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Project Idea - Smart Boombox - turn an old phone into a quality boombox

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(@blue-mark)
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I was thinking of two things I'd like to see:

One is a portable Bluetooth boombox version of Matt's incredible speaker projects.
The other is a "what can we make from a old smartphone" project.

Why not both?

I have a retired iPhone 7 Plus (with the big screen) that I used occasionally as a camera.
Sure, many people turn their old phones into iPods, but that isn't much use when you have a new functioning smartphone in your pocket.

So I was thinking ... why not slap it into a boombox?

I'm talking about taking it out of its case and installing the internals in the boombox, with the high-quality rear cameras positioned beside the screen in front. WIFI connectivity would allow it can do video calls via Skype/Zoom etc. It could play music and videos stored locally or streamed from Spotify/YouTube etc. With a bit of creativity, it might even be able to serve as a portable Carplay station (or Android Auto). Include a big bank of lithium-ion batteries and it could also be a USB battery bank. Put a Qi charger on top to keep your pocket smartphone charged up.

Does this sound like an interesting/useful project?

 
Posted : 09/01/2025 6:15 pm
marcdraco
(@marcdraco)
Posts: 701
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This is one of those things that pops up periodically when "we" discuss the repairability of devices - right to repair, etc. which I'm quite involved in.

These things are internally very cramped and use custom parts with purpose-built ribbon cables for connecting to things like the cameras. Extending these isn't the sort of thing most home users would want to attempt.

As a hardware developer I can tell you that it's painful (and expensive) to make a simple mistake - even if the circuit works in "simulation" there might be something hiding in a corner that's ready to bite you right on the backside.

I can see a way this could be done (potentially) without de-casing the device but that's probably not what you wanted to do.


Take everything I say with a pinch of salt, I might be wrong and it's a very *expensive* way to learn!

 
Posted : 09/01/2025 11:14 pm
(@blue-mark)
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"De-casing" might not be necessary, but moving the rear cameras and side buttons would be.

 
Posted : 10/01/2025 2:15 pm
marcdraco
(@marcdraco)
Posts: 701
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May I suggest you grab a busted iPhone from eBay -- spares/repairs so you can just tear it down without fear of busting something you can't easily repair.

It's almost impossible to describe in simple prose (even with pictures) just how integrated these things are. I recently had a dig into an original Apple Watch (first edition). Totally busted before I went in but looking at the guts without the benefit of a microscope was horrifying. Some of these parts are so small it's almost inconceivable.

You can also find useful teardowns on some YouTube channels and I'd encourage you to at least give them a look to see the sort of problems you're going to face.

The idea is great - but it might be easier to actually achieve your goals using discrete parts and microcontrollers or RPis for example. There are some ESP32 modules that comes with cameras (granted the quality leaves a lot to be desired, but they are cheap).

Similarly there are loads of little Bluetooth modules pre-made and easy to wire - it's a dizzying selection these days!


Take everything I say with a pinch of salt, I might be wrong and it's a very *expensive* way to learn!

 
Posted : 10/01/2025 8:01 pm