I did this a few years ago and got pretty far with a prototype. My idea was to get it to the point of being useful enough to call, text and allow me to leave my iPhone behind when I’m out doing stuff. Then I moved to Asia and we use LINE extensively for everything and there’s no (legit) way to use their APIs.
w-ll 20 hours ago [-]
Amazing work. I really do miss the OG Motorola Droids with the slide keyboard. Being able to ssh into a server with a nearly proper keyboard seems ahead of today.
roughly 19 hours ago [-]
The OG Droid remains one of my favorite devices I’ve ever owned - it’s the closest I’ve ever felt to being in the future, and the whole vibe was intensely cyberpunk.
Den_VR 10 hours ago [-]
And you could swap battery packs whenever you wanted.
abnercoimbre 18 hours ago [-]
And what do you use these days?
roughly 17 hours ago [-]
Nothing half as interesting - the same glass coated soap bar as everyone else.
You can also connect a Bluetooth keyboard to any phone.
dr-detroit 17 hours ago [-]
[dead]
mapontosevenths 15 hours ago [-]
I have one of these. It's neat and does work well. However, it makes the phone incredibly long and awkward to hold.
If it was sliding case it would be perfect, but as it's stands the phone doesn't fit in my pocket if I use it.
OccamsMirror 10 hours ago [-]
Gosh that looks as cool as it does awkward.
kjkjadksj 11 hours ago [-]
I don’t think kids today know how nice it was to have a proper keyboard or even t9. You could text blind from within your hoodie pocket in class.
rainingmonkey 2 hours ago [-]
The FxTec Pro1 is the only sliding keyboard phone of the last decade.
I have one, it's not perfect but it is quite good, and better than all the other recent keyboard phones!
w-ll 10 hours ago [-]
T9 texting in my pocket on a Nokia 330 is our generations Morse code
coffeecantcode 1 hours ago [-]
I was too young when it came out to actually get one, but I remember that red glowing eye, I actually ripped an ad out of a magazine for the original droid and hung it in my room because it looked so badass.
I remember being disappointed to see Android go the cute cuddly green robot route instead of the sick red droid look but overall it was definitely more palatable for the masses.
ProAm 15 hours ago [-]
I would love another slider keyboard phone. I had so many in the past they were great.
kjkjadksj 11 hours ago [-]
You’d think the slider would be fragile but it was really robust. I’d use my old samsung with no case. No glass all plastic. Throw it across the room and it would be fine. If I ever found it in my parents house again I bet it’s still sliding fine. So satisfying like a fidget spinner.
Timpy 17 hours ago [-]
This is cool, very much the hacker ethos. But I didn't see any evidence that it can make a phone call though?
MobiusHorizons 16 hours ago [-]
Yeah, I actually left a comment to that effect on the video when I saw it last week, because I’m pretty sure the placement of the mic / earpiece is incompatible with a traditional voice call. Although arguably traditional phone calls are the least important feature of smartphones for gen z. Even if it was important I would guess Bluetooth headsets are more common than actual holding the phone up to your ear.
cm2187 19 hours ago [-]
It's greatest quality seems to me that the whole screen looks accessible with one hand. I own an iphone 12 mini. Not sure what to replace it with when it dies.
RankingMember 8 minutes ago [-]
I'm hoping Apple's "next big thing" in phones is a folder with the iPhone 12/13 mini form factor when folded. That was the perfect size.
coldpie 1 hours ago [-]
I'm in the same boat. I've been looking at foldables, especially the latest Motorola Razr series. The outer screen is about 4" diagonal, which should serve most needs for one-handed use; and it expands into a modern phablet size if you need the extra space. Haven't got one yet (my 13 Mini is still going strong), but when I need to upgrade, I'll probably give a foldable a shot.
cm2187 58 minutes ago [-]
I read the apple’s response is a foldable which will cost $2000. I did queue in front of the apple store many years ago. But there is no way these days I will spend that kind of money for functionalities I don’t use. Even an iphone 12 mini is an overkill for what I do. I think I will stash a couple of 13 mini. That will give me a good 8 years!
coldpie 56 minutes ago [-]
Hahah, personally I can't wait to go back to Android :) I've found iOS to be a pretty miserable experience. I only got a Mini because it was the smallest phone on the market. IIRC Motorola's Razrs run like $700-1200 depending on what spec you get.
mstade 18 hours ago [-]
I have an iPhone 13 mini to sell you :o)
eep_social 15 hours ago [-]
My new-to-me iphone mini 13 arrived yesterday. Will be upgrading soon or when my 12 mini dies.
arewethereyeta 18 hours ago [-]
Zenfone 10 is pretty cool if you chase the form factor
alpaca128 18 hours ago [-]
Zenfone 10 also isn't available anymore and its software support will end long before the iPhone's, if it hasn't already.
d--b 12 hours ago [-]
I broke my iphone mini 12 last week. I bought a refurbished one to replace it. It cost me about 250€ with 128gb memory and a new battery.
Definitely the way to go.
ume 16 hours ago [-]
Also very impressive (and delivered with great humor)
!!Con 2015 - Kevin Lynagh: I made a cell phone! (DON'T TELL THE FCC KTHX!)
It was interesting but at the end of the day the phone he created is not compelling in any way to me. He says "give us something other than a rectangle" multiple times (to phone makers) but the phone he cannibalized is a zFlip 5 which was already not (just) a rectangle. Also, I actually like my rectangle phone.
