What do ya do with um?

[Andy1845c]

I got a Electronics Goldmine mailout today. Mabey some of you did too. On page 6 they have cell phones. They look big and clunky so I take them to be a little old. They seem to know nothing about. No battery or SIM card (don't know what that is). They want 2.99 for one and 4.95 for the other one, and thats sale price! What the heck could you do with one? Is there somthing in there to hack for somthing else? Seems like it would be next to impossible to de and re solider anything in one. Just wondering.

 

[Marks256]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?!?!?!? If they look cool, buy them!

 

[Andy1845c]

Thing is they really don't..... Now if they were vintage bag phones, i'd have to have one! Now those were cool

 

[Sceadwian]

Never had much luck getting anything useful out of a cell phone, except perhaps the pager motors they use for vibrate. If these phones are really old they may have something more useful inside. Some RF components perhaps. Modern cell phones are almost completly solid state and don't have much of anything inside. For 8 bucks total you really can't go wrong.

 

[HiTech]

Avoid that garbage surplus. It's better left for idiots like the Taliban. While they're fiddling around in trying to get them to work so thay can communicate their diabolical plots, the remainder of the world's armed forces can triangulate on and send them and their ugly, nonworking phones to Allah and his seven virgins.

 

[Marks256]

Or you could put them in a neighbour's yard an see how pizzed they get...

 

[HiTech]

What's the purpose of placing a couple of clunky, old cell phones in someone's yard? Cleaning up a pile of doggie doo doo is gonna upset them more than picking up a cell phone and tossing it in the trash can. Now if he was to put the doo doo on the phones, well that might be funny to watch!

 

[hjames]

Speaker, microphone, plastic housing for gag, or just a really tightly packed project. Dinky LEDs if you're really persistent. The power circuitry might be scavengeable - lithium battery charger, if you're lucky.

The crystal, (possibly a tcxo) is probably going to be extractable if you're handy with a paint-stripper/hot air gun.

Come to think of it, a cellphone wouldn't be a bad form factor for a small flashlight.