Minimal Company E-Ink Phone with QWERTY Keyboard | Hacker News Reader

Minimal Company E-Ink Phone with QWERTY Keyboard

minimalcompany.com

2 pointsrchaud7 comments

FTA:

“built to last

Crafted with quality materials and backed by software updates for 5 years, Minimal is built to stand the test of time.”

I don’t think 5 years is a long period for “built to last”.

And that is is ignoring that I’d bet on the company existing for that long.

Ideally, a manufacturer making such a product would put the source of the OS in escrow with a guarantee to release it under an open license if the company stopped releasing security updates for x months.

You're asking a lot from a start-up company launching their first product. 5 years is plenty of time for this to become supported by LineageOS/etc.

I said “ideally”. Even if you interpret that as “asking”, it’s not just “from a start-up company launching their first product”, but from such a company that claims their product is “built to last”.

> 5 years is plenty of time for this to become supported by LineageOS/etc.

I don’t think that’s guaranteed for a niche product. We don’t even know whether this device is locked down in some way.

A, possibly easier, alternative for escrow could be for them to open up the device now.

I could be convinced of this. Qwerty is a bonus. 500 for the higher memory model seems steep in today's phone market, however. A cheap android, lineageOS or grapheneOS, Kvaesitso, and f-droid and you have a simple phone. Maybe 100 bucks into it? For an ebay refurb? Will add to my watch list though. I like the keyboard. Blackberry vibes.

I’m really excited about this device but haven’t read many perspectives on this that think it’s little more than vaporeare. Anyone have any contrasting perspectives or do we just have to wait like a year to see what happens. Does the founder have a track record?

Any update from the Minimal team on shipping dates for existing preorders?

Is that _that_ individual rubber dome microswitch?

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