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HMD Touch 4G
- foragerdev 3mo agoDo it support Wifi hotspot? I will buyit instantly.
- rjsw 3mo agoThe linked page says that it can be a hotspot.
- foragerdev 3mo agoThen it can be very handy in terms of its usability of wifi hotspot devices. In case you want to access intenret remotely on your laptop or in your car. And in developing countries, you have to register your phones imei and pay tax if the value of your phone is greater than certain amount. And in that cases the amount of tax is maybe 50% of the actual price of the phone. So your phone is basically a brick with camera. And you get carry a second phone, which is inconvinence. With this I can see the potential use of it. Small, simple and useful wifi hotspot device with actual ability to call like normal phone.
- marysol5 3mo agoBut why not just your standard Android for that? I used to have an Android head unit in my old car, I used my phone hotspot for connectivity
- foragerdev 3mo agoWhen IMEI is blocked (for not paying the tax) SIM will not work. Let's say I have Iphone 17, it would have to 70% tax of its value to get sim working.
- rjsw 3mo agoSome of HMD's KaiOS phones can be hotspots too, I have a 6300 4G that I use for that.
- zb3 3mo ago> It’s not your old keypad phone. It's not your phone at all if you don't control the software.. even old keypad phones were often flashable, but HMD is working hard to make sure you have no say what software is running on your smartphone.
- justsad 3mo ago[dead]
- moffkalast 3mo ago4G? In 2026? Good luck having no tower reception. 4G barely works anymore.
- izacus 3mo agoDid you mix up 4G with 3G/2G?
- traceroute66 3mo ago> Did you mix up 4G with 3G/2G? Most operators have switched off both 3G and 2G by now.
- izacus 3mo agoThis is why I'm asking, because noone is shutting down 4G anywhere. And 5G actually has LESS range than 4G.
- ChocolateGod 3mo ago4G is ending up as the replacement to 2G as the base network. I suspect 5G networks will be shut down before 4G ones given IoT devices are largely setting on the low power variants of LTE.
- BenjiWiebe 3mo ago5G has more range than 4G on the same frequency bands. 5G UWB has less range than 4G.
- userbinator 3mo ago2G is still active in a few areas as a low-speed, long-range fallback while 3G is being shut down.
- InsideOutSanta 3mo ago4G is currently the dominant mobile data network with the best coverage.
- awestroke 3mo ago> Currently only available in India Closes tab
- wilsonnb3 3mo agoI suspected as much after their first use case for cloud services was cricket results. Perhaps the limitation to whatever express chat is isn’t a dealbreaker in India.
- martheen 3mo agoThis phone cost about one-fifth of India's minimum monthly wage, while proper new Android cost one-third of monthly wage. My country's economy is somewhat in the same ballpark as India and I doubt anyone I know would buy this. In an r/dumbphones reviews, comments by Indians shows nobody cares about these devices aside from those buying weird devices for curiosity sake.
- notThrowingAway 3mo agonow you know how it feels to browse this site as a non-American
- kjellsbells 3mo agoThis is an odd little device. It seems you can only call other express chat users? it's reminiscent of cellphone systems from the old old days like Nextel walkie talkies. Also I see its available in India only and given the feature restrictions perhaps it's meant as an ultra low end device ? If HMD came out with something that was optimized to the nth degree for whatsapp calls, that might be interesting, but even then I wonder how cheap it would need to be to compete with budget androids.
- rjsw 3mo agoThere looks to be an express chat app for iPhone and Android as well.
- daneel_w 3mo agoI assure you it can do regular calls and texting on the public telephony grid.
- dredmorbius 2mo agoMy read is that "Express Chat" is effectively a push-to-talk feature. It's implemented as an Android and iOS app: <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moon.express_chat&hl=en-US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moon.expre...> (Android) and <https://apps.apple.com/in/app/express-chat/id6745220803 https://apps.apple.com/in/app/express-chat/id6745220803> (iOS). Several carriers offer this, usually aimed at corporate users (construction, maintenance, fleet workers, emergency responders). See Kyocera and Sonim, particularly their rugged phone offerings (Dura from Kyocera, XP from Sonim). Carrier-based PTT is typically limited only to other phonesets on that carrier, though in practice the feature is generally accessed through a programmable key, and can be configured to use another (unlimited) press-to-talk app, such as Zello (which I've seen before) or Express Chat (#TIL).
