Hello everyone, though I generally don’t like to write reviews about the products I buy, I have such strong feelings about this device that I decided to write one for the Kompakt. Now even though I have sympathy for the Mudita team in general, I will not mince words in this review. This review will thus be written from the perspective as a paying customer that expects a smartphone to deliver a near hassle-free experience, much like other phones. Since a lot has been written about the positives about the device (which I agree with), I want to succinctly summarize my issues here that do not meet my expectations.
Why the Kompakt
For a couple of years I have minimized my smartphone usage. I have no social media and previously used the Jelly Star. However this phone was a tad too small for me and its battery life is poor. Though I looked at the Bigme Hibreak Pro I wanted a smaller device and appreciated the software/hardware connection Mudita is trying to make with the e-ink screen.
Hardware
-The screen is not 300 PPI despite the competition. This might be due to the screen size, but I expect better in 2025
-The speaker is not to modern standards. Not sure if this is due to resonance in the phone itself or the quality of the speaker, but the performance is not good.
All other issues (camera, no warm backlight etc are to be expected from a minimal device and do not hinder usage.)
Software
1: Phone: 10/10 app
2: SMS: 10/10 app
3: Calculator: 10/10
4: Calendar: Does not sync with external services: unusable for me. I know this will be updated so I expect it become a good app.
5: Camera: needs video
6: Chess: 10/10
7: E-reader: 3/10, no turning of pages with the volume buttons. Contrast seems to be impeded because the screen is always in performance mode (or so it seems).
8: Recorder: 10/10
9: Maps: Barely used but fails to find GPS indoors. Not up to modern standards.
10: Music: 10/10, enough for a minimal experience.
11: Meditations: 10/10
12: Notes: 10/10
13: Weather/10/10, absolutely perfect for me
Notifications:
Notifications are poor on this device. Now I don’t use notifications but you cannot separe ring and notifications volume. Apparently this was introduced in Android 13 but we are in 2025 so I expect this feature to be present. Furthermore, putting the phone on silence does NOT mute vibration. The phone cannot be used in formal settings. Unacceptable. Any solutions are more than welcome.
Things that annoy me
-Logo on lock screen instead of nothing or a clock.
-The flashing of the pin screen after unlocking with the fingerprint.
-Phone easy to unlock with your finger in your pocket because you don’t have to press the power button before the fingerprint unlock.
Unacceptable things
The keyboard is borderline unusable. It often skips presses. It feels rushed and really damages the experience.
Vanilla experience now: 5
Vanilla experience with major issues fixed: 8+
However, for me the vanilla experience is not workable as a primary phone. I need Whatsapp at the very minimum. So I sideload apps. However, there is no app manager to manage notifications! This is extremely annoying and would also help the vanilla experience. However, most apps are horrible to use on an e-ink screen and there are frequent crashes with some applications. Alternative launchers are also generally a bad idea. I see people asking about banking apps, uber etc on this device and I would simply say: forget about it. Yes sometimes and in some situations you can make it work but it will be a very frustrating experience. If you are not willing to make sacrifices to make this your primary phone, you will be disappointed. I use a second phone at home for non-daily use apps and I can very much recommend this approach to anyone wanting to use the Kompakt.
Things that annoy me when sideloading
-You cannot rearrange apps
-You cannot replace Icons of apps! Basic stuff for most phones but not a thing here. Perhaps an exercise in dealing with perfectionism, but also an area for room for improvement.
-I cannot delete apps from the phone.
Non Vanilla experience now: 6, perhaps a little higher
Non Vanilla experience with major issues fixed: 8+ (or higher?)
Additional software
Mudita center is not the fastest but it does its job. No problemo here.
A general message to the Mudita community
Upon receiving my phone I was surprised at reading a number of complaints, with a lot of complaints about missing features. I thought about these complaints and did not recognise the same need for a lot of these requests. And then it struck me: where does a minimalist phone end and a feature phone begins? Is it the camera? Is it having 5g? Is it having a browser? It’s simple to make a feature phone: just cram in everything that is possible on a hardware and software basis. Such a phone will never disappoint anyone because people can always find what they are looking for and disregard what they don’t use. Minimal phones do not have this luxury. There will ALWAYS be things left out that will disappoint people. There is NO agreement on what a minimalist phone experience needs to be…yet. This goes for Light Phone too! What I am trying to say: know what you are getting yourself into; you will probably need to make sacrifices! At the same time I believe there needs to be a roadmap by the Mudita team. I know you want to ship out phones before announcing any potential feature requests (which makes sense business wise because people could decide to cancel their order or return their phone because their seemingly important feature is not yet announced or not part of the phone), but I urge to take a position of leadership and to not be afraid of what the Mudita Kompakt experience will actually be like in the end.
But I also accept that I chose to buy a product that has a very limited market (as of now). I bought a phone that does less than a 10 year old phone, with a screen that was never designed for a phone, on purpose! So I will ride it out no matter what, because nothing brings me a bigger smile than dumb ideas done great and Mudita has at least shown the willingness to achieve the latter. This is my review and now if you will excuse me, I will go for a walk because the sun is out.
All of your positive comments on my review is stroking my ego a bit too much haha, though I have so many more ideas!