All the other discussions I found on Lemmy dismiss it because they find the idea of a second phone ridiculous. Or because they don’t buy into the “dumb phone” concept. But I think it makes a compelling phone on it’s own, and you wouldn’t need a second.
But really look into it. By every indication it appears designed to be a fully featured main phone. It has some compromises made to fit the keyboard first philosophy, but it has everything you’d need and more. Dual SIM (eSIM+physical), a headphone jack, micro SD Card support, a 50mp camera with OIS (I know megapixels don’t mean much but I think it shows it’s not gonna be the cheapest crap camera), NFC/Google Pay support, Android Auto, Qi2… That doesn’t read “second phone” to me. It’s just… phone.
They have now said that it will have an unlockable bootloader too. I’m not finding much to dislike here. 8GB of RAM is somewhat low but should be fine. The processor is still a question mark but honesty as long as it’s not bottom of the barrel it should be perfectly fine. I have always gone for flagship phones but honestly I’ve started analyzing what I actually do on my phone and I pretty much never push the hardware. I like knowing I have the top of the line but I basically just web browse, message, read email, scroll Lemmy, and listen to music/podcasts. Very occasionally watch some YouTube but that’s usually on my TV or PC. No gaming or anything. I should be able to do all of that on this device, some of it won’t be as good on that screen obviously but it should still be doable. I need the camera to at least be decent. Not great just not garbage. Like it’s fine if the low light performance is meh and the video isn’t the best. But I don’t want to look at my photos and regret taking it with that device, so we’ll see.
I don’t want a dumb phone, and I don’t think this is one. You should be able to do everything any other phone can. I don’t think it’s a second phone either. I think they’re just leaning into that for marketing reasons, so that when anyone points out the tradeoffs of this form factor they can just wave it away as a secondary device.
It appeals to me because it’s a small phone. Seriously nobody makes one worth using. Unihertz sure, if you want a bad software experience with no updates ever. But otherwise you just have the non-plus sized iPhone/Galaxy S. Those are considered small. Or maybe the flip-foldables. It also appeals to me because it has major character and (imo) style. I’m bored of glass and metal sandwiches. Give me this! A plastic device with a swappable back that has a (vegan?) leather option? Hell yeah.
This looks awesome and would consider looking more into it as a real alternative to the current crap, BUT…
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I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
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the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
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I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
To be fair this company already ships hardware in physical retail stores (keyboard cases for existing phones). I’m fairly certain they’re serious here but yeah waiting for the real deal is always a better bet.
the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
That’s true, or depends on which languages. Some use QWERTY layouts already like Spanish. I’m bilingual in Spanish and don’t forsee any issue with typing in Spanish on this. They have said that holding down a key works like you’d expect, bringing up diacritics/alternate symbols. The typing suggestions can be bilingual no issue. They said they do want to ship more keyboard variants (QWERTZ/etc) but can’t commit to more SKUs at this stage.
I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
Non-issue. This is an Android phone, that will supposedly have the latest version and full Play Store access.
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Those keyboards are 100% nostalgia. There’s a reason we stopped using them. When touchscreens and onscreen keyboards were crap, they were a godsend. But at this point, they’re just pain. Swipe, drag the spacebar for forward/backward. I’d rather keep a slightly larger screen and the on-screen keyboard.
This keyboard is touch sensitive actually, meaning you can swipe to move the cursor. Actually I’m wondering if it couldn’t support swipe texting.
Anyway I have no nostalgia for the keyboard, never used a phone with one.
An iPod Nano sized Android or Apple phone is something I wish existed as my second phone for apps that don’t play nice with custom roms.
$400usd to pre order a phone thats almost the same as the phone i had in 2011, but golly would I like to have one
I run two phones! One for business and one for personal. I’d buy a clicks phone.
Communicator will launch on Android 16, with support for up to at least Android 20. We’re committing to a minimum of 4 years of Android version updates and 5 years of security updates.
Idk, Pixels ate supported for like 7 years. So after about 5 years, this phone is toast?
Just out of interest how long do you keep a phone because I feel like 5 years is pretty much around the time everyone’s looking to get a new phone.