I fully expected this to be some kind of fully custom phone but it's just a nerfed android phone. No knock on what he accomplished, it's impressive as hell, but "built my own phone", eh...
It's cool but past making it for this video and maybe carrying it for a month or two I predict this is destined for a junk drawer.
ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 16 hours ago [-]
its content to make the creator money based off interests they have, the subscriber audience they've cultivated, and the sponsorship deal they were offered, then turning 8 paragraphs of text into 30 minutes of confused interest for millions of viewers who aren't sure why they are watching what they are watching. in summary, youtube
tempodox 15 hours ago [-]
What does the “rn” in the title mean?
christophilus 15 hours ago [-]
Right now. At least, I think.
pinkmuffinere 10 hours ago [-]
It is indeed “right now”
20 hours ago [-]
righthand 18 hours ago [-]
I’ve had this same idea, down to the functionality and even using a Samsung FlipZ (I believe it’s possible FlipZ phones support Linux) foldable chip to achieve it!
I was just revisitng the idea yesterday but building a foldable clamshell Gameboy SP like case instead.
IMO you only really need a 4-inch square screen. Now I know it’s possible. I would even take a 4-inch screen device without a keyboard or cellular modem.
8note 14 hours ago [-]
ctrl+c ctrl+d ctrl+v are all too important for me to drop any keyboard.
but, i did get me a tiny 6 key and a knob keyboard i can bring around with my phone, and it gets 95% of what id otherwise use my keyboard for
outsideoftime 3 hours ago [-]
[dead]
rafram 19 hours ago [-]
0:30: An AI-generated clip that appears to show people in Nazi prisoner uniforms.
What?
jonny_eh 19 hours ago [-]
They googled or generated a video with "sad workers making phones"?
Mogzol 19 hours ago [-]
Definitely just factory worker outfits. Why would you assume those were Nazi prisoner uniforms?
incr_me 19 hours ago [-]
The vertical strikes are pretty distinct. Either way you can't say "definitely". The AI probably wasn't even prompted in this way; without any specific investigation, and just because I exist in the symbolic world, I would guess that there is proximity between the embeddings for "factory worker" and "camp prisoner". That is the common rhetoric, isn't it?
Mogzol 16 hours ago [-]
Alright that's my bad I was watching in low quality and did not see the stripes, I thought they were just solid white.
TIL my kiddie pyjamas were modelled after Auschwitz prisoner clothing. /s
rafram 19 hours ago [-]
Because factory workers don't wear uniforms that look like that, ever since they picked up a bad association circa 1945. Google it - you won't find any photos of factory workers dressed like that.
browningstreet 19 hours ago [-]
I think the clip is possibly (and hopefully unintentionally) problematic, but I wouldn't go so far as to say Nazi. If you google "Paddington prison" you'll see a similar striped outfit. So prison labor.. still not awesome, but not necessarily Nazi. And, well, maybe relevant to mass electronic goods manufacturing in certain countries.
That said, he works at Midjourney.. so it's a weird blind spot, if it's a blind spot.
slightwinder 3 hours ago [-]
> If you google "Paddington prison" you'll see a similar striped outfit.
Horizontal Stripes were common in US-Prisons until the early 20th Century [1]. While vertical Stripes were common in Nazi-Camps. It's a very distinct difference, and I would think the source-material has more data about the horizontal than the vertical stripes. So it's fair to ask which specific prompt they had to get pictures from Nazi-labour-camps.
Still pretty cool though.
I did this a few years ago and got pretty far with a prototype. My idea was to get it to the point of being useful enough to call, text and allow me to leave my iPhone behind when I’m out doing stuff. Then I moved to Asia and we use LINE extensively for everything and there’s no (legit) way to use their APIs.
[0] https://www.clicks.tech
If it was sliding case it would be perfect, but as it's stands the phone doesn't fit in my pocket if I use it.
I remember being disappointed to see Android go the cute cuddly green robot route instead of the sick red droid look but overall it was definitely more palatable for the masses.
Definitely the way to go.
!!Con 2015 - Kevin Lynagh: I made a cell phone! (DON'T TELL THE FCC KTHX!)
https://youtu.be/FlRa-iH7PGw?si=8OlGBQNcQRo_biuU
I suggest watching this on 2x playback speed.
I fully expected this to be some kind of fully custom phone but it's just a nerfed android phone. No knock on what he accomplished, it's impressive as hell, but "built my own phone", eh...
It's cool but past making it for this video and maybe carrying it for a month or two I predict this is destined for a junk drawer.
I was just revisitng the idea yesterday but building a foldable clamshell Gameboy SP like case instead.
IMO you only really need a 4-inch square screen. Now I know it’s possible. I would even take a 4-inch screen device without a keyboard or cellular modem.
but, i did get me a tiny 6 key and a knob keyboard i can bring around with my phone, and it gets 95% of what id otherwise use my keyboard for
What?
That said, he works at Midjourney.. so it's a weird blind spot, if it's a blind spot.
Horizontal Stripes were common in US-Prisons until the early 20th Century [1]. While vertical Stripes were common in Nazi-Camps. It's a very distinct difference, and I would think the source-material has more data about the horizontal than the vertical stripes. So it's fair to ask which specific prompt they had to get pictures from Nazi-labour-camps.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn_system
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40350048
Those are horizontal stripes, not vertical.