a thicker 2x2 module, and you could charge your device by plugging it directly into the wall. The module could also be replaced to match the local electrical outlets. I am not experienced in high voltage applications, however, and would like to know how safe such a module would be, as well as how durable the connector could be made in such a small space.

[Garrett Kinsman]

Tim,

I like your thinking- and you're right. My counter argument is that most of us use very little of our devices' potential anyways. We've reached the point where most of us simply don't need a huge PC.  Statistically we use email and web browsing the most, and these take very little processing power.  For example, the Photoshop touch up work on the image above was done on an Intel Core-M processor. Intel's mobile processors run Adobe software fantastically well. I really hate to say it but the base model 2015 Macbook kick butt. What types of computing do you do mostly?

There will be no need to run a PC unless you're doing crazy graphics rendering or video (My 2015 Core M processor doesn't handle Premier very well). I think the only thing holding mobile devices back are power restrictions and software.  My PC on the other hand is only used for CAD and music.   I remember seeing some cool posts about hooking ARA up to an HDMI. A desktop interface is a must. I think of it this way: The first software platform that lets me run all my apps and photoshop from my pocket wins. Right now Windows is leading that front....  I'm just waiting for Chrome OS and Android to merge (at least in terms of UI). In the end, Android should support a development environment to build more Android apps, today this is very difficult. 

I hope ARA can become as battery efficient as you say. Battery technology doesn't evolve as quickly as silicon does, and this will put constraints on ARA at first. It would be sick to have modules made from curved AMOLED panels. It's totally possible with parts from Samsung or LG. All of the things you mentioned (and more) are possible, but difficult to attain with current battery tech. If we remove most of the batteries, and add an external power supply (say a large solar panel or an RTG lol), the possibilities for ARA grow even further. Can you think of anything interesting applications for an ARA with unlimited power supply? 

What really gets me thinking is what happens once the ARA supply chain has become well developed. If the $70 BOM greyphone cost is accurate in any sense, we'll see $20 used ARAs around the world in a matter of months. People will find them in dumpsters.

I've been playing with the economics of giving devices away, and depending on the business model, giving ARAs away can be lucrative.  

As towards your module idea, look at a teardown of an iphone USB charger. That's about as small as it gets in terms of mass production. Do you think your module would be a bit bulky? Or is that extra heft worth it to you? I can make my own mobile device last days while using my tinfoil hat in airplane mode (I'm joking).  I want to hear more on your thoughts about an ARA with an unlimited power supply...