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.
You always wonder how much support they will have?
I’m gonna reserve a green one in 3 weeks before the price goes up, I want a smaller sleeker phone with a keyboard. I don’t use Instagram or YouTube or anything much on my current phone that’s going to stop receiving updates soon.
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.
If it has even decent custom ROM support I would 100% consider it. I hate it as a second device but as a main I love the design.
Someone in the last thread said that the Mediatek SOC makes ROM support unlikely.
Same. It would definitely be my daily driver. I’m using the Minimal Phone now but have often found that I would rather have this same form factor with a regular screen, and the Communicator seems to basically be that. I am still deciding if I want to pre-order but I’ve set a reminder to do or don’t before the window closes.
According to the support ticket I put in a week or so ago, the bootloader will be unlockable which is great news.
The only thing the specs don’t mention is how much RAM it will have.
8GB of ram, confirmed in various places, most recently on an AMA.
Has the Minimal Phone improved much since launch? Always curious to hear the thoughts of those who use minimalist/intentional tech devices.
The hardware is the same AFAIK but they’ve put out
twothree software updates since I’ve had it. One added some extra features to the eink control utility and the second fixed some really annoying bugs with the fingerprint sensor. Both also included the system security updates as well.There was a 3rd one a few weeks ago, but I think it was just a security bump. It wasn’t announced and just showed up. There may have been some tweak to the QWERTY keyboard utility because now the annoying bar that only indicated the ALT/Shift status at the bottom is no longer there and was happy to no longer see.
Is the software mostly bug-free now? It seemed to have quite a few issues at launch (not unusual for a first-gen crowdfunded product).
The base system is stable. The only instability I really had with mine was the fingerprint sensor resetting every week. It would just stop registering until you turn fingerprint detection off, reboot, and re-enroll all of your prints. The second update they pushed seems to have fixed that.
Their default launcher could use some work. I replaced Minimal Launcher with a similar one that works identically. The problem with Minimal Launcher is it is hardcoded to certain apps. I’ve de-googled mine so I don’t use Google clock or calendar. Clicking the time or date in Minimal Launcher will only take you to Google Clock or Calendar (respectively) rather than asking what app to open or trying to detect the default app for that. I submitted a bug for that a couple months ago but so far no fix.
They also seem to only update their software (launcher, quick settings, keyboard config, etc) through system updates rather than via apps. You also can’t disable any of them either.
I also haven’t heard anything more about them supporting non-Googled or third party Android builds.
Too bad it will not work in Canada for some carrier like Rogers who VoLTE blacklist phones they don’t sell…
Also what is the target price of this phone?
I’m pretty sure that’s not even legal in the US where corporations have the same rights are humans.
$400 pre-order, $500 normally.
Not the phone’s problem
Why the hell would I want a “second phone”? I don’t like my first phone. I want a phone that I don’t hate, not a second phone to add to my misery.
I think the intent is to be a “work device”
A lot of companies will be lazy or have a BYOD policy. You will likely be asked to install extra security and monitoring software on your personal device to view work related info or check email.
The simple way to avoid this is to just get a second phone, and given how this device is has a smaller profile than a mid-range smart phone, its a good marketing bit.
You will likely be asked to install extra security and monitoring software on your personal device to view work related info or check email.
You can set up another user on Android which will practically completely isolate this software from your main user. Since it’s your phone and it gets installed by you it gets treated as any other user app and AFAIK cannot break the isolation between multiple users like system or organisation apps probably could do. You just saved yourself few hundred dollars.
The only disadvantage I could see is you not getting notifications from your work user applications when you are using the main user.
The average MDM software used to manage business phones won’t accept being a secondary user, usually they must be set as “device owner” as they need full controll on apps (automatically install apps, veto certain content, and so on), maybe they will allow the opposite, personal stuff in the secondary user
Most people I know that have a second phone have it paid for by that company.
Having your work info on a personal device opens you up to a whole bunch of ass-ache if your employer ever gets sued. If they need data that touched your phone, they can technically seize it as evidence, for instance.
The only disadvantage I could see is you not getting notifications from your work user applications when you are using the main user.
I’d reverse that. Not getting notifications of the personal user is a problem. Not getting work notifications during your free time is a big plus.
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.
Looks like OP made a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Yeah I thought I made it clear what I was trying to say. This looks like a good phone on it’s own. Like sell your old phone and buy this to replace it. Not a second phone.
