Upcycling Old Phones with Rephone

Once upon a time, hardware projects were difficult: you had to learn low-level aspects of micro controllers, programming, electronic circuits, and at least the basics of battery power management (which are still worth learning). But times have changed and now the hardware required for certain projects are so ubiquitous that a lot of very powerful, fully capable systems are sitting in drawers collecting dust. I’m talking about old phones.

While old phone upcycling projects have been featured before, there’s a universe of untapped possibilities out there. So Martijn Verpaalen decided to put some minds on the problem. They invited 50 students from French design school L’École de design Nantes Atlantique into small groups and set them loose designing niche apps and supporting enclosures. These applications are designed to work around the limitations of an old device — for instance, a lot of the projects use diffusing film to hide a busted screen.

In their words, “Many [old phones] are too outdated to resell or refurbish, yet most are still functional. A battery that doesn’t last, a cracked screen or a slow interface often makes them unfit for everyday multitasking, but still perfect for a single, simple function.”

What I love is the breath of applications here, like the retro clock (featured) with a cutout window display, but also a sunrise lamp, a children’s music player, and cameras. See their full range of concepts here. The idea is to open source the designs so people can replicate and expand on them. They’re terrific examples of an underused resource, and I can’t wait to see what develops in the future.