Skip to content
Agent OS
AOS-RES-011 Research-backed evidence map

Interim Hardware Market Survey and Demo BOM Sourcing

Survey of DIY/open phone prior art (ZeroPhone, WiPhone, CM4/CM5 handhelds, OnePlus donors, postmarketOS, FLX1), the recommended demo-brick configuration, and a sourced bill of materials with Moscow and Serbia/EU purchase channels and observed prices.

Edit on GitHub →

Interim Hardware Market Survey and Demo BOM Sourcing

What the DIY and open-phone market teaches the demo-brick programme, which configuration to build first, and where to buy every part in Moscow and in Serbia/EU, with observed July 2026 prices.

Table of Contents

Purpose and Scope

Area: Research and Evidence / Hardware Programme.

This note supports AOS-HW-017 with market evidence: lessons from comparable projects, a concrete recommended configuration for the first demo brick, and verified purchase channels with observed prices in two operating locations (Moscow, Russia and Belgrade, Serbia). Prices are observations dated 2026-07, not commitments; the BOM-freeze task (AOS-DEMO-001) re-verifies every line before purchase.

Terminology: CM4 and CM5

CM4 = Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4; CM5 = Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5. A Compute Module is the "computer core" of a Raspberry Pi — SoC, RAM, eMMC storage, and optional Wi-Fi/Bluetooth — on a small connector-less board that plugs into a separate carrier board via two 100-pin high-density connectors. The carrier board supplies whatever ports and peripherals the product needs, which is exactly the demo-brick pattern: buy the certified compute core, design only the simple interconnect. CM5 carries the Raspberry Pi 5 silicon (quad Cortex-A76 @ 2.4 GHz, BCM2712), exposes two MIPI DSI/CSI-2 interfaces and PCIe, and is guaranteed in production until at least January 2036. There is no "CM6" as of this baseline.

Prior-Art Survey

Project What it is Cost/effort Lesson for Agent OS Usable as a base?
ZeroPhone (~2017–2019) DIY handset: Raspberry Pi Zero + 2G SIM800 modem + small screen; ~$50 BOM; fully open build logs Effectively free to study; project inactive One person can assemble a phone from modules, but a cheap 2G modem is a dead end (networks retired) and a single-maintainer project dies with its maintainer No — historical reference only
WiPhone (2019–present) ESP32 VoIP handset, ~$89 at launch, still sold; Wi-Fi/SIP calls and SMS, deliberately no cellular radio; open Arduino/MicroPython firmware; swappable back panel as daughterboard bus Low; hardware and firmware fully open Their stated reason for omitting cellular — basebands are inaccessible at low volume — is the argument for pre-certified Quectel/SIMCom modules; the pogo-pin back-panel expansion pattern is worth copying No as compute; yes as form-factor and expansion-bus prior art
CM4/CM5 handhelds (uConsole, Hackaday builds) ClockworkPi uConsole ($140–250): CM4-based handheld with enclosure, display, battery, and an optional 4G LTE extension module; plus many one-off CM4 smartphone builds ($200–300 in parts) Purchasable or replicable in weeks The Raspberry Pi ecosystem supplies the only open and production-tuned camera stack (libcamera + tuning files) plus off-the-shelf power/display boards — months of savings Yes — CM5 is the recommended demo compute core
OnePlus 6/6T donors SDM845 phones with freely unlockable bootloaders; best mainline-kernel support among Android donors; community-tier in postmarketOS; used units ~$50–100 Very cheap; porting effort significant but well-documented Ideal expendable targets for a future native port to a real phone SoC (display/touch/power/modem); mainline camera support is weak, so not the camera showcase Partially — native-port research target, not the demo camera vehicle
postmarketOS Alpine-based mobile Linux; ~723 supported device models (Feb 2026); moving to a single generic mainline kernel with device-tree overlays; ~40 community-tier devices Free; knowledge base Adopt its methodology: device tiers (mirrors AOS-HW-001 admission/retirement), pmbootstrap-style reproducible ports, hardware CI; consult its modem/device wikis as prior art No as OS (Linux distribution vs. native microkernel); yes as methodology and data
FLX1s (Furi Labs) $550 ($499 in bundle) Linux phone: Dimensity 900, 8/128 GB, dual-SIM 5G, three hardware kill switches, Debian-based FuriOS (oFono2MM + GNOME Calls) One unit purchase; shipping from Hong Kong Caveat: uses Halium/libhybris — Linux over Android vendor drivers, i.e. the same blob wall as Pixel with weaker hardware; valuable as a study of how a small company packaged and sold a Linux phone No as a native base; yes as a $550 competitive-reference unit