Not a clue. Wouldn’t want that either. That’s why I want it as my only phone…
My guess is they want to preemptively Dodge the allegations thst it’s a bad phone because it might not have the top of the line camera.
I’m not thrilled about the processor, but this guy is still on my radar because of the physical keyboard and expandable storage, not upset to see a headphone jack either.
It would really have to be bad for me to hate it I think. I don’t do anything that needs crazy performance, I’ve come to realize.
Do they even say what processor it has? All I see is “4-nanometer, 5G IoT SoC platform from MediaTek” which means nothing to me.
No, they are waiting to announce. People have speculated as there’s only a few that would be viable.
MediaTek processors are known for being not so great.
They’ve gotten way better with the Dimensity line last I heard, to the point that the high end ones were topping Qualcomms high end offerings
I think it’s highly unlikely it has a high-end chip, based on the price, niche market and advertised use case.
Oh yeah for sure. I’m just saying Mediatek doesn’t automatically mean bad like it used to.
Why would you need a lot of RAM on a phone that I assume you would want to use less? Isn’t that really what this is for? People who want to stare at their phone less?
I never mentioned RAM, my only criticism was the Mediatek processor. This thing has 8GB of RAM, which should be plenty.
I don’t know. That’s not what I want it for. I just want to use it as a regular phone.
RIM should blow everyone’s mind and release a new QWERTY BlackBerry. The market would lose their shit.
RIM no longer own BlackBerry. The Clicks Communicator has some of the blackberry team on it’s team.
I’d rather have a new Palm device, too bad their management shit the bed and destroyed the company.
I loved my palm. It was great.
Capitalize, folks.
$499 no thanks.
$200, Linux. I’ll accept no less. And take your AI crap and you can cram it up your ass.
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
I have a pinephone, it was $200. It is also hot garbage, with the performance of a 56k modem with the software cohesion of liquid shite with sprinkles.
And I knew going in that it was bad. But it was so much worse. I tried using it as my main phone for a few days, and jesus it was pain. From programs not scaling, UI elements being inaccessible, the phone locking up, the lock screen freaking out, the camera not working, the fact that it only ‘works’ on 1/3 carriers in the US, I don’t think I ever got hotspot functionality working, then I threw it in a drawer for a few months, tried it again, manjaro’s package manager freaked out and corrupted itself (and some other stuff, it’s been a few years), and the only way to fix it without going insane and restoring file-by-file was to reinstall from scratch… which required setting up the distro from inside another system.
Jesus fucking christ, what a shitshow. And I’ve been using Linux off and on for just about 20 years now for desktops, 10 years for servers.
‘you get what you pay for’ couldn’t be any more true here. For a niche device, it can be good or it can be cheap. If it is both, it is using economies of scale, and thus is not niche. And let me tell you, every single phone that is running ‘full’/‘desktop’ Linux, I assure you, is a niche product.
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.
No, I mean “them”. I agree, its a step forward and I’d get one but not for that price.
$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)
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?
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.
minimum of 4 years of Android version updates and 5 years of security updates.
*if we dont go bankrupt
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.
[citation needed], my family all runs pixels and my father is still on the pixel 6, so nearing 4.5y of daily use. Other family members get my previous models (7 Pro, 8 Pro) when I upgrade, so they are getting phones that have been used heavily every day for at least a year before I upgrade. I haven’t heard any complaints from any of them regarding battery charge/duration. I upgrade whenever I am interested in the new model, or when their device goes EoL for security updates, then pass it on.
Last issue we had regarding hardware was the nexus 5X dying, and that was because LG fucked up during manufacturing… again…
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.
I believe just buying a normal phobe or Pixel+Graphene if you want privacy and make it dumb instead.is it that hard to contron oneself from staying away from addicting apps?
I do not want a dumb phone. I don’t buy the concept of dumb phones. I want to use this like a normal phone and do all the normal phone stuff like I said in the post…
I just want actual buttons like this thing has. If I can just get a keyboard that attaches to the phone without making it unwieldy, that would be sick.
Did you see their other product? The Qi2/Magsafe keyboard? https://www.clicks.tech/powerkeyboard
It looks like basically the best you can get with that concept and typical phones realistically.
My first thought is how well it actually stays connected to the phone and would work through a case, as it appears to attach via just magnets. Does look pretty slick tho, and it also doubles as a powerbank.
Yeah that’s the big question. I mean they also make keyboard cases which work well technically and are well made but having to redesign it for every new model phone seems unrealistic and also it makes your phone comically long and unbalanced.
