Needing a new phone and being curious about the possibility of reducing my screen time and distractions, after a lot of research I purchased a Mudita Kompakt. Here are a few initial observations from using the phone as my only on-person device for several days:
Lifestyle / wellbeing impact
The carefully curated functionality of the phone does help to reduce screen time. It has not cured the urge to try and access various apps, but it does prevent you from being able to. The design and user interface is calming and simple to use when you need to and you very quickly accomplish any intentional task and put the phone away again. I think resetting my balance with tech is a long-term project and the Kompakt is definitely a valuable tool in this journey. I do feel less overloaded with information and able to concentrate better on work and personal / leisure activities.
Impact on usage of other devices
I am using my old smart phone and laptop as connected devices around the home. I find the temptation to use these is still there so I am no longer storing the smart phone in the bedroom. I intentionally put these devices away so they are out of sight. Nevertheless I will have to use them for some things from time to time.
Kompakt’s functionality
Here’s what I’ve used so far:
Mudita Center - I found this desktop app has a great user experience for importing contacts. I tried loading some eBooks but this seemed to be quite slow to upload. Also I think eBooks with DRM will require separate apps and I found the eReader app it couldn’t load a large PDF.
Fingerprint sensor - worked well after I added my thumb print a second time, handy for quick phone unlock
Phone calls - I made a few calls with no problems with call quality or signal. My Vodaphone SIM worked fine.
Connecting to WiFi - very straightforward, all works well and used the hotspot briefly so as my wife’s phone didn’t have signal when we were out and she wanted to access a bus timetable app on her own phone.
Maps app - We went for a walk along the coast with some friends. I used the app to see where we had got to and see what was in the area. All looks good so far I just am waiting patiently for the next update to see what the directions functionality will be like.
Weather app - Nice simple to use app
Sound recorder - I find myself using this quite a bit. I have noticed 2 minor bugs:
- You cannot move the cursor to edit text within the title of the recording - if you try to move the cursor it jumps forward to the end so you have to backspace to delete until you get to the part you want to edit and type it again.
- If I put a question mark (?) inside a sound recording title it shows as an underscore (_) once saved
Chess - well its a bit of fun and has replaced my morning routine of doing ‘Wordle’
Alarm - no problems and works well
Third party apps - Being a software engineer I had no problem side-loading Aurora Store, although I’m looking forward to sideloading functionality direct from the Mudita Center app. I only did it to install two apps: 1. WhatsApp - seems to work fine, I don’t use it much but it is important for staying in touch with people. 2. Adobe Digtial Editions eBook app - I wanted to load a DRM protected eBook - this works well
I will probably remove Aurora Store soon as it is a portal to other things I don’t want on a minimalist phone.
The phone in general with the standard case and screen protector seems robust and feels nice in the hand. The display is clear and crisp. The user experience of the operating system and apps is very good - its intuitive, simple and easy to use with no strange quirks.
I use the little pouch the phone comes with to store it - I find this is just a gentle reminder to me I this is a different type of device and I don’t need to look at it all the time. The only downside is I sometimes need to quickly look at the time and so I’ve bought a cheap analogue watch to make telling the time easier. I stopped wearing a watch a long time ago and was at one point considering getting a smart watch - but I’ve since decided they are another distraction I don’t want. So I’m back to wearing an analogue watch which is fine by me.
One minor issue I noticed with the Kompakt at night is if you don’t have the back light on or have accidentally turned it off in the dark by turning the brightness down too much you are then stuck - you need another light source to find the brightness setting to turn it back up. Some kind of quick button short cut to switch the backlight back on would be really helpful here.
I haven’t used the notes app yet but I intend to soon as this is an important type of app for me. I will eventually need some way of syncing notes or at the very least copying the text out of some notes and sending it to other devices. I also need to figure out how I might migrate some existing notes from another notes app (or decide if I really need to do this - it’s not an essential feature). I may need to start using a different device for writing anything at length.
I realise any kind of syncing functionality is a technical complexity as well as a dilemma in terms of the goals of the device. Maybe a more ‘intentional’ sync functionality for notes would be useful - where the user can choose what to sync rather than syncing everything would be a better approach.
I will probably load an email app eventually - what is everyone else using as an email client? I feel a ‘minimalist’ email client app might be a good idea.
I am going to try to avoid putting a browser on the Kompakt, again like the app store I see this as a portal to functionality I don’t want on my phone. Will see how I get on.
I will await the imminent next OS update and carry on using the device as my on-person phone. I’m quite happy so far and will test it out further on an upcoming trip as a minimalist ‘travel companion’. Might load some more eBooks and music or podcasts for that.
All in all this device seems very much as advertised and I hope Mudita go from strength to strength with this. I feel like they’ve tapped into something a lot of people are receptive to in current times, but I also realise competing in this market is no easy task. While they may hit issues and users will undoubtely have problems with and opinions on the device, I think it is imporant Mudita should recognise what they’ve achieved so far and be proud of creating something different.