Let’s go back to the basic functionality of phones from the early 2000s: sending and receiving SMS, making calls. Gabriel Rochet, 16, designed his own cell phone with these features using simple YouTube tutorials, the story goes. the parisian.
It took him three years to design this phone, called the Paxo. Forget about the social media palette in the menu, the super high quality camera or the fast internet connection. Paxo’s promise is the first to show that it’s possible to make your own phone.
Some additional functions are provided: a clock, a calculator or a map to calculate your GPS coordinates. Without forgetting a nod to the 2000s, Gabriel Rochet also installed the games “Snake” and “2048”.
For the Internet connection, the phone works with 2G, which keeps the price relatively low. As the project is constantly evolving, the young manufacturer wants to switch to 4G, which will significantly increase the price to around 50 euros.
An open source work
Passionate about computing and electronic equipment, Gabriel Rochet proceeded in stages. He started by recovering components and then got help from the internet. After a year, he managed to turn on the screen and make a call.
The goal is not to sell the product, but to encourage people to make their own phone at a lower cost with a mounting kit that will soon be available. Assembly of the device is offered in open source on their site, with an online kit to help you. So far 580 euros have been raised.
Next step, making the phone more efficient while maintaining a very advantageous price, as well as posting a video tutorial on YouTube about assembling the phone.
Source: BFM TV
