Kevin Noki Built the ADHD ONE Brick Handset to Stop Reaching for His Phone

Kevin Noki got tired of the same interruption that ruins a stretch of real work. His phone would light up, his hand would move, and the next half hour would vanish into a screen he never meant to open. His answer was a handset that can take a call while the phone that owns the number stays somewhere else.

Regulations have made it difficult to create a proper homemade cell phone. Custom hardware can only go so far on modern voice networks, thus the ADHD ONE isn’t even trying to be a carrier device. Instead, it connects to a standard phone over Bluetooth and uses the Hands-Free Profile, just like a car kit, to move audio and call controls around. That way, the real radio is out of the way, in a pocket, a bag, or a different room.

Early testing was conducted on an ESP32 chip, primarily because one was sitting on the workbench and the chip happened to include Bluetooth, but the sound through it was terrible, with a strange gritty tone that made a conversation feel cheap. Noki opted to delegate audio handling to a special Hands-Free Profile module, designed specifically for this purpose. The rest of the system is simply a tiny board that runs a pre-flashed UF2 file.


Case work followed an old-school routine. Instead of printing shell after shell until the shape felt right, Noki used a hand-held hot wire to cut out XPS foam, sliced away a bit, held it in his hand, and then cut it again. Because XPS foam is very straightforward to work with, it was simple to determine the proportions of an old-school brick before beginning any actual prints. After one final print, the case was complete. A small jig allowed him stretch a sheet of black LED acrylic over the display window, giving it the same smoked panel appearance as an old car phone.


The build files for sale include a variety of components, including the housing, rear panels, mounting frame, display cover, battery holder, and a full keypad with 19 keys. Speaker openings come in three styles: Classic, Holes, and Stripes. You can also choose between three antenna options: Retro, Slim, and Screw, as well as a customized housing with a closed top hole for those who prefer a sleeker design without the stub. To make a copy, you only need printed parts, a custom board constructed from the Gerber files, and the developed firmware. There’s also the option to purchase a pre-boxed kit, which is mentioned on the website but hasn’t yet shipped.


A call still depends on the phone this object was meant to sideline. Range is only Bluetooth distance, thus anything that requires a screen, such as maps, email, or continuous scrolling, must remain on the other device. To be honest, that’s kind of the idea of the whole thing – and also why it won’t change your life. It’s a lot of work for a phone that will only marginally reduce your likelihood of grabbing the one you still need. For Noki, however, the slimmer possibility of picking it up was worth all the foam dust and fiddling with a second audio board.
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