Do you remember what dial phones were like? It was a sign of identity that ended up being lost over the years. An engineer wanted to implement this system on her private smartphone. Why did she do it? The first phones that existed carried a device that is now extinct, or at least we thought so. We refer to the rotary dial, which consisted of a disc with ten holes to rotate it until it reaches the stop.
Each movement that was made would be equivalent to a number depending on the path that the disc made (the shortest would be 1, and the longest would be 0). The first telephones with this dial began to be commercialized at the beginning of the 20th century.
If you want to know more about the world of telephony, Fundación Telefónica has several related exhibitions in this sector. It is also available as a Movistar App, you just have to say “Ok Aura, what exhibitions are there today?”, And you will have access to the contents of the Fundación Telefónica.
This dialling system was well known decades ago, but can you imagine merging it with a mobile?
A perfect excuse
This work has been carried out by Justine Haupt, developer of astronomy instrumentation at Brookhaven National Laboratory, in order to create a fully functional mobile phone, but without a touch screen to avoid writing text messages.
Haupt’s invention consists of a rotary dial of a Western Electric Trimline telephone, a removable antenna with an SMA connector, an electronic ink display, and a circuit that she designed with an Adafruit Fona 3G transistor.
Many parts that you have needed to create your new phone were made using a 3D printer.
The battle against smartphones
Haupt when presenting his invention justified that “we live in an annoying world with hyperconnected people who use telephones over which they have no control or compression. So I wanted something that was personal and more effective than today’s phones. ”
It really is? For example, it can be opened to repair and change components, which recent models do not allow. Also, the signal reception of your invention is much better thanks to its directional antenna.
Other details to highlight is that it is easily updated and turns off with a traditional switch. And most importantly, it has a 24-hour autonomy.
Currently, we know models that are foldable, have a high-resolution screen or have very powerful processors. Would you like to have a mobile-like Haupt’s?