You can use a phone beyond the manufacturer security updates. They aren’t the only layer of security in Android, that was the whole point of Project Mainline.
Pixel batteries will degrade to the point of being annoying in under 7 years. 5 years is a pretty good lifespan for a phone.
I bet I could write code on that thing… I’m so tempted to try it. Coding on the go lol
My second phone is a Nokia t800 with KaiOS. 99 bucks and I can bring it hiking for 3 days without recharging.
It’s everything I want as an offline bedtime “artcoding” toy. Except for the whole phone bit. And the price.
Wow, I kind of hate that I don’t really need a new phone right now. And just bought a new GPU. This looks awesome.
If I have the money I would definitely get it just to try it out. I am going to get the keyboard though.
8gig of RAM is a bit low
Manufacturers are going to ship laptops with 8gb ram in 2026!!
Ram Good God! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing unless your cloud computing.
James Brown’s zombie, probably.
I mean, 640K ought to be enough for anyone anyway.
When bill the despot gates said that I only had 32k in my computer. A year later I had soldered in another 32k and I was really playing with power. Everyone thinks old bill is okay but I remember the asshole he was when was young and will never be able to see him as anything other than someone who destroyed the potential of computing. Some will say that asshole didn’t make that 640k quote but he was always making predictions that turned out to be untrue. Just like all of these AI/LLM dicks these days. The fact that one or two of them will get some of it right is just luck.
It will be rubbish but the problem is everyone’s doing it so there’s no options other than forking out half your mortgage to Apple for high spec MacBook.
My smart phone has 6GB of RAM. I’ve managed.
Oh wow, my incredibly snappy phone currently has 8GB of ram.
I agree, I would totally but it as a main phone. Especially if it gets Lineage OS!
But last year I already bought F(x)tec Pro 1X, which is also a great keyboard phone and I usually don’t update phones too often 🙂
Looks cool. Did you consider the Planet Computers’ offerings?
I’m into it. Would make a great work device. The power keyboard product also looks like an interesting product.
Only if you have a recent device. I have a older perfectly usable device that doesn’t rate one of these.
Not that I don’t understand why they can’t accommodate all models.
Cases that support magsafe/pixelsnap/qi2.3 (I think) can add the magnetic feature to a non-mag qi phone.
Something like this might work better on an iPhone or non-Pixel Android device. I own a Pixel 6 Pro that supports the Qi2 charging protocol, but it didn’t work properly from my personal experience. It would charge very slowly (well below the speed of other Qi2 capable phones). If I happened to be streaming audio or watching a video while charging, the battery would continue to drain even though it was receiving power, and it would eventually start heating up.
Just a data point, but I’ve been using wireless charging since the… Nexus 6? Maybe the 6p. And I’ve owned most of the nexus/pixel phones, including the 6 Pro. Never had issues with wireless charging, even when actively using the phone. It would warm up a bit from the constant use, but it would still fill the battery. It’s my primary way to charge, I only use the cable if I need the phone next to me (streaming twitch at my desk, watching Netflix in bed…) and the battery is low. As soon as I’m done/back home, it goes straight to the wireless charger. Get a text, grab the phone, reply, back it goes.
You might have a fault somewhere :/
That’s a cool idea
$499 no thanks.
$200, Linux. I’ll accept no less. And take your AI crap and you can cram it up your ass.
$500 for a niche device that won’t sell millions of units and that comes with not medium-high specs, isn’t too bad. And it has unlockable bootloader.
$200 and Linux is impossible unless it’s something with a CPU from a decade ago like the pine phone (the allwinner a64 was launched in 2015 and it was a low end one, imagine using it today)
You’re just making numbers up now there’s no way that a $200 phone is going to be any good. Especially if it’s a niche product like a Linux phone.
Come on you got to be even moderately reasonable
That’s really aggressive… I said they’re NOT pushing AI with this which is great.
Do you have a recommendation for a full featured Linux device usable as a phone? I’d love that but most seem more expensive and in my country basically none of them can even make a phone call due to not supporting VoLTE so it’s not yet a realistic option.
Man, if this thing can run one of the various Linux phone OSes, I’m buying it in a heartbeat. Shame about the huge corner radius on the screen, though. That’ll make it annoying for terminals.
