Why don't we use a dumbed-down smartphone?

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Guys, I’m going to be really raw here. Are we fooling ourselves? I sit here at my computer thinking of how I’m going to setup my Kompakt, which apps to side-load–Waze, WhatsApp, a better keyboard, better messaging app, etc. And I’m thinking, besides the e-ink screen, what is the point of this phone? Why don’t we just get an Android phone, install those basic apps, lock it with a locker-app, and have a reliable phone that works perfectly without all the downsides of entertainment and doom scrolling?

Something draws me to the Kompakt, but is it a self propelled delusion? Are we fooling ourselves into thinking we’re stepping down a notch but in reality spending more time with side-loading, bugs, missing basic elements? I really want to hear from people. Other than the e-ink display, why do you choose a Kompakt over a dumbed-down smartphone?

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Personally, I don’t sideload anything. The e-ink screen gives me that peaceful easy feeling, it’s so calming. The Kompakt is my daily driver, and I don’t miss the gilded cage of iOS. I don’t need extra apps, and I don’t waste time worrying about what I could add. I just accept what it comes with.

The offline+ feature is a game-changer. It’s hard to overstate how liberating a scheduled digital detox can be. I usually turn it off at night, and it’s like a weight lifted.

I still have PTSD from the constant iOS dings. As much as I’d love music folders, there’s something special about owning my music and curating playlists, it’s got that ’80s mixtape vibe. I enjoy listening to full albums again, without algorithms dictating my taste.

Maps is another win. Sure, it might take a moment for the initial setting, but I love that my phone isn’t tracking or predicting my every move. No more creepy suggestions before I even start the car.

At the end of the day, it is about reclaiming control, not just over my phone, but over my attention and my time.

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It depends on your goal.

For some, your suggestion might work fine. In fact, some companies sell various ways to lock yourself out of certain apps on your phone to reduce compulsive use of your phone. Others, like the Unihertz Atom and Jelly discourage excessive use by their design (tiny screens that don’t lend themselves well to doomscrolling, web browsing, or mobile gaming).

Some people don’t like just locking themselves out because they don’t trust themselves to not just unlock it. Small screens can be a deterrent for some behaviors but some people then struggle to use apps they need on a screen like that.

For me, there were a few big draws:

  1. E-ink screen: There just aren’t that many options to begin with. I looked into some of the others, some even had color e-ink, but the other factors here won me over.
  2. Size: I’d prefer it to be even smaller, but I definitely did not want something bigger. Options like the hisense were just too large for me.
  3. De-googlefied OS: I would really prefer if they had used Lineage as a base for security purposes, or even just a more recent version of Android, but just not having embedded Google software tracking my every move is a big plus.
  4. Offline+ switch: I’m the type of person that uses camera covers on everything, plus other various measures to protect my privacy despite carrying a surveillance device (phone) on me. I like having a more aggressive option than airplane mode available at the flip of a switch.
  5. Lower EMF output: No I don’t think I’m getting cancer from the government’s 5G mind control rays, but there is enough research on the effects of EMF on your brain that I think it’s worth reducing it when possible.

Your statements are all valid but in my case, none of my reasons had anything to do with compulsive use of my phone. Yeah it’s annoying to get substandard apps but I bought this phone expecting to sideload apps anyway because it wasn’t loaded with apps that I consider necessary, like a VPN. There are tons of FOSS apps that work much better than the stock apps and those have mostly closed the gaps for me (mostly, there are a few things here and there that still bother me). I can see why this could be a dealbreaker for some people, but I tinker with all of my devices anyway.

I hope they’ll keep improving on the OS and restoring features that were stripped away from stock AOSP. I hope they’ll take security more seriously, since their statements so far don’t instill much confidence. But the key features that drew me to the MK just aren’t available in a standard smartphone, period.

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Size

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For me, e-ink and de-googled out of the box is a big advantage here. I don’t have time to tinker with my phone, tidying up contacts list is already in my backburner for a while. I’m also happy to bear a product of my people. :wink:
Other than that, Motorola phone for about $150 would do re battery, probably size and all that. But then the screen.

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Pfff… obviously - to show other smartphone drones that we are better than them.
The questions you are asking yourself have been your initiation.
You’re worthy - welcome to the cult.
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But seriously, after couple of weeks of tweaking this thing - you can make it usable, throw it in your bag or whatever and mostly forget about it during the day.
Should it be the experience - nope, but it’s best we got so far on Earth-1218.

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I never needed a detox.
Once I gave back my job iPhone and let the job, cause both brought me at the limit of burn-out, I choose a Punkt MP02.
For the daily use house/job, be joignable, it was enough. And I love the design, the size, the long battery life and the sounds. As soon as I could need more connectivity (holidays, trail, trip) I joigned to it a iPad mini and it was a perfect combo. Can go onto internet if needed, navigation, good pictures…What was annoying is no real calendar, no sync from contacts and, when motorcycling, no camera (tricky in this case to take the iPad with).
So when my Punkt died, I choose MK for the battery, the e-ink screen, THE SIZE, the ability to sync (alas not built in) and the camera.
So the camera is quite to forget. Can do nice pics if good light, no use of the zoom.

But the next phone I’ll buy should be 5G. Here we only have 4G (for how long?) and 5G.

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Oh forgot the fact it is de-googled, very important for me.

And to said that I used a Fairphone5 under e/os (Murena) a few months. Was perfect, de-googled, long battery life if you care, sync of contacts and calendar without a headache, good pics…But sooo big. And the last one is even bigger.
Gave it to my wife, her Fairphone3 (over 5 years old with no problem) became useless due to the end of 3G in Swizerland (or how too boost the market).

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For me, it’s the e-ink display that won me over. The combination of e-ink display and hard to install other apps on it makes it perfect.

