Google has unveiled the Project Ara Module Developers Kit (MDK) ahead of the first ever Ara Developers’ Conference that has been scheduled to happen on April 15 and 16. This newly announced MDK v0.10 includes the guidelines for the developers on how to design Project Ara smartphones and on how to create valid module dimensions, layouts and components for power pads.
The launch of this project shows that Google is planning to unveil the final version of MDK by the end of this year. The Project Ara design methodology includes endoskeleton and modules of which the former is a structural frame that keeps all the modules in place while the latter can be referred to anything from a pulse oximeter, extra battery, keyboard or display or any other hardware unit that can be customized.
There are there Ara skeleton dimensions – mini or basic unit, medium or mainstream unit and jumbo or phablet unit. All the Ara skeletons will be provided only by Google, while only the small modules will be provided by the third party developers. The MDK measures 85 MB and has 81 pages.
In an official Google+ post, Paul Eremenko, Head, Project Ara announced, “Today we’re announcing the first release of the Project Ara Module Developers Kit (MDK) v0.10. This is a very early version but our goals are to give the developer community an opportunity to provide feedback and input, and to help us ensure that the final MDK – anticipated at the end of 2014 – is elegant, flexible, and complete.”
He added that, “Next week, we’re hosting the first Project Ara Developers Conference at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.”
