Monochrome Phone LCD Interface

I wanted to connect microcontroller to the LCD from an old mobile phone (cellphone). I found some old GSM mobile phones via FreeCycle, and took them apart to see what sort of displays they contained. One of them happened to be a Nokia 5110, which has a 48×84 pixel monochrome LCD. Just what I needed!

Other Nokia phones would have worked just as well, such as the 3110. The 9110 Communicator has a similar-looking display, but I don't know yet if that one is actually the same as either the 3110 or the 5110. In fact, LCDs are avaiable as spare parts, which may be an easier way to obtain them, given that many scrap mobiles have broken displays. More modern Nokia models have colour LCDs which are a little harder to get working.

The wiring of the LCD to the rest of the phone is, of course, tiny and required careful soldering.