My phone has Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, MP3, USB, camera, composite video output...but it doesn't have a multimeter.The damn thing is chock full of DSP, A-to-D and D-to-A converters, shirley it could have a simple multimeter, for those times when, you know, you just have to measure a voltage.-- coprocephalous, May 06 2008 Turn your PDA into a multimeter http://www.engadget...s-into-multimeters/...and if your cell phone has a CF or PCMCIA slot, then I imagine it will work on that. [DrCurry, May 06 2008] GameBoy oscilloscope http://www.elektor....082-91).91407.lynkx [AbsintheWithoutLeave, May 06 2008] Getting closer. http://www.electron...00512attr=editorial [coprocephalous, May 12 2010] Damn. Thought this would be an artistic hodgepodge arrangement of dangling electrodes and readout displays :(-- daseva, May 06 2008 //Thought this would be an artistic hodgepodge arrangement of dangling //No, that would be a "Multimeter mobile".-- coprocephalous, May 06 2008 Yes, indeed. By the lack of power invested in me, I give you the rights to both. +-- daseva, May 06 2008 Oooh, there is a big reading from the flux capacitor in your De Lorean.-- 4whom, May 06 2008 Most phones have a battery charge indicator, albeit with fairly low resolution. Should be a simple matter of finding the right connections and bringing them external, adding a switch to go between functions.
++-- csea, May 06 2008 [+]
Monkey see, monkey want ....-- 8th of 7, May 07 2008 dang, I already [+]'d it. This would be a hefty yes-weight on the scale that determines if I ever get a cell.-- FlyingToaster, May 12 2010 [+] But I don't think it'd be a minor modification. A normal multimeter handles voltages over at least 4 orders of magnitude, and also measures current and resistance. "Multi" right?.
I'd pay extra for such a souped up 'phone, though. They'd probably be visibly different from cellphones (bulkier, at least), so they'd be geek fashion accessories: anyone who carried one would be declaring him/herself the sort of person who feels the need to whip out a multimeter at a moment's notice and start debugging the toaster.
A subset of "multimeter" that probably *would* only require a little rejigging, and would be really handy is a continuity tester.-- mouseposture, May 12 2010 //would be really handy is a continuity tester.//You've almost certainly already got one of these - all you have to do is make a cut in the headphone cable.-- coprocephalous, May 13 2010 Seeing that most phones have bluetooth built in, a really handy accessory would be a bluetooth multimeter adapter.-- neelandan, May 13 2010 I'm *really* sick of losing and breaking multimeters and buying cheap crap ones from Maplin.
[+]-- wagster, May 13 2010 random, halfbakery