Steampunk phone does nothing useful, is very cool

Here’s a Steampunk phone prototype by designer Arthur Schmitt. You make calls using binary punchcards. Punchcards! There are also some dials and a metal grill-type earpiece. The backside of the device seems to contain some sort of rolling counter that likely either keeps track of call duration or gives you the time.

It looks much more rugged than the old-school Nokia phones that everyone used to get for free but I’m guessing you can’t play Snake on it. Still very cool. Remember, it’s only a prototype, but I betcha there are plenty of people who would buy one of these.

[Arthur Schmitt via DVICE]