- ferongr 3mo agoThis is nothing new. It's a dumb-phone with a touchscreen. There were quite a few examples back in the day in the late 00s.
- marysol5 3mo agoEven now, there's been a market for them. I know a few older people who have them
- loosescrews 3mo agoIt seems particularly similar to the short lived Microsoft Kin phones from 2010.
- anilakar 3mo agoConsidering how bad the Windows Phone ecosystem was, the smartphones were not much better...
- SahAssar 3mo agoMicrosoft Kin was a separate thing, and was discontinued 48 days after launch. Windows phone had excellent hardware (from nokia) and excellent UX, but very few apps bothered to support it. If my old windows phone was still updated and my critical apps supported it I'd still be using my lumia 800/900 series phones.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- functionmouse 3mo agoSomething like this could do without the selfie cam, or bezels in general.
- thisislife2 3mo agoThink of it as the front cam you need to make video calls ... I think the bezels is so that the corners of the phone doesn't poke you when you keep it in your pocket (it's a small device - smaller than even feature phones).
- brcmthrowaway 3mo ago4G? WTF..
- daneel_w 3mo agoDo you live in a 5G-only region? If not, what's the problem?
- HDBaseT 3mo agoThere isn't many (if any) countries with only 5G, although most countries have shutdown both 2G and 3G networks, with the 4G shutdown likely within the next decade. Not supporting 5G limits this devices longevity, although at the price point and Indian market focus, I think its acceptable.
- pjmlp 3mo agoIn Europe there are still plenty of places without 5G coverage, which anyone travelling by train will quickly notice.
- uni_baconcat 3mo agoAfter GSM and UMTS shutdown, LTE is the foundation for IoT and entry level mobile connectivity. 5G RedCap coverage is not widespread enough and the chipset is not cheap enough.
- arun6582 3mo agogiving 4g. they are not even trying anymore
- bananananaguy 3mo ago[dead]
- bannaananaguy 3mo ago[dead]
- alfanick 3mo agoWhat is special about this? Does it cost $20? Is it a cheap smart phone (why do they call it a hybrid phone?) targetting India (mentioning of cricket)?
- puzzlingcaptcha 3mo agoThe little print at the end says "Currently only available in India." Reminds me a bit of HMD's KaiOS feature phones but this is apparently Android?
- janv 3mo agoNo, it uses RTOS Touch. Looks like HMD/Nokia gave up on KaiOS a few years ago.
- walrus01 3mo ago> The little print at the end says "Currently only available in India." I think that was made obvious by the big thing on the marketing website scroll about checking cricket scores.
- iamtedd 3mo agoBecause India is the only country that cares about cricket? They're not even the only country in Asia where cricket's big.
- throwa356262 3mo agoThis is a odd one. I don't think it can compete with cheap android phones. But I would love an android in small form factor like this. Can live without hi-res display and multiple cameras, if they can get the phone down to this size. IMO, Xperia mini was the perfect phone. https://m.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_mini-3947.php https://m.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_mini-3947.php
- gmuslera 3mo agoWhy to put front and center that chat app? I mean, is not something that makes it unique, if the app itself can run in android and iOS then it is just a chat app, with far less users than i.e. whatsapp. At first I thought that it was an AI app, and reading more could find why that would be innovative, but no, just a chat app targeting the same phone users and the ones willing to install the app in other phone brands.
- collabs 3mo agoMy guess is because this is not an Android phone and it is important to be able to chat with Android and iPhone users. The real question is why would iPhone and Android users install this app? https://www.hmd.com/en_in/about-hybrid-phones https://www.hmd.com/en_in/about-hybrid-phones Edit: Requiring Google Play login to use this express chat app is pretty stupid in my opinion. Why do apps require Google Play login? Especially a Chinese app? I am on an Android phone with Google play. I am just not signed in to Google play. I installed this app with Aurora store. The app simply throws me back to Play Store which tells me to sign in. Why? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moon.express_chat https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moon.expre...
- marysol5 3mo agoHMD is Finnish
- pr337h4m 3mo agoWithout WhatsApp support it will not go far.
- collabs 3mo ago> Without WhatsApp support it will not go far. Speaking of which, it is bizarre how the tables have turned. Whatsapp used to support everything under the sun... But now it is all Android and iPhone
- ObscureScience 3mo agoThis one was recently up in HN: https://dumbermini.com/ https://dumbermini.com/
- KeplerBoy 3mo agoTo be fair there's nothing else left under this sun.
