The creation of your own smartphone is something that seems to be closer than ever. Although we have seen various projects that have been created with Hardware Libre and are looking to get their own smartphone, the truth is that Zero Terminal is a very interesting project.
The project is built by the NODE website, a website that creates projects but does not test or build them as there may be in Instructables or Thinkgiverse. This website has created a smartphone from a Raspberry Pi Zero W board and various auxiliary components such as an LCD screen or an iPhone case.
Zero Terminal is an interesting project but with some information gaps
Zero Terminal's design is simple and interesting, but there are issues that it doesn't specify very well. It is clear that on a Raspberry Pi Zero W (the new small board of Raspberry Pi) we mount the battery, the iPhone 5 keyboard cover and a 5-inch or smaller LCD screen (we choose the size of the screen) that we can get in Adafruit or any other establishment. It is also clear that we have or can use a printed case that we can get thanks to a 3D printer.
But nothing speaks la web about important aspects such as the SIM card or its adapter, something essential to communicate with other telephone devices or about the software that we will use. Yes, we know that you use Raspbian, but it is not usual to find a lot of software to make phone calls in Debian or its derivatives. Possibly this is fixed using an Android version for Raspberry Pi, but this is not indicated.
In any case, the model created by NODE is interesting and we can get a quite functional and own smartphone for little money, at least for less money than what a mid-range smartphone costs us in any market.
"But nothing talks the web about important aspects such as the SIM card or its adapter"
That's because the only thing the Zero Terminal has for a phone is the iPhone keyboard. The Rasberry Pi Zero does not come with a GSM modem for making calls. And to be honest I like this precisely because it does not have a GSM antenna. Did you know that these antennas cannot be turned off (unless you completely remove the battery) and they can locate you quite precisely all the time?
I think there are extra GSM modules that can be adapted to the Rasberry Pi, but if you are going to do that, you can buy any phone, right? XD
For me the coolest thing is to have a Linux device (not android that you cannot install normal desktop software like libreoffice) right in your pocket, and that it does not have a GSM antenna that tracks you all the time