Hello
I’m not here for digital detox or lifestyle, but for a device that meet my usual low needs.
Requirements: very pocketable small and low end handheld, at least dual 4G SIM (voice & SMS, no data plan), open system.
Software needs: PIM tools (alarm, calendar, contacts, notes), ebook reader, camera (document photos), a few other tools I rarely use.
My previous phone was a Nokia 1, but 2nd SIM slot is only 2G and this network will be turned off by the end of the year.
Kompakt specs looked good but my main problem was the price, so I waited to get a good second hand opportunity. I was also monitoring way cheaper entry level LCD small phones, but I wanted to try e-ink.
After checking apps and reversibility (data export), I switched to it as my daily driver a few weeks ago. For now I’m pleased with the device.
Launcher and system
- Launcher: inkOS for notification management, simple compact app list instead of pages of big icons GitHub - gezimos/inkOS: Text based & E-ink friendly Android Launcher · GitHub
My configuration: system bar on, time display removed from the widget, list of 14 apps (max) on the front page, double tap for screen light on/off - F-Droid for managing most extra apps https://f-droid.org/
- FUTO keyboard: didn’t really try default one https://keyboard.futo.org/ FUTO F-Droid Repo
Here is what I’m still missing by priority. Most are already listed there: About the Issues & Requests regarding Mudita Products category
- screen light control: Automatic brightness is too high, maybe a curve editor would do it. Ideally I’d like a physical button to turn it on even when phone is locked. For now at night I blindly unlock and double tap on the home screen.
- active apps manager: running/background apps list with re-open, stop/kill, and maybe CPU/battery stats while we’re at it. InkOS recent app list is quite close to that.
- advanced wifi parameters: manual IP config, at least
- Mudita weather widget in settings screen: removing or replacing it with something useful, it got no data anyway
Phone: voice, SMS, contacts
Default apps looks good and works great.
I installed Mudita Center on Linux, data export in double-encoded json format is fine. Though I’d like better to be able to dump that on the phone directly, no desktop app required.
My B plan was to use the Fossify suite I’m used to.
Note: I had to change SIM options for SMS to “Always ask”. By default it was on SIM1, unlike for voice calls. Reference: SMS and dual SIM selection
PIM (Personal Information Management)
Default clock/alarm app is doing the job.
Otherwise, I kept the tools I’m used to:
- Fossify Calendar: better events views than default app Fossify Calendar | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
- Ghost Commander: for notes & file management Ghost Commander | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
- MediLog: events logging, better than a simple text file MediLog (Reproducible build) | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
I was worried about missing colors for events classification, but grayscale is good enough.
Other apps
- FBReader: ebook reader I’m used to, didn’t really try default one. Main use by a wide margin, why I wanted an e-ink screen. https://fbreader.org/
- Open Camera: for document photos, can also record videos. Camera is better than I expected, that’s great. Open Camera | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
- OsmAnd: offline maps tool I’m used to, didn’t really try default app OsmAnd~ | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
- DuckDuckGo: web browser DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
- Equate: calculator, data conversion Equate | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
And a few others I almost never use, like Steam (for the authenticator), a SSH client / terminal (still need to work that out, should invert ConnectBot color scheme)…