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Minecraft now has a working smartphone that can make real video calls

Pick up the voxel phone

Minecraft now has a working smartphone that can make real video calls

Well, this is ridiculous.

US telecommunications company Verizon has created a working smartphone for the PC version of Minecraft.

Once crafted and connected to a network (by building a cell tower) the in-game smartphone can be used to browse the internet and make video calls to real people outside of the game.

Funnily enough, when making video calls, you'll see the other person's video feed inside the game, but they'll see your Minecraft avatar and the blocky world around them.

All this works by using a web app called Boxel that "translates real web pages and streaming video into blocks so they can be built on a Minecraft server in real time," according to Verizon.

This a lot to take in. So, instead, let YouTuber Jordan "CaptainSparklez" Madron demo the Minecraft smartphone in his Verizon-sponsored video.

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Impressive, isn't it?

Sure, the resolution of the video calls and the web pages is terrible. But the fact that this works at all is the marvel here.

At this rate is won't be long until you're able to do everything inside Minecraft. Then you'll never have to leave...

Kotaku
Chris Priestman
Chris Priestman
Anything eccentric, macabre, or just plain weird, is what Chris is all about. He turns the spotlight on the games that fly under the radar.