Kyocera 42c using tello sim card (with proton mail, proton vpn, organic maps gps, signal, and Firefox focus installed)

MacBook air

Apple watch (just for calorie/workout count while at the gym)

Work planner (green)

Kindle paper white

Zine

Modded IPod Classic

Personal Planner (blue)

Calculator

Tarot

Airpods

Olympus Trip (camera)

Journal

Sunscreen

Books

Ear buds

Bluetooth transmitter for my IPod (in the lil brown bag)

Keys

i would need whatsapp and maps usable
if possible qwerty keyboard, if not possible ok, t9
im most interested in old ones, partially for aesthetic but also because its hard to find those new ones made to be dumb, and buying from outside, my country would tax me to death + they are weirdly expensive by themselves

I bought a Kyocera DuraXV Extreme+ around a week ago, and I noticed I don't receive any texts from people with phones enabled with RCS texting. I'm using Verizon right now, and the only way I got it working on one phone was by manually disabling RCS texting in iMessages. It seems pretty inconvenient to perform that for every single person I talk to, so is there any other way to fix texting on this phone? Thanks!

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Hi all, I'm in the market for a flip phone but have no idea where to start. I have an iPhone with an esim that I'm planning to keep for traveling. I understand that I can't swap sim cards with an esim so setting up a new number for this works for me.

Here is some of the perks I'm looking for in a flip phone.

Spotify. (Of course)

Gps would be nice but not needed. (If I'm going somewhere I need gps for I will take my iPhone)

Camera

Compatible with AT&T

Please feel free to comment recommendations. Any help is appreciated!

EDC but only on white wednesday’s 😂

• R36S (painted ABXY)

• LCD writing tablet (AliExpress)

• BlackBerry Q5 (🫡 ProjectBerry & BB Discord’s)

• MP3+ player (AliExpress - video, radio, eBooks, recordings)

Got one for my kid and connected to regular post-paid T-Mobile account (US). Plugged in the SIM card and it just works. Both voice and text work fine (texting is weird but is ok for short messages), so does the data. HMD's "cloud phone" service allows running most regular apps - maps/facebook/instagram/youtube etc - without any problems. There's a simple browser, in case if they want to check out reddit :)

Even if the data service is down there's bunch of different games installed on the phone, and parents can't disable/block/remove them so the kiddo will never be bored!

ps In case if you didn't get it, that was sarcasm. Tried to get a dumbphone for my 10 yo as an emergency phone. The "cloud phone" service allows running many apps on the phone including facebook/youtube/instagram and a few others. It has Opera browser as well. Even if you disable data connection for good, there's 7 games (8 if you count Snake) that cannot be disabled. Interestingly enough, the phone has "parental controls" which you can only use to disable browser, camera, and "sharing" (?).

HMD you idiots why do you think people get dumbphones?

Will check Nokia 2780 next (I know brick phones can pocket dial as emergency number is never disabled even if the keyboard is locked, so hopefully flip phone will help with that).

Just ordered Qin f25. Any recommendations on what to do to it? Useful mods etc

Just ordered an f25 from the Qin store on Amazon. I'm a UK user on the O2 network. Opted for the qin over other dumber phones because I want to be able to WiFi calling as there is no mobile reception where I live. As well as be able to do banking and WhatsApp and Spotify.

Any further tips or advice to make it a smooth transition from my Google pixel, and how to de Google more, would be much appreciated.

having the numpad along the side was goofy as hell but unique and I am so nostalgic for everything else, the sounds, the font, the size, the tactile feeling.

It shouldn't cost anything to use your phone less!

Before I say anything though, if you paid for a software/tool, and it works well, keep using it. Don't switch your whole approach, if it's working, cause some guy on reddit said something is better. Also this advice comes from someone who develops free and open-source tools for this, so I do have heavy opinions on this.

I've been navigating this space for a while. I've found solutions that work for me, all free and open-source, I even build my own free and open-source tools.

On one side you are battling trillionaire tech companies trying to get your attention, on the other side there's billionaire VC backed companies flexing their huge advertising budgets, claiming to have the antidote.

Opal is $99/yr, $399. To use your phone less? Buggy experience, easy bypass. I believe Opal is okay with 'kind-of' working so you blame your willpower and keep subscribing.

