Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/02/18/open-source-rotary-cellphone.html
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Wait, wouldn’t T9 work here?
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Spoiler alert, though: the case kit only works with a specific
Western Electric rotary dial, so the handful of Siemens/T&N rotary phones that must be lying around somewhere in the basement are right out.
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in some ways may actually be more functional.
More functional than a phone with a display? In what way?
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You’ll have to actually remember your phone numbers.
Phone / Address books will become great again.
Pencils will experience a resurgence.
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meh. I use the actual telephone aspect of my smartphone maybe once a week? I absolutely hate talking on the phone, and avoid it for basic communication unless necessary to conduct some sort of business. Would much rather facetime with friends and family for longer conversations that texting or email can’t satisfy. This is just strikes me as hipsterish exceptionalism.
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Instead of destroying a classic Trimline, I think a neater idea would be to build it into the original Trimline handset instead. Aside from the dial, it has a push button (in landline use, to momentarily hang up to make a new call). Later versions had a dial lit by an LED as well.
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True, but then it would be a “bag phone” instead of “cellphone”.
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I didn’t see the receiver to hang up the phone to?
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Or shirts…
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Cute but I grew up in the 70s so I gotta say fuck rotary phones.
(My first hacking/phreaking experience at 6 was figuring out I could dial with the phone hook. Count tapping for each digit and pause between taps. I knew if I ever found a phone with a lock on the dial I could totally make a call.)
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Like … your phone number has three zeros in it ? Screw that.
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One of those small, plastic moving fingerstop dials from a trimline phone. It would seem easier to put cellphone guts into a butt-set.
That would probably work well enough… but for me the appeal of this project quite hinges on the possibility of actually using some of my existing electrojunk to build something new (I think it’s called upcycling these days).
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I am excited about the e-ink on the back though.
Maybe we’ll eventually get smartphone cases with e-ink? Some kind of transmission through bluetooth?
The same photo of this device is being used in an ad for “wi-fi boosters” that I saw in the Wunderground app this morning.
I mean, I suppose it’s possible, but…
Awww hell no.
Do not suggest using a Blackwing pencil to dial with. Mark will have an existential dilemma!
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