The Bluetooth Ericofon (Cobra phone) got tons of publicity

[sqnewton]

The Bluetooth Ericofon I made got tons of publicity in MAKE magazine, Hack-A-Day and Engadget websites just to mention a few sites (check the links below)

I posted a video about how the phone works and in less than 3 days it has been watched by over 5,000 people. Best of all, I took it to a Swedish friend's elegant party after New Year and people loved it! It was really fun seeing people in a total disbelieve using the rotary dial to call their cell phones and then calling it back to listen it ringing. It was really funny. The phone accomplished its mission!  Thanks to all.

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/04/bt-phone-is-much-more-than-retrofit/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/04/bluetooth-ericofon-hack-reminds-us-of-that-time-we-saw-an-ericof/
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/bluetooth_ericofon.html

And here my blog site with the latest. http://btericofon.blogspot.com/

[Phonesrfun]

Excellent!

You should be very happy.  That is quite an accomplishment.

-Bill Geurts

[sqnewton]

Thanks Bill! I am. It met its goal of becoming again a piece of conversation..  I just want to have fun with it and I am having it.

[Dan/Panther]

This may very well; be the future for all landline based phones in the not so distant future.
You need to patent your circuitry. Will it work with any dial based phone ? Does it work with other cellphone providers ?
Genious...........
D/P

[Dan/Panther]

Let me understand this, your circuit mimics the ringtone, and dial tone of the original phone, you actually don't use the phones ringer ?
D/P

[sqnewton]

Let me understand this, your circuit mimics the ringtone, and dial tone of the original phone, you actually don't use the phones ringer ?
D/P

Hi Dan, thanks for the kind words! About patenting I wish but it doesn't make too much sense for many reasons. I could patent a circuit but it doesn't mean that it is protecting the idea. The concept was already out there. Plus the cost and the time for this, doesn't make sense. That's why I left it as open source, so everybody can read and use it. They can in the blog site contribute with donations, too, for both the HW and the SW. I consider it pretty sophisticated how the SW is done, since it manages multiple tasks simultaneously, including high speed bidirectional serial communication and more.

In regards to your other question, the PIC controller generates dial and (fast) busy tone, as well as mimics the original Ericotone. It doesn't use the Ericotone ringer itself, since it is an oscillator that generates the wobbling tone using the 90 VAC from the ring signal. Plus, the phone I got didn't have the circuit.

[Parcival]

This awesome! Where can I purchase a DIY kit to install on my 4 Ericophones?

[sqnewton]

This awesome! Where can I purchase a DIY kit to install on my 4 Ericophones?

Hi Parcival! Thanks for the note. I am opening a website where I will post more in detail the project, a forum with Q&As and suggestions, requirements, DIY and other type of kits, even ready-to-go Ericofons. Please be patient, bear with me and check the new site where I will gradually post more interesting projects and updates. I plan to have it finished in a couple of weeks. http://www.sqnewton.com  Please feel free to check it periodically. And feel free to contact me any time! Thanks!

[Parcival]

Wouldn't it be nice to develop a cordless home phone? Are there any DIY kits available for this phone?

[sqnewton]

There are some boxes that connect existing phones to cell phones. They are called cell phone gateways, such as Xlink and cell2tel. They cost around 120(?). Those aren't DIY, but finished products. The kits that I will offer are for the Ericofon only and will go inside the Ericofon itself. It will also require some minor rework inside the phone. The bolg site and the new website have the PCBs, schematics and software to do it from scratch.