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Thank you @RedwoodRiver for asking this relevant question. Here is my experience:

I have used the same old Nokia 5140i for 19 years. I wanted to keep it longer but the end of 2G in France has forced me to leave the only phone I ever bought two weeks ago. :cry:
These last years, people who see my phone initiate interesting conversations about how one can live without a smartphone. It definitely confirm me to not buy one. Then I started to look for alternatives, and think about my needs.

Even if I was happy with my dumbphone, I had to admit I missed some features:

  • a conversation history (and a little more than only 200 SMS in memory!),
  • the ability to take, send and receive simple photos (which I had 19 years ago in 400x600 px format – another time!),
  • some maps when I look for a street in town (my Nokia had a compass which helped me several times :rofl:),
  • and internet tethering (I often compensate the absence of smartphone by traveling with my computer… and begging for Wifi or somebody else’s tethering).

On the other hand it was clear to me I didn’t want:

  • any Google stuff
  • to spend time on it
  • social medias, infinite scrolling…
  • to get an instant answer to all my questions through internet
  • to be short of battery every two days (my Nokia last 5 days – I had the battery replaced only once!)

My research for alternatives made me realize the Kompakt check all the boxes.

And there is more: to be honest, I felt like leaving my old dumb phone is leaving a part of my identity: my friends, my family, my students… I was known as the one who still uses this old crazy Nokia phone and I started to like it. It was a good way to promote a moderate way of life, and initiate dialogue about the use of technology.
Thus it seemed to me this e-ink screen was a good way to stay in this path.

I haven’t side loaded anything for now, but I like the fact that it is possible if I (really) need to.

Only 2 regrets for now:

  • I fight for two weeks with a problem of low voice volume which made my calls a nightmare. I hope I will quickly find a solution with the support team.
  • the OS is not open-source :confused:
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I am having the same issue with the low mic which is unhearable to the person on the other end of the call. Did this ever get solved for you?

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Made me the same with my Punkt MP02 with his look of an 80’s calculator.
Helps me a lot during Covid with their silly QR code. Wen you went in a restaurant or a bar you needed to scan a QR code.
So wen they told me to do that I asked

  • how does it work?
  • Na, with your phone
  • Took out the Punkt and gave them: show me
  • Oh, ok, forget about it. :grinning:
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Earlier this year in feb I think it was, I downloaded one of those apps onto my iPhone (a huge 12 pro max) that promised to restrict my use of my phone as I knew I had an issue with constantly checking my social media. Anyway, long story short, the app connected to my screen time (which I’d never even thought about!) and I got the shock of my life. Not only was it massive (some days were 6hrs!! Fucking hell), but it told me how many days/weeks/years I would lose to my phone if I continued on this path. It then said it would charge me £84 a year for using it!!

I deleted the app immediately along with my social media apps on my phone. I then started researching alternatives. I replaced my massive iPhone with a smaller one in august (13 mini), and then a month later took the leap to buy the MK with the idea that the mini would be there in emergencies. I was annoyed I couldn’t delete browsers on my mini, no control. Got the MK and LOVED it, but ended up getting it replaced (wobbly offline+ switch), and within 2hrs of sending the MK back my iPhone turned into a brick! I ordered a Unihertz jelly star (which I still have in a box), to tide me over till my replacement MK came.

For me it was the e-ink and the size. I was contemplating the Lightphone 3, but it’s SO expensive and that seemed to have a lot of issues too.

I grew up free of smartphones and internet, I’m 50 next year and I was totally hooked on social media for years. It definitely got worse since lockdown in 2020. I use it for my business (and still have to), so I have newsfeeds blocked on my desktop now to avoid scrolling. I’ve found a device which takes payments that doesn’t have to be hooked to a smartphone too so I will use that for in person art fairs etc.

MK has been a breath of fresh air and I haven’t side loaded anything other than InkOS. I ditched WhatsApp with the iPhone even though I was using it every day, I’ve just got my sisters (who I was mostly interacting with daily) to use SMS instead now which is fine. No 6 minute long rambling voice messages now which I can’t ignore! Now it’s just short texts or proper phone calls. Much better.

If MK hadn’t been available I’d maybe have gone for a Sleke or something like that, but the big phone thing just isn’t appealing. I had the all singing all dancing iPhone due to the camera so that I could film and photograph my work, but I do have a mirrorless digital Sony that I can do that with now, it’s just not as convenient. I don’t use the camera on the MK, I’ve given up with that LOL.

I’ve read more books this year (not on my MK) than I’ve read in MANY years too. I’m really enjoying having more time to read, and more time to sew clothes! Obviously not everyone has the screentime problem!

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I sold my Kompakt after realizing that it had no Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) for voicemail and that it could not, without sideloading another app, initiate a group text-message.

I now have a Sunbeam Wireless F1 Pro Maple for daily use in the USA and a BraX3 for international travel + for downloading and playing podcasts & audiobooks. (I keep my SIM in the Maple unless traveling internationally, and I use a USB-to-Ethernet dongle or WiFi for downloads to the BraX3 at home.)

My initial interest in the Kompakt was for its E Ink screen, but I realized with two months of use that I rarely needed an in-sunlight-readable cellphone. Still, I would have kept the Kompakt, if on delivery it had the voicemail and group-texting features that are standard here in the USA and if the other apps were up to the same quality, readability, and responsiveness that other cellphones offer.

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the de googled OS, lack of tracking, ability to turn the device offline properly, basic barebones apps, extended battery life and eink display are the main attractions of the kompakt for me. I have to say I really dont understand anyone who buys this handset and then complains its lacking all the functionality of a smartphone, and adds all the tracking apps that Mudita purposely removed.

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