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Personally, I would love a flip phone with a removable battery and a physical button on the side to turn WiFi hotspot functionality on/off -- with OFF being the

Personally, I would love a flip phone with a removable battery and a physical button on the side to turn WiFi hotspot functionality on/off -- with OFF being the default. Having a phone that you only need to charge once a week is a great feature!

craftyguy 9y ago
A coworker of mine recently picked up a Nokia 3310[1] for that exact same reason/purpose. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_3310_(2017) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_3310_(2017)
- MikkoFinell 9y ago
  Just ordered one! "Smartphone" going in the bin.
  - dingaling 9y ago
    Possibly too late but make sure you buy the latest 3G-enabled version. The 2017 initial release could only connect to 2G networks.
    - MikkoFinell 9y ago
      They assured me it wouldn't be any problem to make calls and send messages because of that.
- tthayer 9y ago
  I used one of these for six months and it was definitely enlightening. Maybe there are firmware updates that make it less crashy now?
masklinn 9y ago
Get a 3310 and a mobile hotspot with a data-only sim? The Huawei E5770 has 500h standby 20h activity, an ethernet port and USB power output (to act as a powerbank).
- bad_user 9y ago
  The problem with portable routers is that it requires a different plan and you always have the phone with you, so you're not in danger of forgetting it home.
  - 0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
    The same is true for a camera. Dang.
  - masklinn 9y ago
    > The problem with portable routers is that it requires a different plan So? You can get a voice-only plan for the dumbphone and a data-only plan for the AP. > and you always have the phone with you Given the AP is useless on its own, you can just leave it in your laptop/tablet bag (whichever you're using).
nabla9 9y ago
You are describing new Nokia 8110 4G (aka "the matrix phone" reincarnated) * 25 days on standby, 8.5 hours LTE voice calls * removable battery * WiFi hotspot functionality * 4G network connectivity * KaiOS will have basic apps (Google maps, FB, Google assistant and reportetly WhatsApp in near future) https://www.nokia.com/en_in/phones/nokia-8110-4g https://www.nokia.com/en_in/phones/nokia-8110-4g
- jld 9y ago
  I would love this to work with the same phone/carrier technology that allows Apple Watch LTE and iPhone share a phone number.
- xeromal 9y ago
  Thanks! This looks awesome
- ams6110 9y ago
  Pretty cool. I was seriously looking at the new 3310 but it doesn't have GPS. Ideally would like maps/navigation. A phone with SMS, maps, and email is all I would ever need.
- hcurtiss 9y ago
  LOL - of course it has Facebook. In the video, there's an icon for Twitter too.
- floren 9y ago
  I'm sold, when is it coming out?
- abawany 9y ago
  I was very excited by this phone but KaiOS seems worrying though hopefully I just misread: they seem to be quite closed-source even though they are based on FirefoxOS [1], the app store is closed and carrier controlled [2], and the hotspot functionality also seems to come with carrier control [3], which given the lack of openness and root capability, means that it may very well be disabled if you buy the phone through the wrong carrier. As a basic phone with features, it still seems exciting (priced at $99USD I think) but after LineageOS, this feels like a step back in terms of openness and control. [1] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-14 https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-14 [2] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-6 https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-6 - to me, this means outdated apps or ones that will eventually die (such as the YouTube app on Sony DVD players a couple of years ago.) [3] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-16 https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-16
Cbasedlifeform 9y ago
My iPhone 5s (still my favourite iPhone design) died a couple of years ago (well, the battery did) and since then I use an iPod touch for apps and a cheap (£30 IIRC) dual-SIM little Nokia for telephony. The latter keeps its charge for days and I don't worry about losing it. I confess as a news junkie I enjoy twitter, youtube, podcasts and reddit etc on my iPod but as it is wifi-only of course there are built in constraints in its use. I also have taken to going out without iPod or phone after work hours... very liberating and almost revolutionary! Nice to have an untracked-feeling if nothing else.
- abawany 9y ago
  Darn, I was about to suggest that you get the iPhone SE but I think you made a better choice sticking with the iPod Touch.
n2dasun 9y ago
I moved to a Sonim XP5 two months ago. It has bluetooth, wifi, LTE, removable battery, media player, expandable storage, and can function as a hotspot. It uses a stripped down version of android for its OS

craftyguy 9y ago

A coworker of mine recently picked up a Nokia 3310[1] for that exact same reason/purpose. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_3310_(2017) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_3310_(2017)

