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A Simple open-source Phone programmable with Arduino
- vivzkestrel 2y agoany reasons to not have a fully touch screen phone in the pro model?
- thomascountz 2y agoFrom their FAQ[1]: > WHY ARE YOU USING BUTTONS AND NOT A TOUCHSCREEN? > Because they are simpler and (at this scale) cheaper than buying a larger touch-enabled screen. We want to make a low-cost phone that's easy for people to adapt to their needs. We think physical buttons are easier for people with limited hacking skills (or simply better things to do than configure soft buttons) to adapt to their needs. [1]: https://wiphone.io/FAQ.html https://wiphone.io/FAQ.html
- pkphilip 2y agoIt is not really a phone - it is more like a Wifi connected device which makes all calls over VOIP. There is no GSM connection and therefore no SIM etc. I like the project but calling this a phone is inaccurate. If a GSM module is also included, this would be a lovely device to have. Also, would be nice to have a much larger screen.
- esperent 2y agoI don't think that's fair. Phones used to be connected by wires, then there where a few satellite connected phones, and nowadays most are connected by cellular. But they're all phones because that's what we call a device used to connect and talk to people at long distance using a registry of numbers or names. This one connects using WiFi, which is unusual. But it has the same basic functionality of being a phone.
- cultofmetatron 2y agoby your definition, my laptop is a phone too.
- guerrilla 2y agoNo, that's not the primary purpose of your laptop.
- cultofmetatron 2y agotell that to my mom! :P
- Topfi 2y agoBy that logic, neither are modern day smartphones.
- guerrilla 2y agoI agree. That's why I prefer the term mobile, since I can at least pretend it means mobile computer.
- allanrbo 2y agoWould be fun to try to run Meshtastic on it.
- harry8 2y agoSignal & Whatsapp are now vendor lock in for the apple/droid duopoly. :(
- MaximilianEmel 2y agoPunkt's MP02 supports Signal. https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/ https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/
- Springtime 2y agoThe 3G and 4G versions of that phone are Android-based, for context.
- MaximilianEmel 2y agoThat's disappointing to learn.
- raphman 2y agoFWIW, Whisperfish, the unofficial Signal client for Sailfish OS works really well. An if I wanted, I could use the WhatsApp Android app on Sailfish via its App Support emulation layer. https://openrepos.net/content/rubdos/whisperfish https://openrepos.net/content/rubdos/whisperfish
- prmoustache 2y agoWith some caveats, I also successfully used whatsapp over matrix although that required to have whatsapp running on a separate device.
- stiltzkin 2y ago[dead]
- throwaway14356 2y agoyou could set an away message to point at other means of messaging(?)
- thomascountz 2y agoThough it's not a "cell" phone as-is (I'd argue it is still a "phone"), there isn't much stopping it from becoming one! GSM modules and supporting Arduino libraries are readily available, e.g. https://www.adafruit.com/category/281 https://www.adafruit.com/category/281 Edit: I just saw there's a LoRA daughter board developed, so a GSM board seems not too far fetched! See: https://www.wiphone.io/docs/LoRa/latest/ https://www.wiphone.io/docs/LoRa/latest/
- rambambram 2y agoCool project, and an accompanying blog that's already running for years. Please add an RSS feed to the blog, so people can get updates that way. Now I can only save it as a bookmark. I really like the fact that Wiphone has LoRA add-ons!
- butz 2y agoHow hard would be to add a GSM module to this device? I assume that it won't be no longer fully open source due to proprietary firmware, but that would add a whole new dimension of usefulness.
- Springtime 2y agoI like the little phone UI showcase above the fold. Reminds me of those Flash-based interactive UI demos that phone makers had on their sites back in the early 00s.
- poopsmithe 2y agoI owned a Wiphone for about 3 days before deciding it's not for me. I was hoping for something that followed the Unix philosophy of doing one thing well and working well with others. Unfortunately though the included firmware was rather bad at filling the role of a phone. I couldn't get my SIP account to reliably place calls. Sometimes the call would be established and I would hear the other end, but the other end could not hear me. Usually it wouldn't connect at all and there was no error logging to tell me what was going wrong. The Pacman clone was the most enjoyable app.
- lelanthran 2y ago> Sometimes the call would be established and I would hear the other end, but the other end could not hear me. I've done some work in this area - CGNAT is to be blamed when using UDP for voice traffic. Very hard to reliably hole-punch CGNAT.
- mypalmike 2y agoIt seems unlikely to be a cgnat issue since the phone uses WiFi rather than cellular networks (where cgnat is most commonly found).
- codebje 2y agoCGNAT is very common in broadband ISPs, to the point that you’re more likely to be sharing an IP with other users than not unless you’re specifically paying more for a dedicated IP.
- catherd 2y agoHow long ago was this? Our VoIP stack is completely custom and has taken a while to build. We've been putting significant work into it and lately it's better. We've also specifically avoided adding many additional features while the calling and texting was brought up, so you aren't wrong on the philosophy, maybe you just bought yours before the work was done. You can enable logging errors to a serial console. We don't add that by default because it slows down the OS. My email is in my profile if you'd like me to walk you through how to enable that.