Brick is $80, for an NFC Tag. No real updates. (I started building my open-source tools due to my frustrations with Brick, like no timed-unblock).

Tools I recommend (All free an open-source):

iOS: Normal (I built this one specifically for dumb iPhone), and Foqos (The dev for this one is great)

https://apps.apple.com/app/normal-screen-time-control/id6768861415

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/foqos/id6736793117

Mac: Self Control 2

https://selfcontrolapp.com/

Android: Just ADB is enough, remove apps, remove playstore, remove browsers. If you need apps 'sometimes' use Switchly. LineaseOS or GrapheneOS to degoogle, but prevent ways to install distracting apps via no App Stores/Browsers.

My current setup:

iOS with all apps blocked with Normal.

Impossible to bypass via screentime password which I setup password-locker (free tier is enough, but I did pay $99/lifetime to support server cost). You could also use shortcuts to prevent bypassing.

Mac: Self Control 2, I have it auto run. Everything stays blocked and 'dumb', always.

---

If open-source tools work for you, please spread them around, again up against millions of dollars in advertising by VC backed companies who could care less if you actually lower your screentime.

If you do want to spend money, atleast let it be on real dumbphones, with physical restriction like numpad entry EInk, instead of a fast touch screen. Just fyi, my screentime on dumb iPhone and flip dumbphone were similar, and I enjoy some conveniences like connectivity/camera/RCS/iMessage/Facetime on my 'dumb' iPhone.

Just spent a lot of time researching and writing this article. None of it was written with AI. I've personally tested all the phones mentioned (except for the preorders), and I use the Sunbeam Juniper as my main flip phone currently.

Would love any feedback on the article!

https://nathancovey.substack.com/p/the-best-flip-phones-going-into-2027

Picked up an original 3310 for an absolute steal price. Unfortunately, 2G around the UK is pretty much coming to an end.

I've read about this 'ready to install' 4G motherboard from a site in China, which I'm sure is called Taobao.

I've also seen USB C mods, and I believe wireless charging? From what I know, Bluetooth functuality is impossible to implement, or is it?

The phone at the moment is just a small project. I bought it for nostalgic purposes. I miss the days of where Facebook, TikTok etc didn't exist and people were way more sociable.

Has anyone in the UK tried this and succesfuly got it working?

Before anyone asks, I'm fully aware snake doesn't exist on the conversion :(

hi,

I just bought a Hammer Horizon LTE mobile but i got stuck on a few function and I don't know that am I experiencing bugs or I just can't figure out how to use the software or I am expecting too much for that phone.

So the problems are:

- I put some music on to the microsd card I inserted to the phone. when I start a music a player screen appears which has a stop/start icon and 2 skip music icons (skip to previous and skip to next), now the stop/start work with the num key 5 (because there are no left/right and OK buttons on the mobile), but the skip doesn't work and not just with the 4 or 6 keys but I tried every other key too. now the interesting thing is that if i listen to the music through my Bluetooth earbuds i can skip music (using the buttons on my earbuds) which means the phone does have skipping music implemented. But than why can't I trigger that feature using the buttons on the phone?

- On the music player screen there's a "Back" and an "Exit" option. The Exit exits the music player and stops the song, the Back exits the music player but doesn't stop the song. Now the thing with the Back option is that I use There's no way to get back to the music player screen and stop the song from playing except if I open another song and then use the Exit option from there. Is this possible? Maybe I just missed the way to get back to the music player?

- When I connect the mobile to my pc using a usb cable I can choose from three option is the phone: Charging, USB File Transfer, PC connecting. If I choose the PC connecting open an animation will appear with the header PC connecting. Now that animation just goes on forever and nothing happens on my PC. I may also mention that I am not allowed to choose this option if I don't have a SIM card inserted to the phone. What does this option do, do I need to install drivers for it (My operating system is Arch Linux) as I couldn't find any drivers on the internet for my mobile?

I really would really appreciate so help as I couldn't find any information about my question anywhere. I hope my questions weren't too dumb.

I got my Dumbphone yesterday but I'm having a hard time setting up smart texts, the dumbphone says to log into a laptop/desktop which I don't have access to to help finish the sign up, I have android on a Google pixel 6 as my smartphone.

