Kite

Make your own Smartphone

3 followers

Make your own Smartphone

3 followers

Kite is a DIY kit of electronic components. You can now build a smartphone with your own hands! A KitePhone (i.e. a phone built with Kite) is a powerful Android smartphone that offers a surreal Android experience. It is not a fixed phone - it's configurable in every way. The "case" is 3D printed. And you can change anything.. your lifestyle too!

Launch tags:Tech

Launch Team

This is certainly very interesting but the question I have in my mind is, but why a "smartphone"? Everything I'm seeing here points it more towards a maker board with smartphone capabilities out of the box. I guess what I'm saying is that I wouldn't want to make my own smartphone but rather having some of the smartphone capabilities on my maker board is something very compelling to me. Just my two cents or maybe you can explain more why target as a smartphone rather than something like a maker board? Nevertheless I'm always very intrigued and interested in such DIY kits and whatnot! Wish you the best for the project!

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8yr ago

Kite

Maker

@swiftpolar Great question ! Maker boards get a large following by keeping the cost of the board low. Peripherals & "Accessories" are expensive, low quality or even unavailable in most cases. To help explain that - consider a Raspberry Pi 3. At $35 it's great. It targets education at an unbeatable price. And it knows exactly where its boundaries lie. The genius of Eben Upton (founder of the Pi) is in understanding this important thing (I haven't that acknowledged anywhere in this crucial way). What do I mean by that ? Raspberry Pi has sold a lot. Everyone is attracted to it due to the low price. Makers, professionals and even companies flock to it. They hit all the hurdles that the Pi is not designed to fix : SD cards, no display, a camera that can't focus, bulky solutions, power inefficiency, no cellular connection, no battery operation. Do note that, even at the scale of 19 million pieces, the Raspberry Pi does not provide common smartphone conveniences like a simple compact display & a camera that can focus. In summary, all problems of maker boards are solved in a smartphone. Smartphones sell in close to a billion every year. Smartphone hardware is vastly superior than most maker boards in every way. However, smartphones can only be made at that price by aggregating volumes. A bits & pieces approach does not work in a Smartphone business -- that's why all the modular projects are failing. And that's also the reason why our kit includes all the items. If you notice we don't have a front facing camera. There is a price to pay for freedom, and that is about 2x (compare our cost to an equivalent smartphone). If the idea interests you, I seek your support to pledge for the project. Even a $1 or a $5 kit will help a lot. You don't have to buy a kit, if you don't need it. A $25 pledge will give you a video that helps you learn a lot about Android "under the hood". This project does not believe in paid marketing - it is a community thing. Everyone saves 10% costs due to that -- that's what the DIY guys need. If you help share this in your network - that helps this project a lot too, btw! No payment needed :) Our plan is to help use those $1 and $5 donations, to spread free kits around the world with a fair geographic distribution. That's something we will announce later today. Do let me know if you have any further questions; I'll be happy to answer them!

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8yr ago

Kite

Maker

Hi Guys! I am the creator of Kite - the "guy" in the video. Ask me any questions, and I will be happy to answer your questions!

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8yr ago

Out of box idea . Please clarify , if I want to build a smartphone , can I do. And can I commercialise the same

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8yr ago

Kite

Maker

@eswarrao7 Yes, you can do that ! What sort of a device are you interested in ? It won't make much sense to build a "consumer" grade smartphone. Consumer grade smartphones are based on market trends like "thin is in". Kite has a different purpose: it allows you to build niche use cases in a single quantity, if need be. Let's say you want to build a handheld device of some type that needs some sensors related to your area. That's easy to make with Kite. You will have to do the work related to mechanical aspects of your device, and any electronics you want to add. App development if you need. Basically, you get the capability similar to what many large companies have. What sort of a device are you interested in ?

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8yr ago

Oh my goodness!!! I've been watching modular phones since Phonebloks and Project Aura/Google. This is amazing!!!!!

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8yr ago

Kite

Maker

@calchulus Thanks a lot !!! Great to see that comment! I am here to answer any questions. Request you to pledge for the project - we have ambitious goals, but we need some serious support :) $1 to free the world, $5 to say thank you, $25 to learn & teach (video) and the kit for total fun & enlightenment :) Thanks in advance, and do note that I am here to answer any questions!

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8yr ago

Superb product. Pls let me know where can I het more details ?

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8yr ago

Kite

Maker

@eswarrao7 Thank you. It is live now on KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/proj... Please see if a kit meet your needs. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me any questions. Note that the minimum pledge on the project is $1. We will take the $1 and $5 donations and use them to promote the cause of education.

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8yr ago

Kite looks pretty cool, please tell us more of the story behind the product @shreekumar3d

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8yr ago

Kite

Maker

@adrian_carolli Thanks.. Will have it ready in a couple of days. Thanks for your patience!

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8yr ago