Recommended Demo Configuration

Decision (proposed): build the first demo brick on Raspberry Pi CM5, not i.MX 8M Plus.

Rationale against the alternatives for this device (the native-port camera target of AOS-OPEN-091 is unchanged):

  1. Camera quality now. The user-facing requirement is an excellent camera in the demo. Camera Module 3 (Sony IMX708, 12 MP, phase-detect autofocus, HDR) plus the HQ Camera (Sony IMX477, 12.3 MP, interchangeable C/CS lenses) run on the only open, documented, production-tuned pipeline available (libcamera with Raspberry Pi tuning files). No other purchasable platform delivers comparable out-of-the-box image quality without vendor blobs.
  2. Cellular with voice hardware included. The Waveshare SIM7600G-H 4G HAT explicitly supports dial-up data, telephone calls, SMS, and carries an onboard audio jack and audio decoder for calls — the entire demo cellular stack (data + SMS first-class, voice best-effort per AOS-HW-017 claim limits) on one $58 board.
  3. Buyable in both operating cities. Every component is in stock in Moscow retail and in Serbian/EU retail (tables below). The i.MX 8M Plus SoM path requires industrial distributors and is slower and costlier in both locations.
  4. Longevity. CM5 production is guaranteed until at least January 2036.

Recorded compromise (goes to the AOS-HW-013 ledger): the Raspberry Pi ISP (PiSP) is only partially documented at register level and the boot ROM is closed; acceptable for the demo vehicle, unacceptable as the final native-port claim, which remains with the documented-ISP track.

Configuration v1 (superseded in detail by AOS-HW-018, which records the founder-decided baseline: portless exterior, internal eUICC, SurfaceVolume gestures, agent-grade audio):

  • Compute: CM5, 16 GB RAM / 64 GB eMMC / Wi-Fi variant (founder decision 2026-07-13)
  • Carrier: Waveshare CM5-NANO-A (or equivalent compact CM5 base board) as the interim carrier
  • Camera (daily): Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 (IMX708, autofocus, HDR)
  • Camera (showcase, optional): Raspberry Pi HQ Camera (IMX477) + 6 mm CS lens — bench/calibration use; Arducam 64 MP (OV64B) is the in-enclosure showcase option
  • Cellular: A/B choice resolved at AOS-DEMO-003/004 — Quectel EG25-G on M.2 (richer community voice/ALSA prior art) vs Waveshare SIM7600G-H 4G HAT (calls/SMS/data plus onboard audio codec on one $58 board)
  • Display: Waveshare 6.25" MIPI-DSI, 720×1560, capacitive multitouch (phone aspect); 5"–5.5" DSI panels as fallback class
  • Audio: 4-mic MEMS array on XMOS XVF3800 + 2× TAS2563 smart amplifiers with printed acoustic chambers, per AOS-HW-018#audio-subsystem
  • Power: Li-ion pack + UPS/BMS HAT with USB-C charging (PiSugar 3 Plus class or Waveshare UPS HAT)
  • Enclosure: 3D-printed PETG/ABS/PC (PLA prohibited), per AOS-HW-017 antenna keep-out rules
  • Two identical units plus one spare modem and one spare camera

Sourced Bill of Materials (Full V1)

Observed prices, 2026-07, per single unit. RUB prices include Russian retail markup (no official Raspberry Pi channel in Russia); EUR/USD/GBP prices are Western retail excl. shipping. Indicative FX assumption for planning only: 1 USD ≈ 90–100 RUB. Rows marked (class) are indicative category prices pending exact SKU selection at BOM freeze; all other rows are observed listings.

