During the past year, several projects for the creation of smartphones were announced whose main characteristic is to use only open source, projects of which we have made mention here on the blog.
Among them one one of the most anticipated is Librem 5 which promises the use of blockchain and open source components for "total user" privacy. On the other hand, we have the Pine64 project, "PinePhone" and finally a project with which you can build your own phone with your Raspberry Zero and Arduino.
WiPhone, a phone for programmers and Arduino lovers
Now this time another project called WiPhone is an open source mobile IP phone.
WiPhone is designed to be hackable, modular, cheap and open, while still being usable.
As a result, the Wiphone is an open source phone project. capable of making HD calls over the Internet by relying on nearby WiFi.
iPhone is designed by enthusiastic programmers and lovers of Arduino. Since the complete disassembly of the WiPhone is in less than a minute, using only 4 screws.
The operating system firmware is open and simple enough for a motivated person to fully understand.
WiPhone is not only capable of making VoIP calls, but It is also an open source standalone Arduino development platform.
It comes with battery, power supply, and on / off circuitry, unlike most other development boards.
Once your project is done, instead of a lot of tangled wires and stacked boards, it is compact and visually appealing.
Note that the development team has chosen to leave out the components of cellular network access, for reasons related to privacy, openness and cost. Therefore, even if the abandonment of the cellular network implies a great loss of capacities, it is an option that introduces a number of advantages.
Privacy
It almost completely cancels a wide variety of questions related to life. private. There are no cookies that follow you or triangulation based on cell towers.
Opening
Delete a component that acts as a black box (the baseband radio), which is closed and protected, very poorly documented, runs firmware that we cannot control and requires interaction with binary blobs.
Cost
WiPhone is a phone and people will inevitably compare its specifications and prices with those of mass market phones produced in volumes of millions of units per year.
Cellular network access modules available for low-volume products like the WiPhone cost as much as a cheap Android phone.
WiPhone Features
The WiPhone bases its use over an IP. So there is no 4G, 3G, CDMA or GSM at the moment. The device has expansion cards that allow you to add additional features.
In the current list, there is a radio technology called LoRa that allows data packets to be sent over miles.
Also, the single board computer's integrated development environment is expected to serve customization purposes.
The WiPhone is constituted as follows:
- PSRAM 4MB
- 16MB Flash
- Battery 700 mAh
- ESP32 Dual core running at 240 MHz
- External access headers for custom daughter boards, including UART, SPI, I2C, PWM, digital I / O, ADC functions
- VoIP phone (WiFi)
- 2.4 "display (320 x 240)
- 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Micro USB for charging, serial communication and firmware updates.
- 3,5mm audio jack
- Internal microSD slot
- Size: 120 mm x 50 mm x 12 mm
- Weight: 80g
- 700 mAh battery, 8 hours talk / 1 week standby time (estimated)
- 25 button keypad, 4 reserved for user, all keys are user programmable
- System based on ESPressif ESP32, programmable on Arduino.
- MicroPython for user applications.
- 20-pin programmable header on the back of the phone
The WiPhone it is estimated at less than $ 100. The device could cost twice as much as the Zerophone: a Linux phone based on the Raspberry Pi .
The crowdfunding phase begins on 1 March.