Repurposing an Old Nokia Cellphone as a Smartwatch

It seems like just yesterday we were playing Snake on our Nokia 1100. And today, chances are those devices are either long gone or collecting dust in a draw somehwere. If the latter, you can be like Tinkernut and convert into a fully-functional smartwatch using an Arduino.

The makeshift gadget connects wirelessly to a smartphone over Bluetooth to tell time, as well as notify its wearer of incoming calls and messages using an the Nokia’s LCD screen (with backlight) and vibrating motor. A Pro Mini drives the system, while a 3.7V 1100mAh rechargeable battery supplies the power. All the electronics are soldered to a perfboard, and housed inside a 3D-printed case that gets strapped around the wrist.

Lucky for you, Tinkernut has put together a detailed three-video series that explains everything from how to extract the display, get it working with the Arduino, and create an app in the MIT App Inventor.