DIY cellphone

"Cellular connectivity is provided by the SM5100B GSM Module...". Meh. No way a DYI. It's like you assemble your desktop PC from pieces like motherboard and power supply and say that you built a DYI PC.

BTW, the latest files are here:<p>Hardware: <a href="https://github.com/damellis/cellphone2hw" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/damellis/cellphone2hw</a> Software: <a href="https://github.com/damellis/cellphone2" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/damellis/cellphone2</a>

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned OpenMoko so far: The attempt to create a truly open sourced mobile phone: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openmoko</a><p>Sadly, it failed and was abandoned in 2009.

Didn't a marketing company recently put live messages into a magazine page using a single chip gsm solution?<p>Yeah here it was: <a href="http://creativity-online.com/work/cw-live-twitter-feed-in-print--4/29266" rel="nofollow">http://creativity-online.com/work/cw-live-twitter-feed-in-pr...</a><p>I vaguely remember people changing out the gsm sim or making calls on it.<p>Ah nevermind, it was a fullblown android phone, not a single chip solution: <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/10/02/ew-has-smartphone-inside/" rel="nofollow">http://mashable.com/2012/10/02/ew-has-smartphone-inside/</a>

My grandmother has pretty bad arthritis. No major carrier sells a handset that is easy for my grandmother to manage. It may be time to put one together for her.

How to shrink a basestation into a Raspberry Pi. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCcKgrzbix4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCcKgrzbix4</a> It's not the handset, but rather the basestation. But the concept is similar. I saw this working. It works. And there are open-source versions of the handset software too, although not as mature as OpenBTS.

Can anyone share any details about one of those laser wood cutters? Costs/Materials/Brands/Issues etc. for a hobbyist?

With all these open cell phone stacks: what do people do about IMEI? Isn't modifying IMEIs illegal in many countries? Or is the IMEI already programmed as part of some module from the factory and thus there's no need to change it?<p>EDIT: Whoops. I did mean IMEI and not ESN. I've edited this post.

<a href="http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=27" rel="nofollow">http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=27</a><p>This has more possibilities to me. More exhibition with interaction from viewers.

Finally, a karma free phone. I wonder if people will start designing cases made using a 3D printer for the next generations of these DIY cell phones.

I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read:<p><a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/rdPncl1.html</a>

It's like Raspberry Pi for cell phones...