Open Phone

Made for real connections

Source: https://codeberg.org/bvoigtlaender/open-phone

A cell phone made for those who value true connections, it is reduced to its basic functions, accessible to all age groups, connecting friends and family while respecting their privacy and time.

Update 10th of June 2025

I have hooked up the display with the Arduino I already did this a couple of times using the example provided by Waveshare. This time around though i rewrote it (basically copying it line by line) just so I would understand what is going on, it helped a lot.

Update 14th of June 2025

I wrote a script to convert PNG files to CPP in Python. It was kinda funny as I actually thought about using AI to generate a script, as the scope is fairly small. When I did though I felt bad about not using my own brain and secretly wished it wouldn't work. Thankfully it ended up not working, even though it would probably have worked if I "told" it what exactly didn't work (wrong colors, looked like it was inverted or something). However I did use the chance to recover from that slip up and wrote the script myself. It was really fun and reminded me of my early days of programming with clear instructions and simple answers.

Udate 5th of July 2025

I have a first rough prototype of the menu of the operating system and hooked up a keypad to control it. I also have set an approximation of how the architecture might look like in the future.

Update 6th of July 2025

I transferred the keypad to an button matrix, as that is what I have to use in the final product anyways. It worked surprisingly well, as the connections are the same. It just takes up more space now.

Update 14th of July 2025

I have created a scrollable list; as an example, I have made a contacts list. It's not really generic though.

update 13th of august 2025

Today I have transferred my work on the open phone from the breadboard to a soldered prototype board. The start went for my standards extraordinarily good. I have attached a video showing that and only that as the quality of the soldered connections took a big turn for the bad right after. Some of the worst solder jobs I have ever seen but to my surprise it still is working.
Update: The connections are still connecting as of the 15th of September. It even survived a trip to Denmark, but some connections are loose so I am thinking about learning how to create a prober PCB and order it from PCBway or someplace like that. Having a real devkit to focus solely on software would be great!

Update 14th of August 2025

I have hot glued both pieces together making the open phone for the first time ever recognisable as a phone! I'm really happy how it looks, first I wanted to 3D print a case right away but I love the "hacker" aesthetics too much

Update 30th of August 2025

Today I took my open phone on my our first vacation together!