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Comment by jkestner | Hacker News Reader

Tell you what though, I would jump on a modern N95. I only really want a basic phone with a good camera, and sure, Python. Only need LTE and a thinner form factor.

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I was big into dumbphones about 10-15 years ago and the problem with dumbphones is the same problem with dumbtv and other ones, is that the market is already small, and those in the market for these things are opinionated as shit about the specific configuration they want. So you are presented probably with maybe 2, 3 viable options if you are lucky, none are the thing that satisfies your actual needs, and they are all overpriced as shit because they have no competition because the market is so niche. So you probably end up buying the closest configuration possible to what you want and then spend your experience being slightly annoyed that it’s not fully there.

N95 was considered a smartphone at the time.

Devices with Symbian were smartphones.

Dumb objects are not totally niche. No one actually likes smarts that impede the core function. The Slate truck strips a lot of this out.

The trick with phones, since the smarts are a core function, is not making them dumb, but more akin to a PC. Less convenience served on a platter, more freedom to develop and install just what you want without compromising on UX. The N95 and other Symbian phones did this for me.

> I would jump on a modern N95

Here you go: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5.

As Nokia Alumni, I would be happy with a Symbian Belle device like the C7 instead, but get the feeling, N95 was quite good as well.

Have you checked the fair phone?

I don’t want the rat race of modern smartphones. I want an appliance.

I'm not the person that you replied to, but I have. I bought a FP3 and it's waiting in my drawer until the last 2G network goes down. I'm using my N86 until then.

I want/need a phone that I can answer with one hand without looking at the screen and can record phone calls automatically so don't have to search for pen and paper all the time. No current phone is capable of these two things.

Basically any Android phone where you can gain root access is capable, you can set up automatic recording of every call and set answering call with a button (like Volume Up).

> answering call with a button (like Volume Up)

Are you sure? I didn't find that option on FP3.

Don't know about FP3 specifically, but on some phones it's built-in in accessibility settings (all Samsung phones for example). For other phones you can try an app such as Button Mapper and assign "accept call" to a button.

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