Compulab's EM-X270 brings DIY to smartphones

Compulab may start a trend in the do-it-yourself world with its introduction of a fully functional -- less screen -- handheld computer. Starting at $122 you get the basic module running an Intel Xscale CPU up to 520 MHz with either Linux or Windows CE and for a bit more cake can add cellular radio, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, camera, or VGA touchscreen to your handset. Of course, you'll need to design yourself a nice housing as they don't seem to carry any, but hey, that's half of the DIY fun right there. Good luck with those projects, and if you make something cool send us your pics.

[Via Redferret]

[carl @ Oct 18th 2007 9:42PM]

hmmm... this seems like a good idea once my lifedrive craps out.
i've always wanted to design a case for something, considered recasing my sansa e250 :D

[Tiffany @ Oct 18th 2007 9:44PM]

Wouldn't really make a good DIY phone, but they are great for testing purposes. :)

[Joseph Boaz @ Oct 18th 2007 9:49PM]

http://www.compulab.co.il/x270em/html/x270-em-price.htm

too pricey... $122 doesn't include the screen.

[Mathieu @ Oct 18th 2007 9:50PM]

It's $122... if you order 1000 units !

[john @ Oct 18th 2007 9:58PM]

Looks fun, but I don't want the labor pains, I just want the baby.
Like the new Nokia N810

[wasabi @ Oct 18th 2007 10:05PM]

1000 units? that's it? i'll buy 5000

[marcel neves @ Dec 7th 2007 11:01AM]

That is per unit bulk price, so it would be 122,000.00 dollars for a thousand units.

[world peace @ Oct 18th 2007 10:09PM]

Cool, but.....

$122 base price
CPU 520 MHz $12
WiFi $26
GPS $59
GPRS & cell $94
LCD $77
Keypad $6
Battery $10

price for 1 unit = total•2,5= $1,015

And that's without software installed!

[Paul @ Oct 18th 2007 11:04PM]

unless my math is really off, that adds up to $406.

You are also forgetting everything past $122 is optional.

[Paul @ Oct 18th 2007 11:08PM]

Ah, I see, my apologies, I just found the billing page and I see that an order of only 1 is 2.5x the listed price.

[s2je77 @ Oct 18th 2007 11:53PM]

that price is only if they allow you to buy a single unit.
in order to be able to buy a single unit, you will have to buy the evaluation kit of this "phone" which cost $2300 plus $95 shipping.... so i guess it won't fit in my x'mas budget...

[Das @ Oct 18th 2007 10:32PM]

Oh man.
If they had 3d hardware acceleration I'd be so there.

[kojo87 @ Oct 18th 2007 10:41PM]

screw the case! that would be awesome carrying that sucker around with circuit boards stickin out every which way! and you gotta run Linux just so you're totally geeked out

[Chad @ Oct 18th 2007 11:08PM]

Ya, sew it into the sleeve of a shirt (forearm). That'd be sweet, 'cept you could never wash the shirt and you'd want to wear it every day (guess you could make a pouch so you could pull it out, but it doesn't solve the wanting to wear it everyday problem). Maybe gut a powerglove and replace the keyboard with one of these, now that would be geeked out... wearing a powerglove around all the time, Fred Savage could have pulled that off in The Wizard (1989).

[nih @ Oct 18th 2007 10:51PM]

'Buy a housing'? Whats the point of a badass looking DIY cellphone like that if you don't embed it in your forearm?

For science! Fiction!

[fengpost @ Oct 19th 2007 6:52AM]

I smell a steampunk project here!

[nih @ Oct 19th 2007 7:01AM]

Steampunk is a bit old hat now. How about something newer, edgier....

Surgerypunk?

[insertAlias @ Oct 18th 2007 10:53PM]

No one wants to click your stupid spymac link. Honestly, I don't know why you waste the effort...

[insertAlias @ Oct 18th 2007 11:14PM]

well, it seems that the comment has already been pulled...

[JackOLantern @ Oct 18th 2007 11:19PM]

wait - whats the point of buying all the parts and putting it together when there is really only one way to assemble it. It ends up costing you $500-600 when your done.

Why not just buy a new or used smartphone and take the case off of it, or better yet buy 'broken' smartphones from eBay and coble your own together.

[Wolfticket @ Oct 19th 2007 12:13AM]

Do it yourself, as long as you are a phone manufacturer.
It's be mentioned before, but I just though I'd emphasize the point that the $122 price is for orders of 1000 units (only $110 for orders of 10,000+).
If you want 1 it'll cost you 2.5 times the price per unit, er... that's...
...a lot of money.

[Sirocco @ Oct 19th 2007 12:17AM]

If I scotch tape that to myself, I'll be totally cyber.

[Chris Taylor @ Oct 19th 2007 2:38AM]

Well once the price is half that AND you can get 3D & dual SD slots and a SPRINT EVDO radio well then I will be onboard :-)Zodiac 2 Here I come :-)

[Julian Bond @ Oct 19th 2007 4:02AM]

What's good about this is that the hardware is becoming modular and a commodity. Which means that the Uber-PDA is potentially a reality. What's bad about this is that by the time marketing and corporate bullshit have been added, it still ends up as $1000 and defective by design.

And yes, I still want an OQO sized thing with everything in it including a 250Gb drive.

[TubeTop100.com @ Oct 19th 2007 8:14AM]

Screw a smartphone, you can create a sweet integrated GPS navigator with these parts.

[Xebec @ Oct 19th 2007 10:07AM]

Um, that $122 price is only if you buy $100 units. If were were to buy just one unit, the cheapest configuration is $305.

[Xebec @ Oct 19th 2007 10:08AM]

Correction, I meant to say "1000 units" not "$100 units".

[Xebec @ Oct 19th 2007 10:09AM]

I meant 1000 units, not $100 units.

[Drew @ Oct 19th 2007 1:06PM]

Don't waste your time with these jokers, there are several better dev board vendors to work with. My university is currently evaluating a half dozen dev kits from different vendors, these guys wouldn't even consider an educational discount unlike many others in the industry not to mention their prices are ridiculous unless you're buying in volume.

[Dave @ Oct 26th 2007 10:13PM]

Drew what are some of the other dev kits your talking about? I'd like to check them out to for my project.

[Drew @ Oct 28th 2007 5:52PM]

Currently my top pick is the ARM boards available from Phytec, www.phytec.com.

[Kevin @ Oct 19th 2007 3:04PM]

I wonder if you can provide your own gear, such as a different display?

[hello @ Oct 19th 2007 7:01PM]

yummy its from haifa!

[su27 @ Nov 27th 2007 12:50AM]

So, it is possible to create PDA with more than 64 MB RAM, GSM, 3.5" VGA screen and decent CPU? What a surprise...

[embedded enthusiast @ May 11th 2008 12:54PM]

www.oasistechsol.com has done a similar design based in Windows embedded CE and ARM

[Danilo @ Jun 11th 2008 8:34AM]

Hi pips !

Can anyone tell me the total price for EM-X270 with these ff. specs. w/o OS, LCD with touchscreen, GPRS and etc. ?

Thanks,
Danilo