Rotary dial for your iPhone

I am one of the few people left in the country that owns and uses a rotary-dial telephone. Call me old-fashioned, but I just like the sound of that bell instead of an electronic noise when the phone rings.

Now you can extend part of that experience (at least the labored dialing part) to your iPhone. Minnesota-based CodeMorphic has released RetroPhone, an application that simulates the rotary dial mechanism on the screen of your iPhone.

Their website doesn't have a whole lot of information yet, but you can watch a video of the software in action at the St. Paul Pioneer Press's Your Tech Weblog. Of course, RetroPhone doesn't replicate the satisfying tactile response, but all the joy of spending two hours to dial an international phone number can be entirely yours.

Thanks, Julio.

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Source: http://yourtech.typepad.com/main/2008/05/want-a-rotary-i.htm…

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I am one of the few people left in the country that owns and uses a rotary-dial telephone. Call me old-fashioned, but I just like the sound...

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Doug

I still own a rotary phone! Great for when the power goes out; it still works.

May 12 2008 at 5:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

T509

iDial is on the sosiphone.com's repository for people wanting to compare.
Just have a try : rep.sosiphone.com with more than 250 packages maintened.

The side french blog of the repository : http://sosiphone.com/blogiphone

Cheers

May 12 2008 at 5:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Michael L.

A compelling reason to get an iPhone!

Now all you need is an EXchange NAme to go with your number, which you can pick up here:

http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/Recommended.html

May 12 2008 at 5:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Michael L.'s comment

Robert Palmer

That, sir, is an awesome link. You get my gold star for the day.

May 12 2008 at 5:47 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

stainboy

shhhhhUP thup thup thup thup thup thup
shhhhhhhUP thup thup thup thup thup thup thup
shUP thup
shhhhUP thup thup thup thup thup thup

May 12 2008 at 4:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ortho

Isn't this just as silly as that tape-recorder Mac program? I think it's always funny when people make modern software designed to emulate old-school electronics that ends up running too slow on a modern machine. Like the iNes Nintendo emulator iPhone app. Kinda seems embarrassing.

May 12 2008 at 4:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jeff

What next? An iPhone tin can and string interface? ;-)

May 12 2008 at 4:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rhywun

No amount of nostalgia can overcome the string of swear-words that would come out of my mouth when I inevitably dial 999-9998 instead of 999-9999.

May 12 2008 at 4:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Rhywun's comment

robogobo

ditto.

May 12 2008 at 6:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jeremos

If you want more smooth movements, you should use iDial which is a better rotary dialer for iphone made few month ago from a french company.

just add rep.visuaweb.com to your installer.app sources.

http://www.iphoneskinning.com/2008/03/idial-brings-nostalgia-to-your-iphone.html

May 12 2008 at 4:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Schrysco

Indeed, Ryan-- it really needs the satisfying ticking noise! I used to love numbers with 9s and 8s in them, just because they'd make more of that noise each time I let go of the dial.

May 12 2008 at 4:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Shawin

Hah! Visuaweb made this a long time ago.
That's nothing new.
http://blog.visuaweb.com/index.php/post/2008/03/02/iDial-10-%3A-lalternative-vintage-au-dialer-de-liphone

May 12 2008 at 4:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply