Rotary un-Smartphone - photo

[Jon]

Open source rotary dial cellular phone. Analog/digital combo with Arduino microcontroller and mechanical ringer bell.

https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/index.html

• Better reception because the antennas aren't packed against the electronics.
• You don't have to navigate an operating system to get to the phone "application".
• You can assign two buttons to be hard-coded for quick dialing your favorite people. Your spouse, parent, or child can be a single button-press away.
• The point of the phone isn't to use the rotary dial every time you call someone, which would get tiresome fast. You can store your contacts list and then dial up your friends with just two spins of the dial. When the less frequent need to dial a new number arises, the novelty of the satisfying-to-use rotary dial is fun rather than annoying.
• Previously, phones with physical keys required a clamshell (flip) form-factor to prevent unintended dialing. Rotary dials are naturally resistant to butt dialing.
• Nearly instantaneous 10-segment display of signal strength or battery level. Compare to typical 4-bar signal meters.
• The rear ePaper display (for displaying contacts) is bistatic, meaning it doesn't take any energy to display a fixed message.
• The power switch is an actual slide switch. No holding down a stupid button to make it turn off and not being sure it really is turning off or what.
• Physical cut-off switch for the microphone. Thank you Edward Snowden.