WiPhone is a unique, minimal phone. It uses WIFI to make HD voice calls, for free. This means that there is no required service contract - you can make free calls as long as you have a WiFi connection.
WiPhone is an open source phone, compatible with the Arduino platform: it’s hackable, modular, cheap, and open.
No. You might be able to get one into the microSD slot if you really push.
You can sign up for one of the free VoIP services. This method allows you to receive calls, and to call anyone with a VoIP app installed on their phone or computer.
If you need to call regular phone numbers you will need to sign up for a paid VoIP service. Those generally cost significantly less than residential or cellular service.
The hardware supports it, if someone wants to write the software to enable it.
We have designed both a LoRa add-on module and an LTE module. Please join the mailing list if you want to be notified when they are ready for sale. We may also sell other modules depending on interest. Fpr those of you who can design a PCB, we've reserved a header on the back of the phone for expansion if you want to add that capability.
Update: We have designed a LoRA daughterboard which may go into production if the response is big enough
Because they are simpler and (at this scale) cheaper than buying a larger touch-enabled screen. We want to make a low-cost phone that's easy for people to adapt to their needs. We think physical buttons are easier for people with limited hacking skills (or simply better things to do than configure soft buttons) to adapt to their needs.
Based on our testing, you can probably expect about a full day of talk time. Standby time should be around a week, but it requires disabling of the radio since the ESP32 processor does not have any true low-power sleep modes that maintain the WiFi connection.
See the Specifications for the detailed specs.
We wrote it. There weren't any open source libraries available that were suitable for small embedded applications like this one.
Probably Github. After we ship the rewards.
It doesn't, really. We wrote it using Processing (AKA Arduino), which lets you use the Arduino IDE that most electronics hackers are familiar with. Once the code is released you can easily look through the code to see how it all works. Or load your own and use the hardware for a completely different purpose.
Yes. FCC, CE, IC, and RCM.
Currently no. It's a possibility later. Feel free to let us know if this is an important feature for you.