Boston-based NK Labs people are hard at work assembling what Google calls Project Ara - and what smartphone enthusiasts would call the LEGO phone - and Phonebloks, the independent organization that encourages the development of products that produce less electronic waste, recently sent a crew over there to film a video of the working prototype.

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And it does work, proving that prospects are good for smartphone manufacturers to start shaking in their knees; these cute little LEGO-style phones are user-upgradable, meaning phones could last longer because all the user has to do is get down to the electronics shops, buy a better screen, or a faster processor, or a higher-pixel camera, or any replacement module, and snap it on when he gets home. And the phone would still look - and work - like new. Or better.

Google started Project Ara through its Advanced Technology and Projects Group because it wants to create a smartphone that makes almost all of its major components user-upgradable, with snap-on modules that eventually could come from any trusted manufacturer.

When Phonebloks visited Project Ara at NK Labs, one of Google's main contractors for the LEGO-style smartphone, they were told that 100 people would receive a free Project Ara smartphone to beta test. The whole basic phone starts from a structural framework into which the user could snap on new modules to replace malfunctioning ones, like a new screen, a keyboard, or an extra battery.

As innovations emerge, these could all be added onto the frame without having to go to a technician, or buying a new phone.

Google wants to come out with a market pilot by January 2015, with a target bill of materials cost of US$50 for a basic grey phone.

Phonebloks did some behind the scene interviews and now shows a video of a fully functioning Project Ara prototype running Android.

Spiral 1 which is the first generation prototype left about 50 percent of the phone's volume for developers to fit in their hardware. When Spiral 2 comes in January, most of the area should be available for developers - and eventually users - to install their preferred components.

The prototype will be unveiled at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, during the Project Ara Module Developers Conference on January 14. Google will hold a second event for China and the Asian market a week later.

TagsProject Ara, LEGO phone, Phonebloks