More from Google I/O 2014: Project Ara smartphone boots up and Storytelling gets introduced

June 26, 2014

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The Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group hosted a session earlier today at Google I/O, and it was entertaining to say the least. Project Ara wasn't mentioned at all during the keynote, but Paul Eremenko, head of Project Ara, gave some updates and proceeded to power on one Ara phone. Following the Android logo, only part of the home screen clock was visible. However, it was enough to get the crowd giddy enough to applaud. So it obviously isn't ready for prime time just yet, but the good news is that prototypes for developers will be ready in about two weeks. The developer version of Android with modularity support will become available in the fall.

ATAP lead Regina Dugan was also on hand. She showed off something that introduces humanity and emotion into technology. As you might know, ATAP created two interactive stories for Motorola Phones (Buggy Night and Windy Day), and they hired Disney animator Glen Keane. He created a hand-drawn, interactive story called “Duet.” It's about a dancing girl and it will be released on all Android phones later this year. This story is made out of 10,055 drawings, which resulted in 13.5 GB of data, but it was compressed down to 150 MB.

Now earlier in the session, Google Tango lead Johnny Lee showed off Project Tango via the developer tablet kit. They also announced that LG would be making a tablet for next year. You can check out our hands on video of Project Tango in action here.

Also be sure to check out our complete Google I/O 2014 coverage.

Robert Nazarian Author

Robert lives in upstate New York where he was born and raised. Technology was always his passion. His first computer was a Radio Shack TRS80 Color that used a cassette tape to save programs, and his first laptop was a Toshiba T1200FB that sported a CGA greyscale screen and two 720kb floppy drives (no hardrive). From the early 90’s through late 2011, he only owned Motorola phones starting with the MircroTAC all the way through to the Droid X. He broke that streak when he bought the Galaxy Nexus. Now he's sporting a Galaxy Note 4, and absolutely loves it. He has a wonderful wife and a 6 year old son. In his free time he enjoys sports, movies, TV, working out, and trying to keep up with the rapid fast world of technology.