MAKERphone 2: A DIY 4G phone with plug-in camera, speaker and prototyping board
CircuitMess, a Croatian electronics kit maker, is selling MAKERphone 2.0, a build-it-yourself 4G phone on Kickstarter that buyers program in MicroPython or Arduino C++ and extend with plug-in hardware.
Insert a SIM and it makes real calls and sends real texts. For anyone who tests or tinkers with devices, that is a cellular handset whose software you write yourself. CircuitMess also pitches it to parents as a first phone for children, so some of the people writing code for it will be beginners.
Two hours, no soldering
The 2018 original took about seven hours of soldering. This one takes about two hours and no iron. The parts click, screw and plug together, and the software runs on an ESP32-S3, a microcontroller, which is the small chip that executes the code.
The phone alone costs $129 on Kickstarter, $40 under the planned retail price of $169. That pledge covers the kit and three months of VibeBoy Pro, CircuitMess’s AI coding tool.
One port, six add-ons
An expansion port called UMAX accepts six modules: a camera, a 2-watt speaker, a flashlight, an environmental sensor, an infrared controller and a blank prototyping board. The phone detects a module when it is plugged in and adds it to the menu automatically.
The module worth a closer look is the DIY perf board, which CircuitMess sells for inventing your own sensors. Build one, plug it into the same port the phone scans for add-ons, and the phone treats it like any other module.
Code written by a model
CircuitMess sells an AI coding tool called VibeBoy, with four skill tiers that run from Pixel Rookie to Vibe Coder. Each phone includes three months of unlimited AI features and permanent access to the free tier. The tool writes the code, and the phone running it can send texts and, with the camera module, take pictures.
