Dumbphones

• The screen is tiny.

  => Prevents doomscrolling (Instagram, etc.). You really don’t want to spend time on it. You do what you need to do, and then move on. It’s way too small and cumbersome to want to spend more than 30 seconds on it. This is even truer in grayscale mode.

• The 48MP camera. It’s not high-end, but it’s more than enough—and I’m not just saying that for scanning QR codes.
• The form factor, great size. It’s very satisfying to go out with only this thing in your pocket. The rounded edges are pleasant to hold.
• Good performance. Apart from the size and screen, hardware-wise it’s close to a standard smartphone.
• Headphone jack for audio
• Google compatible, Play Services, Play Store, etc. Banking apps work! It’s also possible to use Uber, for example. Everything is a bit laborious but nothing is impossible.
• NFC

• The screen is tiny.

  Surprise! It’s the main feature, but it’s also the issue with this phone when considering it for the long term. It requires a lot of customization to make menus readable, or to increase font size in apps that allow it (WhatsApp and Signal handle this). For the others, too bad, because increasing the font size globally causes other problems that are even harder to manage: visual elements off-screen that you can’t see or click.

  For typing, you absolutely need an alternative keyboard like traditional-T9 or thumb-key, available on F-Droid. A classic QWERTY Gboard is too small—it’s hell. Speech-to-text helps a lot.

• Aging Android 13

  Nothing deal-breaking, but I don’t think Unihertz plans to update it to a newer Android version. There are users who have managed to install LineageOS 20 on it.

For me, it’s a transition and detox phone. I don’t see myself keeping it as my main phone long-term (8 months was already a lot…). Actually, when I read an SMS or a Signal message, I’m not doing anything wrong… and I don’t want to strain my eyes. At first, it’s a calculated disadvantage, but it becomes too painful in the long run, especially when you no longer have the eyes of a 20-year-old.

It ticks a lot of boxes, though. You can do everything and you don’t spend too much time on it. I’d say that if the interface were better customized for its size, it would be almost perfect. But that’s not the norm, and apps are often poorly adapted to the form factor. Nothing insurmountable, but it requires too much time investment, in my opinion, and that’s not the point. We want to care less about the device, not the opposite.

I also wanted to go a bit further. With this phone, you’re dealing with a smartphone in disguise. It works for reducing screen time, the compromise is pragmatic. But it’s not the change I want to see… then I came across:

⇒ Introducing Mudita Mindful Design

So I took the plunge and ordered the Mudita Kompakt.

• The e-ink screen

  I love this screen. The resolution could be better, but for text it’s more than enough. Not to mention that in broad daylight, it’s perfectly readable. On a terrace at 1 PM, in full sun, it’s even more legible. For when it’s dark, there’s adjustable backlighting. I set it to minimum in the evening/in the car, or off during the day. With KOReader, I also use it as an e-reader. It fits in your hand and you can turn pages with the volume +/- buttons.

  

  Figure 3: Reading EPUB on KOReader (full size)

• Physical “offline” switch

  Very cool. You might think it’s a gimmick, that it’s the same as airplane mode. But not quite. It turns off all wireless connections: cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, … very satisfying just before bed, because it’s very accessible: you don’t have to turn on and look at the phone. Maybe a bit too accessible, as I’ve accidentally activated it in my pocket once or twice.

• Made in Europe Polish company, that matters too.
• No Google. No Play Store, no Google account. That’s what I wanted, but I understand that it can be seen as a negative.
• Ability to sideload apps (APK, or via F-Droid, Aurora Store).

• Active community, customer support

  Mudita listens to user feedback and delivers updates that improve the software. They don’t say yes to everything, but the fact that they continue to improve and stabilize their product is reassuring. They’re not in a rush, and the intention is there.

  ⇒ Mudita forum

• Price.
• Lack of performance as soon as you step outside Mudita-supported apps.
• Camera. Good enough for scanning a QR code.
• The preinstalled Calendar app. 😠 Local only, no sync. It doesn’t use Android’s default DB and therefore cannot be synced with something like DecSync CC. I use Proton Calendar for now, but it’s not at all optimized for e-ink. I really don’t understand this choice by Mudita. I want sync for the calendar because I want to spend less time on my screen. If I receive a calendar invitation (.ics for example) by email, I want to be able to accept the invitation directly and have it automatically synced to the phone. Imagine having to enter it manually every time? No thanks. That said, I think it’s on their roadmap.