This sounds like it would be the perfect phone for me, if done right.
At the moment Iām using a Hisense A9 as my phone (I have a backup normal smartphone at home; it is only used as a camera at home nowadays). Itās a great phone, but lacks a couple of things both in hardware and in software.
First of all, letās start with what it does right, and whatās important for a smartphone like this. It has warm and cold front light; it has a good screen - Carta 1200 with high contrast and a PPI of 300; it has great audio internals, a 3.5mm jack and good speakers; it has a decent camera (useful for taking pics of documents, etc); it has an extra programmable button.
Software wise it has different speed modes to help use it in different scenarios. HD mode, which is slow, but great for reading texts, Speed mode for fast operations where the quality of the image isnāt important or for video in a pinch.
All of this makes the A9 great for both reading and listening to audio (audio books, music, podcasts). Itās great for reading articles on the go (just use something like Wallabag/Pocket) or a book. The speed modes make it usable for maps (something I absolutely need as I travel a fair bit). I was once caught having nothing but my A5 Pro (the previous Hisense e-ink phone model) having to have a video call on MS Teams and it worked out fine.
So why would I switch to Mudita Kompakt at all, then, if released? Well, I hope it would address some of the following issues I have:
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An SD card slot. I want to feel free to add as many podcasts and albums that I want. I donāt want to have to rely on something like Spotify, where they try to suck you in and manipulate you using algorithms and selling your data.
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A better screen solution. The A9 has a great e-ink screen, but the glass layer on top is extremely reflective. It comes with a pre-applied screen protector, but I would prefer the actual glass to be usable out of the box. The Onyx Boox palma is much better in this regard - it has a micro-etched screen that kills off the reflections but is still crystal clear (much more so than an anti-glare coating or a matte screen).
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A metal body. I have too much plastic in my life. I would much prefer to have a metal phone. It feels more durable, natural and healthy to deal with.
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Light gray body. The black body is too contrasting. Having a frame and body that is the same hue as the screen is much more relaxing for the eyes. The white Onyx Boox Palma is much better in this regard, even though the hue is slightly off.
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Ergonomics. The A9 has a sharp design that almost cuts into the palm when used without a case. Itās the only phone I use with a case since itās so uncomfortable to hold otherwise. I wish I would do without it, since itās quite bulky.
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Future proof specs and hardware. The temptation is big to just use some very cheap components and claim that āthe e-ink screen is the bottleneckā, but I would love a phone that I can have and use for the next 5-10 years. Sure, this is not gaming phone, but it still needs to perform file operations and have apps respond the same day. Also: a good battery is important as Android always consumes energy. And, please, make it so that itās easily removable and exchangeable.
Software:
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Chinese ROM. It comes with a Chinese ROM with a lot of unnecessary apps, some of which canāt be removed and might be spyware. It also doesnāt fully support using a 3rd party launcher like KISS, since that removes access to the open/recent apps function, which makes app switching a pain.
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No support for full screen refresh in reading apps. Whenever I read on e-ink I need the screen to do a full page refresh on every page turn. My eyes are very sensitive to the admittedly small loss of sharpness that follows page turns. On the A9 I use a workaround with Tasker calling that function when I use the volume buttons (used as page turn buttons) in any of my reading apps. Here Mudita could just help the Koreader team to implement a driver in the app that supports this. It is the best reading app for e-ink and open source.
Ideally for me, the Kompakt would be made with the above considerations and ship with some Mudita OS based on Lineage OS (or even better on GrapheneOS), but with different speed modes and refresh options for the e-ink screen. It preferably would give the options of choosing to use MicroG, lightGAPPS or no Google services at all or at least be open so that the users themselves can implement their preferred solution.
Oh, and it, of course, needs to be able to have a good 4G signal and be useful for calls. (Mentioning this since thatās what the Pure had troubles with.)
These are some thoughts about it off the top of my head. I really hope it gets released soon 
to Muditas eink smartphone
