IS the Mudita Kompakt a smartphone?

Interested on hearing peoples opinion. This was sparked by a video by Jose Briones where he considers it a smartphone:

He starts discussing the Kompakt at the 10 min mark in the video

Interested in peoples thoughts…cheers

I am also again concerned with connectivity according to his video and certain bands not being covered in North America

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I am bummed that the North America version will not have 4G/LTE bands 66 and 71, but let’s see what Mudita does by the time it launches this version!

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In my opinion, although the Kompakt and Light Phones are different, they’re both in the “bridge” gap between smartphone and dumbphone. Looking at the way the OS is made, I would actually say Kompakt is a step down from smartphone and Light Phone 3 is a step up from a dumbphone. That’s where I would put the phones.

The reason I wouldn’t consider Kompakt a smartphone is because even though it has the feeling of a smartphone and similarities with how the OS looks, it’s important to consider how much is blocked, which to me, makes it less of a smartphone than an actual smartphone. I know they said that you can use other apps and download them yourself some backdoor way, but I’m speaking strictly how the phone comes without the personalizations. Depending on the apps download, it can definitely become more of a smartphone in that aspect, but, I don’t think I’d say it’s a smartphone from the box into your hands.

The reason why the LP3 is more like a modern day dumbphone instead of a smart phone to me is because of the way it’s set up to use the tools- it includes a lot of modern-day aspects (that the Kompakt as well features) such as Touch ID, fingerprint security (although I could definitely do without. But that’s just personal preference), NFC hardware, etc. I think what separates it from the Kompakt, in my opinion, is purely from design point of view which makes it seem more “dumber” to me.

Either way, both of these phones aren’t quite a dumb phone or a smartphone, they’re in the middle. That’s just how I see it.

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The LP3 is not even close to a smartphone. You can’t side load apps of any kind. What about it makes it a smartphone or close to it? Its still a pure dumbphone

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José Briones is to me overly concerned with whether the Kompakt is, or is similar to, a smartphone.

What I like is that the Mudita Kompakt, the Sunbeam Wireless flip phones, the BraX3 phone, and any Google Android cellphone that one can de-Google (e.g., with LineageOS or CalyxOS), are PRIVACY-ORIENTED phones.

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Yeah I am not super technical so I don’t know what that means for Canadian Carriers, I am currently with Lucky mobile which is owned by Bell, so would the Kompakt work here? I don’t want to go through the same crap I did with the Pure lol

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I didn’t say the LP3 was a smartphone. Might want to re-read what I wrote…

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lol oh my bad!

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I love that he mentions he is going to ask the Mudita team in a live stream he has with them Nov 21st how can we trust the phone will work in North America, very interested to hear their response

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts on how the Kompakt and Light Phone 3 serve as a “bridge” between smartphones and dumbphones. It’s an insightful way to look at these devices. They both occupy that middle ground, catering to users who seek more functionality than a basic phone offers but less complexity and distraction than a typical smartphone provides.
This actually what I LOVE about Mudita Kompakt.

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Exactly! You summed it up perfectly. It’s what I love about these phones too :slight_smile: And the best part is, let’s say hypothetically, someone is in the market to replace their smartphone and rather have one smart than one of these bridge phones, Fairphone is always a great choice- much better than their competition. Obviously, it’s a full functioning smartphone so it would only pertain to those who are seeking that, but, it just proves that there’s definitely a whole community moving away from the “popular” smartphones owned by larger companies,

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I think to me its the Light phone is sticking with their philosophy that started from day 1 when they launched their first light phone to now their third version where they believe in a distraction free device with no ability to side load anything that keeps you from the moment. That is more in line with my beliefs, to me Mudita is compromising a bit on their principals, Jose makes a good point when he says Mudita is giving out some mixed messaging. You are into a minimalist philosophy yet here is a back door way of adding all the apps you want. I don’t get that, for someone that struggles with phone addiciton that back door can lead back to a unhappy life

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I also admire Light and them remaining strong with their philosophy, but I wouldn’t say that fact alone should be contrasted with Mudita. I believe the Kompakt does align with their philosophy, just in a different way. I also think their decision in letting users sideload personal apps maybe comes from wanting to appeal to a larger audience.

