The Rotary Un-Smartphone (2023)

tzury 61 points 19 comments May 01, 2026
skysedge.com · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (8 comments)

nyc_pizzadev

Worth mentioning the Tin Can phone: https://tincan.kids/ All their batches are sold out, I guess it’s pretty popular. Interesting tidbit, it needs to be plugged in at all times, not meant to be mobile.

nvr219

We have a “house phone” for the kids which is an iPhone with all the apps disabled on it.

hvenev

(2023) judging by https://skysedge.com/telecom/RUSP/electrical.html

russellbeattie

I grew up with rotary phones... They really are not something to fetishize. I can close my eyes and still feel the plastic cutting into my index finger after repeatedly mis-dialing a long distance number, or having to redial a few times because the phone was busy. (Good luck if you were at a payphone.) You'd try to dial faster, but you'd always have to wait for the dial to return sooo slooowly... It took literally 15-30 seconds to dial a number. Then there was the yelling at someone to get off the line when they picked up and started dialing right away (clackada-clackada-clackada). Oof. Yeah, there are reasons rotary phones are gone for good, and it's not just because of touch tones. The "good ol' days" sucked and always will, no matter which generation is trying to claim otherwise, don't listen to anyone who tells you differently.

JKCalhoun

So beautifully designed. It feels like something the wealthy might own in the film Brazil .

alnwlsn

Should make it so you can send texts by using the letters and dialing a number multiple times like a T9 layout. Actually, hold on, I've thought of a design for my next keyboard.

NoSalt

I would LOVE one of these. If for no other reason than vexing my teenage son.

erelong

> $550 USD wonder if it came down in price in a few years since release as that's... enough to buy some used smartphones (plural)

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