Core compute, display, camera, cellular

# Item Moscow (observed) Serbia/EU/global (observed) Reference
1 Raspberry Pi CM5, 16 GB/64 GB/Wi-Fi 22 990 ₽ — onpad.ru CM5 range from €73.90 — welectron.com; Botland CM5 range ~$95–105 list class
2 CM5 carrier: bench mule — Waveshare CM5-ETH-RS485-4G-BASE, $55.99 ($59.39 AliExpress): M.2 B-Key modem + nano-SIM, M.2 M-Key NVMe, 2× MIPI DSI/CSI; pocket build — CM5-PoE-BASE-A from $15.99: M.2 M-Key + dual MIPI CM5-NANO-A 1 990 ₽ — onpad.ru (no M.2 — pocket alt only) Waveshare direct/AliExpress ship to both cities $16–60
2a Modem in M.2 format: SIM7600G-H-M2 (drops into the B-Key slot of row 2) AliExpress (class) Waveshare/AliExpress $55–70
3 NVMe SSD M.2 2230, 256 GB–1 TB ≈2 500–8 000 ₽ (Ozon/DNS) (class) ≈€25–90 (class) $25–90
4 Camera Module 3 (Sony IMX708, AF, HDR) 6 190 ₽ — onpad.ru; amperka.ru ~€30–40 EU retail $25 list
5 HQ Camera IMX477 + CS lens (bench only) amperka.ru ~€55–80 with lens $50 + lens
6 Cellular A/B: Waveshare SIM7600G-H 4G HAT (calls/SMS/data + audio codec) $57.99 — AliExpress €76.90–79.90 — welectron.com $58
7 Cellular A/B alt: Quectel EG25-G mPCIe/M.2 + USB adapter + 2× LTE and 1× GNSS antenna ≈3 000–5 500 ₽ AliExpress (class) ≈€35–60 (class) $25–45 module
8 Display: Waveshare 6.25" DSI 720×1560 capacitive touch ≈5 000–7 500 ₽ Ozon/AliExpress (class) ≈€50–70 Waveshare EU (class) $55–65

Cellular identity (true eSIM, no tray)

# Item Source Price
9 sysmoEUICC1-C2G — consumer SGP.22 eUICC, GSMA certs, triple-cut card (V1: seated in the modem's internal socket) shop.sysmocom.de €35.70 class
10 sysmoEUICC1-CMG — same eUICC, solder MFF2, 10-pack (V2 custom carrier) shop.sysmocom.de sample-qty pack; per-chip tens of €
11 LPA software: lpac (open source) github.com/estkme-group/lpac $0

sysmocom ships from Germany: straightforward to Serbia, likely via forwarder to Russia.

Audio and haptics

# Item Source Price
12 ReSpeaker XMOS XVF3800 4-mic array (AEC, beamforming, DoA; USB/I2S) $49.99 — Seeed; £48 — The Pi Hut; ~$56 AliExpress $50
13 2× I2S class-D amp: MAX98357A breakouts (V1) → TAS2563 on custom PCB (V2) Adafruit #3006 / AliExpress clones $4–6 each
14 2× micro-speakers (phone/tablet spare-part drivers) + printed acoustic chambers AliExpress (class) $3–8 each
15 Haptic actuator: genuine iPhone Taptic Engine spare part (wideband voice-coil) AliExpress spare-parts sellers (class) $5–20
16 Haptic drive: dedicated class-D channel (same MAX98357A class); alt: DRV2624-class closed-loop driver (DRV2605L breakout, Adafruit #2305, for bring-up) Adafruit/AliExpress $4–8

