2w ago

A phone

Very much still in progress (As you might be able to see :) ). My goal is to make a Nokia phone as if it is made in 2025 (or 202X kinda running out of time there and im not even sure how long it will take me) With USB-C, 4G (5G is not planned for reasons), 1TB+ of expandable Storage. I have already sent my first SMS/Call (a call without a mic or speaker to be precise...)

Phones just do too much these days. And I don't get the feeling they respect my time nor privacy. They are also pretty boring as they all look the same. On top of that the current landscape of "dumb phones" consist of expensive phones you could hang in a art gallery, ugly phones with big ass buttons for seniors or inefficient un-optimized phones running android. I wanna change that.

38 comments

Pretty neat! Mind showing us what the interface looks like with the screen on? What kind of OS is it running?
Looks pretty barebones from a hardware perspective; about how much would you say the bill of materials cost overall?
- Thanks! :) Currently it consist of multiple development boards soldered together.
  Waveshare 13892 1.8inch LCD Module 12,90€ Waveshare SIM7600X 4G Module $59.99 Arduino Nano ESP32 19,20€
  Which is maybe around 95€ with wires, prototype board and too much hot glue :)
  Maybe it gets cheaper if I solder the components directly on the board as you should do in the final product. However I still have to learn how i do that.
  I also should eventually switch to an actual ESP32 and take off the Arduino training wheels. But I will try to tackle one thing at a time.
  Here you can see the OS more or less in its current form: https://social.bvoigtlaender.de/@bjarne/statuses/01K9CNYCG9Q34C3KF3FQWED9G2
  It is written from scratch using CPP (The Arduino version of that).
  
  Interesting! Crazy cool too IMO!
  Is the nano esp just a beefy esp32?
  
  Ha! One look at this and was certain an esp32 was involved! Just left a message yesterday about how I love that little chip so much!
  Praise the chip!
  
  In my experience the hard part is to make it have low enough consumption to be ableable to run on batteries without draining them too quickly.
  You'll probably have to ditch the one or more of the boards and replace them with the just the components (in the case of the GSM one, the module) which can be a bit complex to begin with if the board is generating its own voltage for the components and you don't know how to do it yet (look into voltage boost converters - probably needed for the GSM module - and buck converters - the most efficient way to get 3.3V from a LiPo battery - as you can find plenty of chips that do most of the work for you)
  That said the ESP32 is very easy to run on its own once you have the 3.3V it needs - if I remember it correctly you need all of a single 10k Ohm external resistor to make sure RESET is pulled up - and you can still program it with the Arduino framework.
  Once you're ready try designing your own circuit board with something like Kicad and have it done in one of the cheap Chinese retail circuit board makers like JLCPCB.
  
  So the main cost of all of it is the cellular data connection chip, right?
I find your project very interesting, I have to point out a bit of irony though. You say,
Phones just do too much these days. And I don't get the feeling they respect my time nor privacy.
However, making regular voice calls and sending SMS over the cell network is absolutely not private. If you want privacy you need the ability to utilize end to end encryption, and to do that you need a device capable of running something like Signal.
Other than that I agree with your other points. I too miss the days where phones didn't all look like a slab of glass and every manufacturer wasn't afraid to experiment with all sorts of cool features.
- You are right. I did mention in another reply that I was thinking about implementing the signal protocol for that reason, but I wouldn't know where to even start with that. It is a bit daunting and I have put it all the way at the end of the roadmap. Im happy even if I end up not being able to do that.
  I guess the focus for the phone will be on a sensible feature set and it being fun.
  
  You could implement XMPP with OMEMO!
  There's already bunches of libraries! And standards! So many standards!
I think you're there man. Looks perfect.
- :) I actually was meaning to 3d print a case, but started to really like the diy feel to it (I will ofc eventually do that though) Only down side is that whenever i take it out to the public, people look at it like they see a ticking time bomb and take few steps back.
  
  "Don't worry: That version shouldn't explode anymore!"
  
  LOL
I'm happy to know there's someone out there doing something that was once close to my heart. The current trend of every other phone looking like the previous as well as the next one has created a void for me.
\ When you feel unmotivated, just remember there are people in this world who think you are doing great work.
\ I wish you the best in the world, may you always get your favourite food, may your internet always stay fast and you poop like clockwork.
- Thank you for your kind words! I might just frame your reply for motivation. :) The phone market really does look bleak these days. Im going for a T310 kind of vibe, it should be fun to use. But I don't wanna go overboard with that either. It should be the perfect mix out of retro and modern. Like a lot of UI choices made back then wouldn't really fly these days. I actually was kinda surprised by that.
  
  I remember that T310 design. Lovely vibe.
Love the soldering! Just up My street. Maybe what I need are some of those boards i can solder shit to. My projects never seem to get off the breadboard
- Thanks, wait till you see the backside though 😬
  I did not solder since I have first learned it in school so my first ones were really bad and i don't even know how some on the backside are even connected.
  Which is why im thinking about redoing it, especially cause im running out of space. So maybe it can also be good to stay on the breadboard for a little while :)
  I did move on to a prototypeboard also just to be able to hold something in your hands, it is really motivating going forward.
I've been saying that phones should have a rectal probe for a long time! Thanks for validating me.
- They are detachable and come in different sizes too!
  
  Hardcore.
- validating me
  Not how I read that the first time around
More power to ya.
I feel like folks on the dumb phone and single purpose devices comms would enjoy this ☺️
That's really cool!

38 comments