Ever thought of creating your own customized smart phone that fulfills all your requirements? Well, Croatian tech startup, CircuitMess lets you do just that and more. The company recently came up with the MakerPhone, a DIY mobile phone that lets individuals older than 11 years create their own cellular devices. While it may not be as fancy and high-end like Samsung, Google or Apple, it certainly is a cool way to gain knowledge about electronics and coding.
The MakerPhone comes in a box containing various detachable parts and accessories. The parts include a 1.8-inch, 128 x 160 resolution color LCD display, main circuit board, sound module with a dedicated 10-bit DAC along with an electronic volume controller, RGB LEDs, laser-cut acrylic housing, GSM module, microcomputer with integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4 MB of built-in flash memory. CircuitMess has also provided makers with online tutorials to teach them how to assemble various components and create their own games and apps via programming on Scratch, MicroPython and Arduino IDE (based on C/C++ language). Furthermore, the makers will also learn how to solder, code and learn informative tidbits on how a phone actually works.
Furthermore, the box comes with a 128 MB SD card containing apps, tools and games for users to install, and a 600 mAh Li-Pol battery. Along with a physical numeric keypad in the front, there is also a 4-way mechanical joystick and multi-purpose addressable buttons. While everything is provided the makers will have to use their own microSIM card.
According to the company, you can build up the hardware within seven hours; however, coding might take time as it depends completely on your skill level. Once you’re done setting everything up, the MakerPhone will be functional for making calls, drafting and sending texts, playing games like Snake and Pong, blasting music, surfing the internet and more. You can even add more features by learning how to customize the hardware, learning the details of coding, experimenting with the UI and even build their own games and apps.
20-year-old Albert Gajšak, creator of the MakerPhone, claimed in a statement, “Based on our experience, an 11-year-old kid should be able to assemble their own Makerphone with a tiny bit of help from an adult. Despite it being a much more complex compared to Makerbuino, Makerphone is actually more intuitive and easy to assemble. No specific expertise is needed, just enthusiasm and interest in technology.”
This learning device is up on KickStarter and unsurprisingly has already met its funding goal of US$15,000 with six weeks left on the clock. Interested individuals can pledge for the MakerPhone at $89. However, if you want them to supply the tools required to build the phone, you’ll need to make a pledge for $119, which sounds quite reasonable to be honest. After that you’ll have to wait till March 2019 to receive your device.
If everything goes according to plan, the device could serve as a great learning opportunity for aspiring programmers and electronics engineers.
All Images: © CircuitMess
h/t: Digital Trends