Last February, we told you about space engineer Justine Haupt who had just created what she dubbed as a "rotary cellphone."

RELATED: WHAT ARE ROTARY DIAL PHONES AND HOW DO THEY WORK? 

"Why a rotary cellphone? Because in a finicky, annoying, touchscreen world of hyperconnected people using phones they have no control over or understanding of, I wanted something that would be entirely mine, personal, and absolutely tactile, while also giving me an excuse for not texting," wrote Haupt on her website. 

Better yet, she made the design completely open-source, meaning that anyone with the know-how can build it if they wish to. For the more technologically challenged, Haupt even went so far as to create a starter kit for the phone.

"Builders will still need to find the right rotary dial and order a handful of other bits, shown below, but the "hard part" (the mainboard and the 3D printed casing with threaded inserts and buttons shown above) is available for sale here," stated Haupt.

If that wasn't enough, Haupt announced a "mark 2" version of the phone that will run on a 4G network and be a complete kit. This new phone will have a real, mechanical ringer bell, a silent vibration mode, and a larger ePaper display than on the current version.

It will also allow contacts to be added by editing a text file that's stored on an SD card. Haupt even revealed she is looking "into another VERY cool feature but won't announce it until I'm sure I can do it."

The site says the phone should be available in September 2020 although this could be delayed with the coronavirus pandemic. However, Haupts does state you can subscribe to receive "short, to-the-point updates" about the project and your email will never be shared.

We have to admit the phone does appeal to us even if it's just as a novelty product. We could all afford spending a little less time on our screens and more talking to the people behind them.

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