Arthur Schmitt's punchcard, steampunk phone
Arthur Schmitt's Steampunk Phone cobbles together a wood veneer, a couple of dials, a rudimentary speaker and some old brass in the fashion of a screenless cell phone, calls placed upon it through a series of binary punch cards. I think it looks less steampunk than some sort of Mongovian communication device, as used by Buster Crabbe's Flash Gordon.
Most interestingly, Schmitt says he designed the Steampunk Phone for European cell provider o2, as part of a study on whether or not non-traditional cell phones could be marketed to more esoteric focus groups: in this case, role-playing gamers. Neat!
Steampunk Phone [Arthur Schmitt via DVICE]
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What if it only reaches back to 1890 or so? That's piss-poor coverage.
Gary61, they're still working out how to incorporate Mr. Fusion. 1.21 gigawatts doesn't come easily from a standard phone battery.
What a neat idea.
What happens when you forget to take your cards with you?
Love it! I'm guessing the dials are battery and signal strength.
The punch card idea alone is genius. It would be great if the cards came in standard business card size, so you could punch your own holes in cards you already have.
Thanks everyone for your comments.
I have to say I designed the phone along with designers Marek Bereza (www.mrkbrz.com) and Andy Broomfield.
To answer the questions above:
yes, the cards are business cards size, so that you can use them as business cards and have anything printed on them.
and if you forget your rotolog at home, you have to remember the number and recode it by poking holes into a template card.
yes, dials are battery and signal strengh.
Please visit my website for more examples of projects: www.tart2000.com