I used a Kompakt for 2 and a half months, in the beginning it had me deep in terminal command madness on a computer more than I ever am, because none of the apps worked, I had to replace everything. I desperately wanted it to work, I wanted an e-ink phone so badly I was deluded, trying so hard to make it work. But the fact is it doesn’t work as a phone, it’s more of a 4g tablet.
It finally came down to when I showed up to an appointment at the wrong time, it had been rescheduled, and I never received the text. When I told my girlfriend I missed the text, we looked at each other’s phones and I had only received 2 of 5 of her texts. She thought I was being a jerk not responding here and there for the past 12 weeks.
My relationships were damaged, I lost work, if I hadn’t stopped using the Kompakt it was going to ruin my life.
Besides that, after finding out Mudita had secret trackers, which were communicating way too often, I don’t trust Mudita. I had already felt these updates are suspicious, a music widget when you can’t clear the phone log?? What are they doing? Working on making the backlight fade in and out when there are serious problems with the functionality of the phone? There’s no group messaging because they don’t use this in Poland? Oh come on! It seems to me they are milking the promised updates and not actually doing the development.
After all of this I wouldn’t feel comfortable attempting to use the Kompakt again after software updates, it’s very difficult to test if it’s working properly, receiving most texts but not all, I have no trust left with it.
I bought a Sunbeam Horizon and yes it has lots of light coming out of it, but it works, it’s reliable. And even though the Kompakt is e-ink, I found myself on it just as much as a smartphone. The Sunbeam flip phone was so easy to setup, and easy to stay off of, every task is so easy and fast to do that it reduces the amount of time I’m using it, which means I don’t mind the light. It was nice being able to read ebooks, but I am happier to have a phone that has Zero entertainment, if I am somewhere and I have to kill time, it’s better that I just do nothing, it’s relaxing.
Other issues:
Terribly quiet call volume, struggled to hear on the phone unless in silence.
The Offline+ switch became a stress, when expecting an important call or while at work I compulsively checked the switch because it so easily switched accidentally, and I had missed calls.
The vibration is so faint it doesn’t really vibrate, and I found the ringtones awful.
I suppose the expectation is to use it in a case but I didn’t expect it to look so rough after only 2 months, the paint wore off the back, and the plastic around the screen became torn up, really weak soft plastic. I can’t imagine how bad it would have gotten if I tried to keep using it, without a doubt the poorest quality phone I have ever had, worse than cheap disposable feature phones.
This is a personal issue but the smartphone format hurts my wrists, they become tight, this doesn’t happen with a traditional keypad style phone, I am sticking to flip phones for now on.
I very much regret buying a Kompakt, but I learned many lessons, I will never buy a new product I am not sure actually works. I also learned a lot about how idealistic I was, seeking the perfect phone of my dreams. The Sunbeam is far from my dream phone, and I am glad. I no longer want my nerdy dream phone, I simply want a reliable phone that works so I can go about, live my life, and forget about it. The Kompakt wrapped me up, while the Sunbeam set me free.
This recent experience going from the Kompakt to a truly basic flip phone has taught me that if the sideloading option is there, it gives me the sense that it’s a smartphone, that I am connected. I had that sense even with a Nokia that had a truly useless web browser, or an iPhone that was completely locked down with parental controls. There still remains a sense of connection to information, and the sense of connection to information gives me the feeling of a safety net, and that safety net turns my brain off. And the interesting thing about the smartphone safety net, is how most of the forgetfulness can’t be solved by the smartphones abilities.
You’ll know a minimalist phone works because the first few weeks your mind will feel tired, you’re thinking a little harder, contemplating every possibility so that you’re not stuck in a bad situation because you have no safety net to rely on. And after time you’ll find your mind is sharper, more focused, and certainly not forgetful. But I haven’t found that to be the case when I know the phone is capable, that I have chosen not to install the applications, which I know I can install, even if it means I have to use a computer. It is only when I know that no matter what, there is absolutely no possibility to access to information on the device, otherwise the choice is draining, and the feeling of the safety net remains.