Sensors, input, power, enclosure

# Item Source Price
17 IMU LSM6DSV16X (or LSM6DSOX breakout for bring-up) Adafruit/Mouser/AliExpress (class) $8–15
18 ALS+proximity VCNL4040 breakout Adafruit #4161 class $5–7
19 Barometer BMP390 breakout Adafruit #4816 class $10–12
20 NFC PN7150 breakout/module Mouser/AliExpress (class) $10–20
21 SurfaceVolume v1.5: capacitive trackpad controller (Azoteq IQS550/IQS7211 eval or module) + custom flex electrode sheet Azoteq distributors; flex PCB service (class) $15–40 + flex NRE
22 Battery 1S Li-Po ≈5000 mAh + protected BMS + USB-C PD charger (BQ25792-class board or UPS HAT) + MAX17048 fuel gauge Ozon/AliExpress / EU retail (class) $30–50 total
23 Buttons (lock, hardware mute with mic-power cut), wiring, FPC cables, fasteners, coin cell (RTC) local/AliExpress (class) $15–30
24 Enclosure prints (PETG/ABS/PC, several iterations) + aluminum midframe plate local print services (class) $25–50

All software line items (native OS, lpac, waveform assets) are $0 in BOM terms; Linux/libcamera appear only as a free bench oracle per AOS-HW-018#os-independence.

Moscow Purchase Channels

No official Raspberry Pi distributor operates in Russia; retail relies on parallel import with roughly 30–50 % markup over EU list.

Serbia and EU Purchase Channels

Serbia has an official import channel and full EU retail reach; overall the cheaper and simpler purchasing base of the two cities.

Budget Summary

Scope Moscow estimate Serbia/EU estimate
One full V1 unit (rows 1–4, 6 or 7, 8–9, 12–24) ≈ 55 000–75 000 ₽ (≈ $580–780) ≈ €430–580
Optional HQ camera + lens (bench) + ≈ 7 000–10 000 ₽ + ≈ €55–80
Programme (2 units + spare modem/camera/actuator + MFF2 eUICC pack + SIM/eSIM profiles on 2 operators) ≈ 130 000–170 000 ₽ (≈ $1 400–1 800) ≈ €950–1 300
Optional FLX1s reference unit +$550 + forwarding +$499–550 + shipping
Optional 2–3 used OnePlus 6/6T donors ≈ 15 000–30 000 ₽ (Avito) ≈ €120–250 (KupujemProdajem/eBay)

Belgrade is the recommended purchasing base: official import channels, EU retail reach, lower markup, and unproblematic international shipping (including FLX1s from Hong Kong).

Price Volatility and Verification Rules

  • Every price above is an observation dated 2026-07 from the linked listing; listings and FX move. AOS-DEMO-001 re-quotes every row (two sources per row where possible) before purchase and records screenshots/quotes in the evidence repository.
  • Moscow rows depend on parallel-import stock that can vanish or reprice without notice; keep an AliExpress fallback for every row.
  • Serbian local shops must be verified for exact CM5/Camera-3 SKUs and stock before relying on them; the EU mail-order rows are the guaranteed fallback.

Risks and Open Questions

  • SIM7600G-H voice quality and operator compatibility (RU and RS operators) are unmeasured until AOS-DEMO-004; the Quectel EG25-G remains the fallback voice module.
  • The PiSP/closed-boot-ROM compromise must not leak into portable claims; it is a demo-vehicle compromise only.
  • Sanctions-related logistics for Moscow purchases can change abruptly; the Belgrade channel is the resilience plan.
  • Open-question rule: an unanswered high-impact question becomes a claim/experiment record and cannot be hidden in meeting notes.
  • Stop rule: work stops or changes track when legal rights, recovery, debug access, safety, or the required evidence path is unavailable.

Related Documents