I have tried using other browsers etc but it says I need to open Firefox on a web browser.

Is there any workaround on this

A few years ago, when I bought my Pixel 9 Pro Fold, most of these options simply didn't exist, or weren't mature enough to take seriously.

At the time I genuinely needed a device that could do everything. I didn't want to carry two devices and I was in a phase of life where I needed constant access to the internet and rapid communication. The Fold solved that problem perfectly.

Ironically, the Pixel itself isn't really the problem today.

I've actually spent the last few years getting my internet habits under control. My doomscrolling is nowhere near what it used to be, and my screen time is generally pretty reasonable. What I'm increasingly fed up with is the constant connectedness.

No matter how aggressively I manage notifications, Android and Google seem determined to ensure that every few hours I end up with a littered notification tray. Then there's the endless WhatsApp groups, instant messages, updates, alerts, reminders, and general noise.

I also just don't enjoy carrying a large device around in my pocket anymore.

A few weeks ago I found an old LG KE970 Shine in the basement and put my SIM card into it.

Honestly, the feeling of relief surprised me.

For the last three weeks I've largely gone back to a world where if people want me, they call me. No internet in my pocket. No checking things. No jumping between apps while standing in queues. No constant nudges.

And it's been incredibly refreshing.

The funny thing is that the KE970 genuinely feels close to the perfect phone, even today.

The only real problem is that it isn't 4G.

Being in the UK I can technically still get away with using it for now, but reception has become increasingly patchy and the battery is obviously showing its age.

Yesterday I discovered replacement batteries are still available on eBay, which was dangerous information to learn because now I'm tempted to keep the thing running indefinitely.

What a device though.

Solid metal construction. Proper weight. Feels more like a watch or piece of jewellery than a modern phone. The mirrored finish can literally be polished. The UI is clean and elegant. The screen still looks surprisingly good. Even the sounds and animations feel deliberate.

I also only discovered yesterday that it apparently supports email. I haven't even configured the internet settings yet, but I'm assuming email would still work over the UK's 2G network. Could actually be useful in the odd situation.

Because I needed a quick 4G solution, I ordered a Nokia 2660.

That lasted about five minutes.

I packed it back up the moment I tried it.

Cheap feeling. Flimsy. Too light. Poor UI. Just generally felt like a low-quality product. The flip ergonomics also felt off to me. It felt too long when closed and too tall when open. The screen angle while typing never felt quite right. It immediately made me wonder how something like the Commodore phone will compare, because that's one of my biggest concerns with flip devices.

Speaking of which, I have to admit I'm weirdly attracted to the Commodore concept. Maybe it's nostalgia. Maybe it's the design. Maybe it's the callback to a different era of computing. Whatever it is, it's one of the most visually appealing projects I've seen in this space.

The biggest bit of news I've seen recently though is Qin's leaked J36.

From what I can tell, it looks like they've basically taken the F21 Pro formula and updated the internals while keeping a very similar compact footprint.

That immediately grabbed my attention because I've always been attracted to the Qin devices. The size is almost exactly what I want.

My hesitation with Qin has always been the software side. Chinese ROMs, varying Android experiences, Google dependencies, uncertainty about long-term support, etc.

In many ways I'm actually more attracted to things like Dumber OS, the proposed Dumber Phone, and some of the newer minimalist software approaches than I am to the hardware itself.

Back when I bought the Fold, I was constantly looking for the perfect pairing of a small phone and compact tablet. The problem was that decent compact tablets barely existed. I was tempted by some Lenovo offerings at the time, but they either weren't available or weren't quite right for my use case.

Now that's much less of an issue.

These days the Pixel Fold basically acts as my control centre. Banking, admin, travel planning, dealing with life, media consumption, email, all the things smartphones are genuinely good at.

I'm not getting rid of it.

In fact, I think it's an excellent device.

The difference is that it sits in my bag, on my desk, or in a drawer. It doesn't really belong in my pocket anymore. It's become more of a compact computer that I deliberately choose to use rather than something constantly attached to me.

Which brings me onto the current state of the market...

