Using ThinkPad T480 as a mobile phone | maroš grego

ThinkPad T480 can be used as a fully featured mobile phone, supporting calls, SMS and mobile data.<br>Here is a video of me receiving a phone call on mine (with the 25 year edition keyboard):

This laptop already has a SIM card slot for LTE modems. However, the PCM pins for audio transmission are not connected.

Luckily, thanks to an bug in Intel Management Engine, we can flash Libreboot<br>instead of the stock firmware. This removes the whitelist for wireless cards and lets us choose our own modem.<br>A good choice is Quectel EG25-G, since it was used in PinePhone and received some scrutiny.<br>In particular, inside is an ARM core running Android (most Android phones have a separate Android system<br>running in the modem). There is a<br>custom firmware available with free software userspace.<br>You set this firmware to register the modem as a USB audio interface and get the audio for phone calls. SMS and mobile data<br>work out of the box.

M.2 versions of Quectel EG25-G (suitable for the T480) are quite rare and don’t have compatible antenna connectors.<br>I needed conversion cables for the antennas, which were really finicky. But it can be done.

Therefore, you can now throw away your mobile phone and use a laptop only! You can even use Android apps natively with<br>Waydroid.

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