MikkoFinell 9y ago
Just ordered one! "Smartphone" going in the bin.
- dingaling 9y ago
  Possibly too late but make sure you buy the latest 3G-enabled version. The 2017 initial release could only connect to 2G networks.
  - MikkoFinell 9y ago
    They assured me it wouldn't be any problem to make calls and send messages because of that.
tthayer 9y ago
I used one of these for six months and it was definitely enlightening. Maybe there are firmware updates that make it less crashy now?

masklinn 9y ago

Get a 3310 and a mobile hotspot with a data-only sim? The Huawei E5770 has 500h standby 20h activity, an ethernet port and USB power output (to act as a powerbank).

bad_user 9y ago
The problem with portable routers is that it requires a different plan and you always have the phone with you, so you're not in danger of forgetting it home.
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
  The same is true for a camera. Dang.
- masklinn 9y ago
  > The problem with portable routers is that it requires a different plan So? You can get a voice-only plan for the dumbphone and a data-only plan for the AP. > and you always have the phone with you Given the AP is useless on its own, you can just leave it in your laptop/tablet bag (whichever you're using).

nabla9 9y ago

You are describing new Nokia 8110 4G (aka "the matrix phone" reincarnated) * 25 days on standby, 8.5 hours LTE voice calls * removable battery * WiFi hotspot functionality * 4G network connectivity * KaiOS will have basic apps (Google maps, FB, Google assistant and reportetly WhatsApp in near future) https://www.nokia.com/en_in/phones/nokia-8110-4g https://www.nokia.com/en_in/phones/nokia-8110-4g

jld 9y ago
I would love this to work with the same phone/carrier technology that allows Apple Watch LTE and iPhone share a phone number.
xeromal 9y ago
Thanks! This looks awesome
ams6110 9y ago
Pretty cool. I was seriously looking at the new 3310 but it doesn't have GPS. Ideally would like maps/navigation. A phone with SMS, maps, and email is all I would ever need.
hcurtiss 9y ago
LOL - of course it has Facebook. In the video, there's an icon for Twitter too.
floren 9y ago
I'm sold, when is it coming out?
abawany 9y ago
I was very excited by this phone but KaiOS seems worrying though hopefully I just misread: they seem to be quite closed-source even though they are based on FirefoxOS [1], the app store is closed and carrier controlled [2], and the hotspot functionality also seems to come with carrier control [3], which given the lack of openness and root capability, means that it may very well be disabled if you buy the phone through the wrong carrier. As a basic phone with features, it still seems exciting (priced at $99USD I think) but after LineageOS, this feels like a step back in terms of openness and control. [1] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-14 https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-14 [2] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-6 https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-6 - to me, this means outdated apps or ones that will eventually die (such as the YouTube app on Sony DVD players a couple of years ago.) [3] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-16 https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-16

Cbasedlifeform 9y ago

My iPhone 5s (still my favourite iPhone design) died a couple of years ago (well, the battery did) and since then I use an iPod touch for apps and a cheap (£30 IIRC) dual-SIM little Nokia for telephony. The latter keeps its charge for days and I don't worry about losing it. I confess as a news junkie I enjoy twitter, youtube, podcasts and reddit etc on my iPod but as it is wifi-only of course there are built in constraints in its use. I also have taken to going out without iPod or phone after work hours... very liberating and almost revolutionary! Nice to have an untracked-feeling if nothing else.

abawany 9y ago
Darn, I was about to suggest that you get the iPhone SE but I think you made a better choice sticking with the iPod Touch.

n2dasun 9y ago

I moved to a Sonim XP5 two months ago. It has bluetooth, wifi, LTE, removable battery, media player, expandable storage, and can function as a hotspot. It uses a stripped down version of android for its OS