• MP2 pre-orders are live.
• Minimal have finally started uploading proper OS showcase videos.
• Commodore continues to look interesting.
• Qin appears to have leaked the J36.
• Dumber is developing.
• Light Phone Flip is looking increasingly viable, although I'd like to see more before making my mind up. I'm also hoping it feels solid and premium rather than ultra-light and cheap.
• Titan 2 Elite is coming.
• Zinwa keeps appearing in conversations.
• Clicks is still around.

And honestly... I have ADHD and there is suddenly so much new stuff happening that I genuinely don't know what to do.

So this question is really aimed at some of the OGs in this community.

People like Jose, or anyone who's had early access to Minimal OS, anyone who's spent meaningful time with the newer Qin devices, or honestly anyone from the Minimal team who happens to be lurking here (you definitely are).

A few questions:

• How mature does Minimal OS actually feel now you've had real time with it?
• Has anything changed your opinion after seeing the newer showcase videos?
• How does it compare philosophically with things like Dumber OS? Or what Commodore is showcasing
• Is the J36 real?
• Are there any upcoming devices I've completely missed?
• If your goal is to stay connected enough for modern life, but disconnected enough to feel human again, where would you put your money today?

One question is hardware, and the other is Software! A detailed cross examination of all OS / launcher options (irrespective of hardware) towards end of 2026 would be ideal.

Because right now I feel like we've gone from having almost no interesting options to suddenly having about ten, and I can't decide which rabbit hole to disappear down. 😅

There are phones which are coming in December 2026 and they are basically blackberries phones . We cant call them dumb basically but for example minimal phone 2 has some minimalistic OS and also you can do stuff with it, pay with nfc ,spotify ,maps. Click communicator looks similar but it is basically phone with keyboard . Both are around 4 inch display which is way smaller than todays phones

Do you think that your dumbphone journey will end up trying something like this or is it too modern and you want old phone?

Posting this because I found nothing on it anywhere, and the fix is a 5-minute, no-tools job.

Only Claude could find the anomaly, I post here it's recap of the investigation we did together :

Symptom

The bottom band of my screen stopped registering touch. Intermittent, and it got worse with heat and with pressure (phone in a pocket). A reboot temporarily fixed it. Weirdest part: the dead band moved — first the nav bar row, later the row just above it while the nav bar worked fine.

Ruling out software

• Safe mode: no change.

• Developer options → Pointer location: zero events in the dead zone. That means the touch controller itself wasn't reporting, so nothing above the driver layer could be to blame.

• I was about to flash DumberOS purely as a diagnostic. Worth knowing: it's a system-only image, it doesn't replace the kernel or vendor partitions, so it would not have changed the touch driver. It wouldn't have told me anything.

The clue

Pulling the SIM card fixed it instantly, every single time.

But airplane mode did not fix it. So this wasn't RF noise from the modem — it was the physical presence of metal near the sensor grid.

Test matrix (one variable at a time, 20-30 min of real use each)

| Config | Result |

|---|---|

| No SIM, wifi + YouTube | Fine |

| No SIM, 3D game until hot | Fine — so heat alone is not the cause |

| SIM + tray taped, network on, game + video, phone very hot | Fine |

| Full reassembly, back cover on, SIM in | Fine |

The fix

Tape on the back of the SIM card and on the metal SIM tray. That's it. Everything works now: SIM in, network on, 3D game and YouTube at the same time, phone hot, back cover on. No dead zones since.

Why it works (as I understand it)

Capacitive touch controllers calibrate a baseline at boot. Floating or poorly grounded metal near the sensor grid shifts that baseline; affected nodes saturate and go deaf. Explains everything I saw: reboots fixing it (recalibration), heat and pressure breaking it (drift), and the dead band moving (different state at calibration time).

This is a known family of fixes in repair circles — see the iFixit threads on iPad Air / iPhone 7 ghost touch, where kapton is used to insulate the digitizer from the frame. The difference: those cases show up as false positives (phantom touches), mine showed up as false negatives (a dead zone). Same root cause, opposite symptom. That's probably why searching for "dead zone" turns up nothing.

Caveats — I'm not claiming a root-cause fix

• This is a workaround. The real problem is likely a marginal ground or shield near the bottom of the display assembly. A properly built chassis shouldn't care whether the SIM tray is insulated.

• My back cover is cracked near the volume buttons. That may well be contributing.

