[Victor] popped up in the comments of yesterday’s DIy Cellphone to show off his own home made phone, the µPhone (google translated). [Victor] has put some effort into making this thing very compact. As you can see in the video after the break, he even left off the number pad to save space. Instead, you do everything by using a small joystick and two buttons. He claims that he really only calls a small number of people, so this layout works fine once he has programmed their contact information in.
For some reason none of the pictures are showing up in the extensive forum thread on the project. It is fun though, to follow along as he tries to get this thing working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhe5czj97jg&feature=player_embedded
this just scream “zoolander” XD
still awesome
or you could get a Nokia 5310.
9mm thick, barely longer than my palm. it’s also mostly indestructible and a favorite of KIRFers, so replacement parts are cheap and plentiful.
plan on keeping mine until the end of days.
Yup, because “owning a small phone” was the whole point of this project…
This one is 6 times smaller, but yeah there are tiny phones available commercially, but as jake says that’s not the point.
I think a side button to make the selections with your other hand after the joystick got to the position would be faster, that middle click thing is not very convenient.
Any one with money can buy a small cellphone, it takes skill to build a small cellphone. Its about the making
I bet a few bucks that his guy is a member of ETA, a electronics lab at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden! Seems just like one of those things people make there 😉
Sadly the web sucks, but have a look anyway: eta.chalmers.se
Yepp, you are correct.
But I spend most of my time at CRF.
Seems there are quite a lot of ETA’s apart from the basque separatist group I see, who knew eh.
The reason no pictures are showing up in the forum thread is because all pictures uploaded directly to the forums server is only shown for registered users.
However, this is an awesome project! 🙂
“Microphone.” I love it.
More likely “mu-phone”. I didn’t catch Victor saying the name in the video, but I know Germans pronounce “μ” as “mu” (“myu”?).
But he is not German… at least he is not speaking german in the videos.
That is swede is he is talkin.
Not even close to german.
μ is the SI prefix for, and when talking about measurements is pronounced as, “micro.” I am forever seeing “microcontroller” abbreviated as “μ-controller”
The letter is a greek mu, but the SI prefix it indicates is “micro”
LoL…next he needs to build a whole phone inside a jawbone. No need for a screen, just use TTS and a mini joystick to do everything.
this is amazing ..like victor i too feel that off the shelf phones are like 99% bloated with useless stuff. to be honest most “smartphones” are not phones at all but rather very small computers. this back to the root stuff is really inspiring….
i just wish id knew swedisch cause google translate is often just gibberish….
You guys needs to register on elektronikforumet to see the pics, this is to minimise the ammount of traffic.
New video:
http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/203491/voteable_entries/49511970
Maybe a rotary dial would be the best input method
(half serious, half joking) or the keypad from a calculator watch (more serious).
His UI is pretty darn impressive as it is, but I agree that a scroll wheel would be very handy for character selection. I had a couple toyish gadgets in the past that used that method and it was surprisingly comfortable.
Yes a scroll wheel or ball would be a lot better however this is the sweetest thing ever. I’m considering giving up my Android for something like this. DANG. I guess it’s worth it to sacrifice the apps for mobility. However you could totally have games like Snake and break-out on it.
Build it into a pair of sunglasses.
add a camera and ill buy one 🙂
That’s quite an achievement on many different levels. With some more work on the case it could be miniaturized even more.
He should sell it. If he created a Kickstarter to produce them on a larger scale I’m sure many people would be interested. I’d probably buy one if the price is not too high.
awesome
… this is the captian,
beam me up scot… oh wait,
whats scotties number again? anyone?
dammit, ill just take the bus,,, lolz
This would be a very popular model in the prison systems. Most phones are a real pain in the a**.
lol i was thinking liquidproof too!…
but i was thinking about startrek form factor and RAIN.
lolz
such contrast to the silly iphone which i swear they should make with a suitcase handle.