Yezz Shows Off Project Ara Modules

BARCELONA—Smartphone innovation marches on at this year's Mobile World Congress, but one of the more intriguing developments in the mobile world has been Google's modular Project Ara concept. We've known about Google's pet project for some time, but this year's show was the first time we've seen Project Ara modules in the wild from a third-party manufacturer.

Yezz, a relative unknown in the smartphone world, has been quietly entering the U.S. market with affordable unlocked Android phones for the past few years. Despite its small stature, Yezz will be among the first partners to produce Project Ara modules for retail release.

At the heart of Project Ara is a commitment to bringing wireless connectivity to the masses, which lines up quite well with Yezz's mission and focus on affordable devices. Yezz is currently developing two Project Ara devices, and had 11 modules on display at its booth on the show floor. The prototype device and modules were secured behind a glass cage, but it was clear that these were rough drafts rather than production-ready pieces.

Project Ara devices will have an endoskeleton foundation, with modules available for everything from the display and camera to the processor and wireless chips. The end goal is empower consumers to pick and choose how their devices look and function, ultimately saving costs by allowing granular upgrades instead of costly whole-device upgrades. 

Google is launching a pilot program for Project Ara in Puerto Rico first, with potential worldwide release further down the line. Wider release will likely depend on the success of the pilot program and we're eager to see this concept take off.