MAKERphone is an Arduino-based mobile phone kit for hackers, coders, and the DIY-curious

Modern smartphones are sealed units. Short of enrolling at Foxconn, you won’t be making one yourself. But if you’ve a hankering to put together your own blower, there’s now MAKERphone ($94). Looking like a prop from Brazil, MAKERphone lacks the refined design of an iPhone, but it’s surprisingly feature-rich for something you put together with your own blood, sweat and solder. You can make calls, send texts, and play apps and games on a diddy 160×128 colour TFT. Perhaps most importantly, you get eight programmable LEDs to rock the dancefloor with your own palm-based lightshow while blasting MP3s from the built-in speaker. A bit lazy but feeling the vibe? For an extra fiver, you can get one pre-made. And either way, the battery last a full three days. Take that, Apple!

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.