6 ms·

Sidephone: A minimalist Android phone with swappable USB keypads

38 points by phantomathkg 6mo ago

Neywiny 6mo ago
Not having support for messaging apps is a bit much considering it's still Android based. Why is it WIP? What's the P to W? Play services?
- ftchd 6mo ago
  Apps: - Whatsapp - Proton VPN, Drive, Mail - Signal - Obtainium - Uber - Podcast player - etc
  - Neywiny 6mo ago
    Yes but why are they WIP? On a regular Android phone you just install them.
    - monooso 6mo ago
      None of the apps listed by GP are identified as works in progress. This is the full list of WIP apps, from the website. - Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal. - Telegram, Messenger, Threema, WeChat and more. - DUO, Aegis, and BitWarden.
- a2128 6mo ago
  They mention in several places that the phone is degoogled and that certain apps won't work due to lack of Play services. They also probably can't redistribute popular messaging apps without a special agreement with the developer, or risking it with Aurora Store or similar. Unfortunately Google is leading a fight to close Android that so far no big entity is really resisting anymore (Epic now having settled their lawsuit and agreeing to never badmouth Android again), with efforts such as Play Integrity API, automatic protection that they're pushing developers to activate, etc. Unless something changes, in the near future "it's Android" won't mean much for app compatibility...
  - zx8080 6mo ago
    Seems we all need to actively invest into forking Android or creating a separate mobile OS from scratch. Google will try for sure to boil us all slowly from open Android to the very much closed ios-like state of their OS.
- monooso 6mo ago
  They support WhatsApp and Signal, according to the website. "Telegram, Messenger, Threema, WeChat and more" are marked as WIP.
raw_anon_1111 6mo ago
Or I can just use my cellular Apple Watch (like I do now) for my “side phone”…
- beAbU 6mo ago
  Then do just that :)
coreyoconnor 6mo ago
I'd love to try these new phones. My current phone (Google Fold) is terrible. However 1. google pixels are the best android devices AFAICT. Not a high bar, but that's that. 2. due to the prevalence of spam and scam calls: Not having an AI call filtering is a no-go. google pixel's have a really nice call screen. Course we could have a competent government that would do something about scams (besides encouraging and supporting them). Then small business could actually compete. But the best we get is a rapist and scam artist.
xingped 6mo ago
Can someone explain the appeal of the swappable keypad? I really see no advantage in having this. Just seems like extra engineering for no real reason.
- m-p-3 6mo ago
  Upgradeability and ease of repair. I can imagine a BlackBerry-style keyboard showing up at some point, or maybe even something that isn't a keyboard (ex: a mini arcade joystick + buttons for games)?
  - nosioptar 6mo ago
    They have an iPod wheel/button for it in their site. It'd probably be useless for phone control, but I'd love a flac player with old iPod controls.
  - xingped 6mo ago
    W.r.t. repairs I don't think physical keypads have been the main source of difficult or costly repairs. You can easily make a keypad repairable or replaceable without this gimmicky swappable keypad. W.r.t. other style keypads, that's a big "if" they exist. Oftentimes unless there's a huge popularity of a product, those pie-in-the-sky future additions never get made or see the light of day. Hope they do for the people that want it, but I wouldn't hold my breath for how niche this product is.
ChrisArchitect 6mo ago
Speaking of, wonder how things are going with the Clicks keyboard and Communicator. https://www.clicks.tech/ https://www.clicks.tech/ (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46467057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46467057)
nvllsvm 6mo ago
MT8766 (low-end 2020) and Android 12 (2021) https://docs.sidephone.com/en/articles/13624506-specifications https://docs.sidephone.com/en/articles/13624506-specificatio...
- kotaKat 6mo ago
  Oh cool, Mediatek. So it comes pre-exploited and vulnerable out of the box, awesome!
branon 6mo ago
> Android DOA. We need more feature phones running custom firmware. Or Linux phones. What Jolla is doing with Sailfish is nice. Stop leaning on Android. It's unnecessary baggage. Divest.
thisislife2 6mo ago
Weird that the keyboard is removable but the battery isn't. Such a missed opportunity to make it more appealing to those who care about repairability.
- tweetle_beetle 6mo ago
  Looks like it is https://docs.sidephone.com/en/articles/13656688-replace-the-battery https://docs.sidephone.com/en/articles/13656688-replace-the-...
  - thisislife2 6mo ago
    Easy repairability is good too. (I was going by their own "Specifications" that said battery is "non-removable" - https://archive.md/Ngoxu https://archive.md/Ngoxu ). I would buy this phone if my banking app is able to run on it.
y0eswddl 6mo ago
Am I really the only one that sees this for the waste of time, money, and intelligence it took to create...? another useless digital minimalism gimmick

