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.
Speaking from personal experience, I find smaller screens to be significantly less addictive because they’re less engaging and more frustrating to use. It forces me to choose between having text large enough to avoid eye strain and having enough content on the screen to not be constantly needing to interact with it. Either way, I end up with an annoying trade-off that makes me not want to use my phone for anything more than the essentials. The smaller the display is, the less I get sucked in. It’s no coincidence that the smartphone I had the healthiest relationship with was the Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact; my smallest by far.
Additionally, the Communicator’s physical keyboard would make typing slower for me (it might be more comfortable for some, but I’m not sure I agree it’s easier). Personally, there is absolutely no way I would be using a physical keyboard for anything other than messaging with my friends, short emails, basic web searches, etc. They might be comfortable but they’re just too slow compared to modern touchscreen keyboards. And technically I might be able to use a touchscreen keyboard and bypass the physical keyboard entirely, but that’s also very annoying on a small screen for anything other than the essentials. Not that I am going to buy the Communcator (I backed the iKKO Mind One instead), but I can understand why some people might find the design appealing from a minimalist/intentional tech perspective.