Light has gotten a lot of “heat”, for a lack of a better word, because people are wanting to customize their Light phones with certain, specific apps that they need to use on the daily, but wouldn’t obviously benefit the majority of users. Specific apps such as certain banking apps, or ones they use for work, or other applications that exist that they feel they need…these sort of apps have no place on the Light phone and those frustrated with not being able to “hack” the phone (meaning, not having open-source readily available so that they can customize it further) constantly are trying to slowly convince the Light community & founders why they should change their minds to fit their own preferences. However, Light has not budged in their vision, their ethos and their intentionality behind their devices. This is a good thing.

However, bad news for those wanting to do more with a Light Phone. On the other hand, Mudita is deciding to allow people to do this, even saying they might allow certain parts of the phone to have open-source available, so that users can customize it to their liking. The downside? Yes, those who are easily addicted can easily side load and therefore, maybe this phone isn’t for them. The upside? All those people complaining now have a phone that is a step down from a smartphone (even though, I’d argue that dumbing down your smartphone is the cheapest and a very effective way, especially when downloading apps that have such high security, they don’t allow you to uninstall the app when it’s working) and are able to configure it to their necessities.

For that reason, I don’t think it’s necessarily against Mudita’s philosophy, I think they have clearly made a phone that goes with what they had in mind, in terms of less distractions. Whatever the user does though, that’s up to them and if they ruin the phone too much by downloading more than is necessary, I don’t think that says anything bad about Mudita’s ability to stick with their vision and their ethos.

To me, it just seems like they want to cater towards a bigger crowd. Considering the fact they needed to use a Kickstarter as well, I’m just saying the benefit of catering to a bigger population means more funds for the phone. So now, maybe Kompakt looks a bit nicer to those who want to have something “like the Light” but with their added banking app and so forth (Even though Light to me is different than the Kompakt, but this is what they are looking for- a step down from a smartphone).

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I think for me I just take pride in saying I don’t use a smartphone…so that will ultimately I think determine which phone I choose…

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Well, neither phone is a smartphone, in my opinion. However, the Kompakt is more similar to one than the Light. Either way though, they would both go with your values. Maybe Light a little more…but again, depends what you need on your phone and how the phone matches your lifestyle.

I think the more time goes on, the more I’m happy with sticking with LP3.

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Yeah honestly I think the side loading of the apps is what bothers me the most, if you can do that the Kompakt becomes a smartphone its as simple as that. If I can add any app to this phone it is a smartphone…plain and simple

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Yeah I have a feeling I am sticking with the LP3, won’t cancel my Kompakt order just yet, will mull things over more but its not looking good

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Its indeed a e-ink smartphone.
Pure is dumb but mostly done and dudo.

Its already a smartphone limited by OS and e-ink

This is the wrong question.
The question is how can Mudita span the gamut of smart and minimal?

Imagine a phone as a portal to a cloud service that you managed, you control the services it offers, and the way it serves them., all tailored to feed a minimalist, managed, paradigm. The service can enable all the apps - email, text, chat, even browsing, in ways that make sense to you using a calm, UI - a ‘portal’ to the digital world that you configure for your needs in ways that allow you to effectively manage and control work/life balance without all the noise and visual assault.

One might call the Kompakt ‘dumb’ because users can’t use it to do the things they need to do without being visually assaulted by a second phone - make payments, track email or find information. But it need not be that way, it could do all of those things, still support the minimalist paradigm AND give the user much more agency over what minimalist means.

Mudita offers the possibility of a ‘sophisticated’ phone - a phone that transcends ‘smart’ - a phone that gives the user control over their digital life, including all the ease of the modern digital world (chat, payments, email, information) while maintaining complete control (agency) over the nature of their interaction.

Unfortunately, the Kompakt, as it stands, is not a sophisticated phone. It could be a step in that direction, but only if the right engineering decisions are made about how best to achieve this.

Kompakt can still be the first step to that digital nirvana. The engineers are ready to listen, Mudita has the opportunity to raise the money - the time to begin the journey is right now!

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