- yapyap 2y agoWhy doesn’t it use a sim card
- p4bl0 2y agoIf such a device could support Signal and WhatsApp voice call and text messages, it would be awesome. In the meantime it doesn't seem actually usable in the real world. Fun hacking (in the sense of tinkering) device though.
- shrubble 2y agoIt's pretty cool, though I probably wouldn't spend for it, being a cheap bastard. If you wanted to use encryption, you could set up a VM or Pi on your local WiFi network running Asterisk, and have the calls bridged, such as Asterisk <--> Jitsi, with the person on the other end using Jitsi; this would encrypt everything except the local Wifi portion, but anything leaving your home would be encrypted. Any time a phone number touches the "regular" phone network, it must by law be allowed to be eavesdropped on (CALEA) by the government. So anything completing over SIP that used regular phone service could be intercepted. If you had encryption from the WiPhone to a shared Asterisk, such as with a group all using the same PBX then you might be able to avoid it.
- tightbookkeeper 2y agoThis looks cool! The minimalist android shells feel pointless because the inherent complexity still exists.
- jqpabc123 2y agoTake an old Android phone you may already have lying around. - Remove any SIM card - Install VOIP softphone app and configure with WiFi. - Go enjoy the $175 you didn't spend on this.
- GeoAtreides 2y agomaybe read the specs first? my old phone doesn't have: 20 pin programmable header on back of phone (including SPI, UART, I2C) I2C Qwiic port (a lot of adafruit sensors have qwiic ports) and code that i can modify in arduino ide
- johndough 2y agoBut your old phone probably has USB or Bluetooth with which you can connect some cheap board with all the pins you desire.
- TrapLord_Rhodo 2y agoYour android doesn't natively support all hardware communication protocols like I2C, SPI, and UART... It's still a walled garden without access to the source code. You can't modify the firmware, drivers, or hardware behavior.
- throwaway14356 2y agowhat would be some fun example of using those with this phone?
- TrapLord_Rhodo 2y agoThey have it on their website. They make an RC Car with it.
- gavindean90 2y agoBut I can make an RC car without it too. It’s a WiFi RC car. I too am curious who wants to modify a WiFi phone’s firmware and for what.
- ape4 2y agoMight be nice for senior citizens.
- icemelt8 2y agoSorry for my curiosity, but what are you doing in Pakistan?
- nativeit 2y agoLiving and working there, presumably?
- criddell 2y agoI always thought the Nokia Python phone was a pretty neat idea. https://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=148064 https://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=148064
- styczen 2y agoI waiting for STM (ARM0) and usbC and meybe better power (step-up-down from 1-12V?) I can emergency use any AA, 18650, 12V from my car, solar panel etc. And meybe integrated sound cable for baofeng/quansheng (K1<->USBA) USBA as powerbank and Packet radio or http://reticulum.network http://reticulum.network
- joshmarinacci 2y agoWhen I read the headline I clicked to see how they solved the problem of getting onto the modern cell network with hackable components. Answer: they didn’t. WiFi only. Yes there are Arduino GSM modules , but they are old (2G or 3G), expensive, and do not work well or at all in the US.
- robto 2y agoI could see using one of these as a landline replacement. I was lamenting with another parent the expense of a landline and how difficult it is for kids to call each other to arrange a park meetup or other games - this could fill that gap perfectly.
- metalman 2y agoburrurrrring burrurrring,Hello you have reached the US Government Prosecution Department,Elon division please press #1 if Elon said something incorrect press 2 for Elon is arrogant,get him 3 for all issues with fairness 4 for space beams and rocket chem trails and 5 for all other things that Elon is responsible for
- sabareesh 2y agoWell good old days of ioio which you can connect with android phone through usb or bluetooth and play with lower level pins.
- 6510 2y agoI don't know how to arduino and I have no ideas what to do with this but it sounds and looks very cool, the price is good too. Good work.
- jschroedl 2y agoNo a phone
- josh_carterPDX 2y agoThese are all great comments here, but I am surprised no one is concerned about this being from Hong Kong. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- averageRoyalty 2y ago> We have designed both a LoRa add-on module and an LTE module. Please join the mailing list if you want to be notified when they are ready for sale. We may also sell other modules depending on interest. Unfortunately a non starter for myself and I suspect many others. I am happy to hook into a push notification plane or build by own polling etc, but without LTE this device isn't useful as soon as I step out the door :(.
- eternityforest 2y agoIf the price wasn't so high I'd say it would have a very relevant use as a replacement for FRS in one-building sized events.
- M95D 2y agoMakerPhone / Ringo was far better. It was actually a real phone based on ESP32 + a GSM/LTE module. It could make phone calls, SMS, had games, apps, etc. at the level of what early 2000 GSM phones could do. Project is abandoned now. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/albertgajsak/makerphone-an-educational-diy-mobile-phone https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/albertgajsak/makerphone... https://github.com/CircuitMess/CircuitMess-Ringo https://github.com/CircuitMess/CircuitMess-Ringo
- catherd 2y ago"Better" depends on what you are after. In my world better means not being tied to using proprietary communication protocols over compromised networks with hardware I don't really own/can't control. The makerphone was a learning tool and built to that spec. It wouldn't survive being carried around in your pocket, for example, but it was fine for teaching you how to program and how a phone works.
- mkrishnan 2y ago[dead]