Google’s modular Ara phones to go on public sale in Jan 2015 via configurator tool

If you’re keen to get your hands on one of Google’s modular Ara phones, the bad news is you’re going to be waiting a while: the company has said at its first developer’s conference they won’t go on public sale until January of next year. You will, though, be able to configure your own phone using a Moto Maker style tool that will allow you to not only select your components but add customized colors and designs to them as you do … 

Developers will be able to get hold of the hardware before the January release date, though Google has not yet given any timing on this.

Google had earlier revealed that the modules will be held together by electropermanent magnets. Customization options will apparently include 3D-printed textures.

While you may have to wait a while to buy one, Google’s Head of Project Ara Paul Eremenko believes that it may be the last phone you buy for as long as “five or six years” as you upgrade individual components as required. I must confess I’m still skeptical, but the coolness of the concept is growing on me.