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Google drops plans for Puetro Rico launch of Ara smartphone

That sounds suspiciously like there will be a change in plans that will soon be announced Project Ara was supposed to sell its first modular phone, the Spiral 2, in Puerto Rico later this year. However, a Google spokeswoman confirmed that the test will not start in Puerto Rico as previously announced. But Project Ara hasn’t been abandoned at all, as the projects’ Twitter account went back online and published two tweets regarding the device. At that time, we learned a pilot program would arrive in Puerto Rico, and got a good look at several modules.

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Project Ara’s Twitter account hadn’t sent out a single tweet since May 30 of this same year.

Ara is being developed within Android’s future-looking Advanced Technologies and Products unit, headed by Regina Dugan and modeled on the military’s DARPA team she once headed. While they said it wasn’t “goodbye” to Puerto Rico, it implies the Project Ara release may hit another region first. The company didn’t offered details about the new market.

The idea behind Project Ara is a modular smartphone that allows owners to configure them as desired by snapping in their own personal choice of modules. It is still unclear where the new market will be.

How awesome would it be if you could just swap out every part of your phone at will? There is speculation however, that Google’s new restructuring at the corporate level may have had something to do with the sudden announcement of such a hyped project being put on something of a current indefinite hold.

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The initiative is Google’s effort to shake up how people purchase smartphones by usingexchangeable parts, which means customers could select a camera from one manufacturer, a processor from another, and display from yet another maker to build a personalized device.

Project Ara’s release has been delayed until 2016