As many tech enthusiasts will be aware nowadays, there are a whole host of customized Raspberry Pi projects across the internet. With tinkers and veterans putting their unique take on some of the most popular SBCs this year, we have found one that stands out from the crowd and is worth a little more investigation.
Your next Rasberry Pi project
Derek Woodroffe, who is the brain behind this project, has utilized the Raspberry Pi Pico W to create a portable and compact VoIP phone. Originally spotted on GitHub, this VoIP phone, officially named the Pi Tele Cow, has some heads turning in the industry for good reason. Woodroffe has designed the Pi Tele Cow around the Raspberry Pi Pico W and its dual-core RP2040 microcontroller. Within the compact 3D-printed handset, you’ll find an SD card, internal battery, microphone, speaker, 15-key keyboard, and small OLED display.
Pi Tele Cow remains a work in progress
At this moment, the entire Pi Tele Cow project remains a work in progress. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to take this phone outside the confines of Wi-Fi, meaning it is not designed for use with landline connections nor offers cellular connectivity – working a lot more like an old-school iPod Touch or mobile without a contract. Furthermore, as is the case with most new projects, some things appear to be ready to go and others require a little more tinkering. Commenting to Hackster, Woodroffe noted problems with “intermittent no speech, can’t cancel (an) outgoing call before answer, (it can) lock-up after calls, requires a reboot to make (a) second call, (and there are) NAT calling issues”. Clearly, this project has a little way to go at the moment.
Pi Tele Cow availability
Availability at this point appears to be not at the top of Woodroffe’s priority list, as he will need to fix some of the issues mentioned above before moving these to market. Similarly, while most Rasberry Pi projects present users with the ability to build it themselves at home, this one is extremely complex and requires a considerable list of additional components. However, if you feel up to the challenge, the list of official components can be found on the GitHub website under the BSD 3-Clause license.
