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Comment by kpmcc | Hacker News Reader

Has anybody mentioned the Punkt MP-01? https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp01-mobile-phone/

I've had it for 2-3 years now and it's been pretty great. Granted service can be kinda spotty because it's 2G and I'm not sure how much longer it will be viable when 2G is phased out. It's also very expensive compared to dumb alternatives but I don't know of any other phone on the market that is so clean in terms of physical design and UX.

Punkt is making an MP-02 which will run on 4G I believe but I'm not sure if it will be as minimal. I think they're partnering with Blackberry to bring like secure email or messaging or something, which to me seems anti-dumphone, but I guess people expressed demand in a user survey...

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FYI, 2g is not a safe choice for security. For an introduction to the security issues, take a look at how the encryption can be easily broken: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-28166-...

In addition to being a security hazard, lots of countries (e.g. Canada) are phasing out or have already removed their 2G networks.

Fortunately they have announced a 4G model coming soon which I am keeping my eye on: https://www.punkt.ch/en/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/

Not super concerned with security of my texts or calls personally. Obviously it would be nice to have those covered, but the whole point of a dumbphone to me is to use it less. I want it to do as little as possible and do it well enough to get by.

That's stylish hardware, but how do you feel about the price for what you get?

I feel like I'm getting Punkt

I justified it to myself mentally by thinking of the savings of not paying for a smartphone's data plan. I pay about $20 a month for service vs paying around $60 a month for a smartphone with data. Obviously this doesn't change the fact that it's a lot more expensive than other dumbphones, but I was willing to pay more to have a UI that isn't bloated with a bunch of bs apps and junk, and doesn't have dumb colorful bubble icons or the such.

>The MP01 is made in small production runs using top-grade components, and leaves that noughties retro-look behind.

...in favor of the 90s calculator retro-look behind

I'd need a big push to trust this phone, just based on its design aesthetic... its very close to "first thing I could think of, for modern dumbphone"

Its easy to imagine the rest of the engineering is similarly complex; I wouldn't be surprised if the higher cost was purely resulting from mistakes on their part

That design looks so sleek.

I'd dream of something like this embracing 5G and open source firmware so users could add native encryption and other utility as they please.

Also, "Hashtag Key"

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