38 points by phantomathkg 6mo ago

Not having support for messaging apps is a bit much considering it's still Android based. Why is it WIP? What's the P to W? Play services?

ftchd 6mo ago
Apps: - Whatsapp - Proton VPN, Drive, Mail - Signal - Obtainium - Uber - Podcast player - etc
- Neywiny 6mo ago
  Yes but why are they WIP? On a regular Android phone you just install them.
  - monooso 6mo ago
    None of the apps listed by GP are identified as works in progress. This is the full list of WIP apps, from the website. - Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal. - Telegram, Messenger, Threema, WeChat and more. - DUO, Aegis, and BitWarden.
a2128 6mo ago
They mention in several places that the phone is degoogled and that certain apps won't work due to lack of Play services. They also probably can't redistribute popular messaging apps without a special agreement with the developer, or risking it with Aurora Store or similar. Unfortunately Google is leading a fight to close Android that so far no big entity is really resisting anymore (Epic now having settled their lawsuit and agreeing to never badmouth Android again), with efforts such as Play Integrity API, automatic protection that they're pushing developers to activate, etc. Unless something changes, in the near future "it's Android" won't mean much for app compatibility...
- zx8080 6mo ago
  Seems we all need to actively invest into forking Android or creating a separate mobile OS from scratch. Google will try for sure to boil us all slowly from open Android to the very much closed ios-like state of their OS.
monooso 6mo ago
They support WhatsApp and Signal, according to the website. "Telegram, Messenger, Threema, WeChat and more" are marked as WIP.

raw_anon_1111 6mo ago

Or I can just use my cellular Apple Watch (like I do now) for my “side phone”…

beAbU 6mo ago
Then do just that :)

coreyoconnor 6mo ago

I'd love to try these new phones. My current phone (Google Fold) is terrible. However 1. google pixels are the best android devices AFAICT. Not a high bar, but that's that. 2. due to the prevalence of spam and scam calls: Not having an AI call filtering is a no-go. google pixel's have a really nice call screen. Course we could have a competent government that would do something about scams (besides encouraging and supporting them). Then small business could actually compete. But the best we get is a rapist and scam artist.

xingped 6mo ago

Can someone explain the appeal of the swappable keypad? I really see no advantage in having this. Just seems like extra engineering for no real reason.

m-p-3 6mo ago
Upgradeability and ease of repair. I can imagine a BlackBerry-style keyboard showing up at some point, or maybe even something that isn't a keyboard (ex: a mini arcade joystick + buttons for games)?
- nosioptar 6mo ago
  They have an iPod wheel/button for it in their site. It'd probably be useless for phone control, but I'd love a flac player with old iPod controls.
- xingped 6mo ago
  W.r.t. repairs I don't think physical keypads have been the main source of difficult or costly repairs. You can easily make a keypad repairable or replaceable without this gimmicky swappable keypad. W.r.t. other style keypads, that's a big "if" they exist. Oftentimes unless there's a huge popularity of a product, those pie-in-the-sky future additions never get made or see the light of day. Hope they do for the people that want it, but I wouldn't hold my breath for how niche this product is.

ChrisArchitect 6mo ago

Speaking of, wonder how things are going with the Clicks keyboard and Communicator. https://www.clicks.tech/ https://www.clicks.tech/ (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46467057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46467057)

nvllsvm 6mo ago

MT8766 (low-end 2020) and Android 12 (2021) https://docs.sidephone.com/en/articles/13624506-specifications https://docs.sidephone.com/en/articles/13624506-specificatio...

kotaKat 6mo ago
Oh cool, Mediatek. So it comes pre-exploited and vulnerable out of the box, awesome!

branon 6mo ago

> Android DOA. We need more feature phones running custom firmware. Or Linux phones. What Jolla is doing with Sailfish is nice. Stop leaning on Android. It's unnecessary baggage. Divest.

thisislife2 6mo ago

Weird that the keyboard is removable but the battery isn't. Such a missed opportunity to make it more appealing to those who care about repairability.

tweetle_beetle 6mo ago
Looks like it is https://docs.sidephone.com/en/articles/13656688-replace-the-battery https://docs.sidephone.com/en/articles/13656688-replace-the-...
- thisislife2 6mo ago
  Easy repairability is good too. (I was going by their own "Specifications" that said battery is "non-removable" - https://archive.md/Ngoxu https://archive.md/Ngoxu ). I would buy this phone if my banking app is able to run on it.

y0eswddl 6mo ago

Am I really the only one that sees this for the waste of time, money, and intelligence it took to create...? another useless digital minimalism gimmick