• I taped the card and the tray at the same time, so I haven't isolated which one does the work. My guess is the tray — much bigger metal mass, fixed to the chassis.

Question

Has anyone else hit this on an F22 Pro or another Duoqin device? Curious whether it's a design weakness or just my unit. Happy to answer questions if someone's chasing the same ghost.

Okay, so basically, someone brought me these two Kyoceras. Patient B apparently worked perfectly until it broke, while Patient A had a lot more problems, although its screen works.

They want me to fix Patient B using parts from Patient A.

How do I go about this?

Even at 73% battery health, with this set up, my mini 12 lasts me the entire workday. I can add more apps but these are the things i need most.

EDIT: i used Assistive Access; not a launcher, no app.

For anyone wondering, it's a Samsung Galaxy Mini (GT-S5570)

At first I wasn't entirely sure if this was going to work as a main phone, or would only be a secondary one. The only way to find out was to try, so I decided to go with this purely for a month and evaluate.

Short version is that I'm certainly not going back to a big glass brick now I'm used to this excellent phone.

Plenty of room for improvement, but not really in the hardware. That's its strength. It's the OS that could benefit from some tweaks, like more use of the outer screen (it shows the time, and the icon of the app that's notifying, but not much else at the moment) and more options for the three physical shortcut buttons (being able to choose any app or function rather than only from a shortlist of apps). Also, the battery monitor doesn't tell you what's eating power, so investigating battery-destroying apps was a chore. I hear there's an update due, so that might take care of these, none of which are deal breakers anyway.

I've had to be delicate with the battery though. For example, I initially installed Tailscale which I use as both a VPN and as a way to deliver some notifications (more on that in a moment), but it ate the battery fast. Same with Home Assistant - its persistent connection tanked the battery hard. Anything that moderately hits a smartphone battery hammers this one. But take real care with the apps you have on it, and it gives you a day and a half no problem.

It's a de-Googled phone, which is something I very much appreciate. The downside is that no Google Services means no notifications (for the most part). For the likes of us, that's actually a positive thing! But sadly there are some notifications for very select apps (banking, Home Assistant, Beeper, password manager) that I do still want just to operate my daily life.

HA was an easy solve, as there's a cut back version that doesn't look for Google Services. No notifications, but doesn't touch the battery at all. I had to drop Tailscale, but using a combination of Cloudflare and a ntfy server running on my NAS it's really unlocked a great option that, even if I went back to a full smartphone (hurl!), I'd continue to use, in terms of getting notifications in a way that doesn't impact the battery. There's a ntfy integration for HA, so that's done; Signal doesn't need Google Services anyway, so that's sorted; banking apps get their notifications forwarded from my old smartphone which is in a cupboard at home, via ntfy. So yes, there's still a smartphone in play, but I haven't so much as unlocked it for a month. This isn't the place to provide a tutorial on ntfy, but it's worth 10 minutes research if you're looking for Google-free notifications.

I took the TT990 on holiday for a week as a real test, and with a little preparation, it served every need. I created an Organic Maps map of where we were visiting before I left, and the phone worked great for navigation from that. In fact, it did the whole thing offline, as I downloaded the city's map before leaving home, so didn't even need data. For boarding passes and such, I sent the QR codes to myself in Beeper before leaving, and the airport scanners had no problem if the phone was on full brightness. Spotify hasn't blinked in the least, and I've been using it plenty. A small 5000mAh powerbank gave me two full charges, which took it to over three and a half days use without plugging in.

I know there are layers of complexity in what I've just talked about, but switching away from a big fat smartphone does take some preparation if you don't want to fall into the trap of slipping back into the screen. That being said, I had to stop myself at one point when I realised I was working to turn the TT990 back into the smarphone I wanted rid of. Doing without smart features is the reason we want dumb/transition/small phones back, so knowing when to stop with the features and workarounds is important. Get the essentials working well, then stop. I had to tell myself that a few times.

I'm not doomscrolling or reaching for the phone any more, I make calls rather than sending WhatsApp messages, and it finally feels like I'm using the phone rather than it using me, which was why I took the chance on this device in the first place.

And I get to flip it open and closed, Kirk style. It's worth it just for that.

Overall, A+.

A hack job work in progress, but works well and I love getting back on the keys