Post #2064136
2026-05-04 11:31 UTC
Replies (8)
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@doriane@post.lurk.org 2026-05-05 09:09
@raphael@post.lurk.org @lucyhxc@mastodon.design @ghostsnwitches@post.lurk.org @k2mt@pan.rent @blipblub@autonomous.zone my initial plan was to get one of the kyocera dura, which is android no play store, has signal, browser, jack, camera, very good battery and resistant hardware and is super sexy because it's mud compatible lol but super sad it doesn't cover the european frequencies band (only US)... (i had to double check with the specs of the phone versus a list of belgium frequency band coverage and they doesn't align but maybe there is something i don't know)
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@doriane@post.lurk.org 2026-05-05 11:30
@lucyhxc@mastodon.design @k2mt@pan.rent @yhancik@thereisno.computer for reference for everyone in this thread @raphael@post.lurk.org already talked about his cool experience with the TTfone970 here: https://post.lurk.org/@raphael/115151858038254167 which to be honest might still be one of the best option: runs on android, allow APK install through f-droid (signal and other), has web-browser, has jack and music player and camera and T9. in a way it's similar to the kyocera digno @ghostsnwitches@post.lurk.org suggested (but which doesn't have T9 lol i guess because you type differently in japanese). But if they can both supports the TT9 app @bread@post.lurk.org suggested (https://f-droid.org/packages/io.github.sspanak.tt9/) that's banger. Guess i'll go for one of them.
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@yhancik@thereisno.computer 2026-05-04 13:32
@doriane@post.lurk.org I've been using the Nokia 2660 Flip for a couple of years now. It's based on an obscure OS called Mocor, which is low power & fast (unlike KaiOS on most feature phones) but it's also incredibly low effort in terms of UI, bearing no comparison with what Nokia used to do in the 90s/00s. Notable features: it has Opera Mini, which is a bit of a hit & miss of a browser, but I used to be able to use Brutaldon with it and https://gdir.telae.net/ for a low-tech Google Mapsstorage is expandable with a microSD card!you can access the file system through USB, although there is no syncing/export tool (for contacts etc)the phone has a decent files browserit has a 640x480 camera that takes horrible quality photos no matter the conditions. I'm deeply enamoured with the almost impressionistic pictures it makes 💚 the photo "app" allows you to change the exposure & white balance, it has a night mode, colour effects, a burst mode. Relatively impressive compared to the rest of the softwarethere's a basic music player, i honestly never use it. Access through the Music app is not great (it only lists every songs of your collection alphabetically) but you can also access files through the file browser.phone has a trrrs minijackthere's a so-called "e-book reader" that actually only reads .txt files. It's the best designed thing in the whole phone, lots of options & customisationthere's NOTHING to take notes (you have to use sms drafts or calendar notes - except the calendar capacity is ridiculously small)it's a physical keyboard with biiig buttons, which is so much better than touch screens, but it's not my favourite phone keyboard ever. I feel you have to press relatively hard on the bottom keys (*, 0, # etc), especially considered their location. I often have to press it several times. The D-pad is ok, but again, felt much better on my 2009 Nokiathere's a stupid bug in T9 mode when you type a number, followed by SPACE, it autocompletes it like you want to type "I'll be there in 3 minutes" and it says "3300minutes".with my usage (i rarely call at all), using 2G instead of 4G, the battery seems to last for weeks ~ in summary: it's ok and I'll use this anytime over a smartphone, but it's clearly not designed with a lot of love, and I guess it's particularly striking when you compare it with a Nokia of the old days
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@ghostsnwitches@post.lurk.org 2026-05-04 17:33
@doriane@post.lurk.org I use a Sharp Aquos 3 805SH! It's a keitai, a japanese feature phone. It's important to get an unlocked model for the sim card. It runs on Android 8, but Google services don't work. I use the Aurora Store so theoretically I could use any browser that runs on Android 8, but I don't browse much. I have to use a virtual mouse and that makes everything a little slow (which is ok :)). I also have Signal. Calls don't work on Signal and it doesn't run very well but it's alright. I send a lot of voicemail because it ends up being faster than typing. I have to do this bizarre ritual every time; I can't record the voicemail while holding the button down, but the amount of time for which I hold it down corresponds to how long I can speak afterwards, before the message gets sent! Every time I'm done using Signal, I stop it from running entirely because it's a huge battery drain (so is Android but that's another issue...) There is no audio jack. No controls for the volume either (except on/off). I know some people have successfully "hacked" it to change that though. If you're interested in learning more I'd recommend chewyro on Youtube! She has a lot of tutorials on how to properly set up and get started with different models. The camera is lovely and the aspect ratio is very pleasing, here are some pics!
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@praxeology@post.lurk.org 2026-05-04 18:11
@doriane@post.lurk.org I use a Nokia E6 (vintage 2013). It was one of the last Symbian OS phones and it has a really nice OLED display and a Blackberry-style keyboard. The battery is replaceable (around €10 on ebay). It has WiFi and some kind of browser and email client but I never used it. It has a headphone jack and a rather crappy mp3 player but there are other apps you can install. The camera is not great but acceptable for my random needs. I only need to charge it every 7-10 days. It was made for 3-G which is now turned off most places so it reverts to 2-G (classic GSM). And 2G will be turned off a lot of places soon too. So if you go vintage, you might want to look for a phone with 4G which should last a lot longer. The Blackberry Q10 looks like a good option for keyboard lovers like me.
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@k2mt@pan.rent 2026-05-04 18:12
@doriane@post.lurk.org @bread@post.lurk.org is on fedi! I've been looking into options myself in the past weeks but from afar its hard to figure out what works how so it's super cool to hear all your experiences : )
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@blipblub@autonomous.zone 2026-05-05 06:42
@doriane@post.lurk.org @raphael@post.lurk.org @lucyhxc@mastodon.design @ghostsnwitches@post.lurk.org @k2mt@pan.rent I used a Punkt MP 02, and a Xiaomi Qin F21 Pro. I got the Punkt used, for much cheaper than its ridiculous original price. It is nice hardware, and the promise of having only Signal on a dumphone (it has its a client called Pigeon) was appealing for me, but Signal never worked properly. Qin F21 Pro was really nice, I got it from AliExpress, it's Android with Google Play unfortunately, but I guess you can degoogle it to a certain extent.
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@bread@post.lurk.org 2026-05-05 10:24
@doriane@post.lurk.org Ok adding my experince after a month of trying to dumb it up... So my aim was to have a phone with a tiny screen and to be a lil bit clunky, so it's annoying to use but will still keep me connected to people. Hence, my list of requirements was signal, telegram and email, a lil bit of navigation and mp3 playing. Nice to haves were 3.5mm, battery life, all the annoying banking apps and digital ID stuff that NL makes u use. The r/dumbphone community would basically say i was basically looking for a smart phone, but this shit a scale and they are annoying. This left me with basically having to get an android phone, as KaiOs and Android Go are both lacking. So first i got a Doov R77 Pro from the very nice people at Dummy Mini (FKA Dumbdroid). https://dumbermini.com/ They make a branch of LineageOS called Dummy OS, that works on lots of cheap Android T9 phones. It is deGoogled, and you can add as many apps as u like but NOT ALL WILL WORK. All my messaging apps worked (but clunky) but banking apps didn't because something about google requiring a certain screen size to consider a device safe... Also no headphone jack. And unexpectedly the audio quality is awful. If the microphone and speakers on my old pixel 5a was UE Boom, the r77 is someone putting their phone in a cup at a party to play music.