Build-it-yourself cell phones
<<<...Casey Halverson, a Seattle-based mobile developer who is also working on homemade phone projects, has similar complaints. Commercial cell phones don't let developers write at a basic level that talks directly to the hardware, which makes some programming tasks impossible or hugely inefficient, he said. "I think as more people move to mobile devices, they will be running into more and more limits with closed systems," Halverson said. "For now, this kind of project is limited to tinkerers, but in the future there might be some kind of open platform for people to do these kinds of things."
Cellphone reuse.: reader comment from AECRADIO
Not only should the interface be accessible, but the core RF sections of the phone should be able to be made use of as well, from the synthesizer to the power amp and the receiver side for its RF amp, and filtering. There are a lot of usable omponents to make use of, even short range communications can be possible if you can strip off the control coding to enable the radio to operate 'off-network', and as a simplex(single channel)device. The addition of real antennas is relarively simple, and even those are readily found on commercial sites, as well as sold by folks like me. Too many good handsets are being junked as 'useless' because they fell out of favor by the 'in' crowd due to lack of 'cool' features and web access. I have web access on my PC, I surely don't need to ham-string my phone with the web as well, not to mention those outrageous data charges on top of it all. The VCOs in most of the older 'bag' phones are easily reused, as are the RF power amps as many are quite usable up into the 900 Mhz. range where the amateur radio band is located, as are the license free portions of 900 are. I'm certain we could strip the RF decks and fabricate a large supply of voice link radios and even data radios as well from these throw-aways. The opportunity is here, it's now about how you make use of what's available that determines what happens next.