- w4der 3mo agoIt's a chicken and egg problem tho, whatsapp doesn't support smaller platforms, and smaller platforms can't grow without app support. I remember that the uptake of Windows Phone 7 and early versions of 8 was pretty low partly because whatsapp didn't support that OS.
- rjsw 3mo agoWhatsApp has reduced the number of platforms that they support, they had a KaiOS app but disabled it last year.
- w4der 3mo agoI know, but my comment was more along the lines of Windows Phone 7 coming out in 2010 and whatsapp being available a year later, and of whatsapp not having a native app for Sailfish
- moondowner 3mo agoThe front of the device in the illustrations looks like the LG Fireweb from 2013, that ran Firefox OS. Good old times.
- wolvoleo 3mo agoWhich is now KaiOS by the way.
- nor0x 3mo agothe hardware design reminds me of the Nokia Lumias, a black rounded display glass within a straight squared colored unibody https://m.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_920-pictures-4967.php https://m.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_920-pictures-4967.php the good old days
- zoom6628 3mo agoReminds me a lot of my old Nokia 525 with windows. Great form factor for running and hiking. If this one got GPS I would buy it. But it's up against excellent full function phones like bluebox and veelo from China which make stunningly good small phones.
- sim04ful 3mo agoI recently found my old Nokia Lumia 800.it behaved rather smoothly with the metro ui, ofcourse nothing worked aside phone calls
- mangecoeur 3mo agoYou know it's an India focused device when the top selling point is "Check the cricket results" ;)
- ColdStream 3mo agoCould do alright in Australia and the UK for about 6 months of the year as well. ;)
- Venkatesh10 3mo agoBut smartphones especially Chinese ones are so abundant in India, literally no one wants to buy this slop device. They socialize, watch TV, share through other internet medium to get cricket scores.
- jeroenhd 3mo agoThe device came out about a year ago: https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-HMD-Touch-4G-is-an-all-screen-feature-phone-with-a-compact-design-and-an-affordable-price-tag.1133294.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-HMD-Touch-4G-is-an-all-scr... It looks like it's still India-exclusive. I haven't heard much about it online, and with a dedicated chat app I would've expected to if it was a success. Did it bomb?
- martheen 3mo agoA dedicated app that's only compatible with itself and only have miniscule install count means nothing. I tried downloading it and it only even support 4 countries prefix at the moment. It's also not that cheaper compared to "proper" smartphone from other brands in that area. Notebookcheck says it's launched with 3999 rupees while I see Itel Zeno 10 is just 4769 rupees. With India's unskilled labor minimum monthly wage about 20000 rupees I don't think anyone would care about the price difference.
- marysol5 3mo agoReminds me of the myriad of secure encrypted apps that are available. Problem is, unless you have people willing to jump ship, or technical friends who like to experiment. You're just chatting to yourself
- chedabob 3mo agoThey couldn't find a stock photo for the selfie cam instead of using AI slop?
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- opengrass 3mo agoIdeal hardware, garbage software (can't unlock HMD bootloaders)
- blululu 3mo agoOk, this is kinda cool. In case you wanted to read the actual specs: https://www.hmd.com/en_in/hmd-touch-4g/specs?sku=1GE001CPG30C1 https://www.hmd.com/en_in/hmd-touch-4g/specs?sku=1GE001CPG30... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMD_Touch_4G https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMD_Touch_4G RTOS Touch on a Unisoc T127... that's cool. Amazed they can get the price that low.
- throwa356262 3mo agoCPU: single A7, 1GHz RAM: 64MB LP-DDR2 Flash: 128MB NAND I think the OS is an update of the Mocor RTOS by the SoC vendor Unisoc. I am curious if there are 3rd party apps on this device. If nothing else, it would be a fun challenge to write apps for something constrained like this.
- Doohickey-d 3mo agoThis doesn't seem very competitive: it's priced at ₹4,199 (€38,08) on HMDs store. On Amazon France, you can buy an "Energizer U506S" for €40.19 with free shipping. And that one has: CPU: 1.5Ghz 4-core (MT6739 from 2017) RAM: 2GB Flash: 32GB (and has card slot, dual sim) And it runs Android 13 Go edition (probably not well, but enough to run Whatsapp and such). So this device is facing some competition at that price point. Probably in India you can get an android device with higher spec at that €40 price point than you can in Europe.
- msh 3mo agoThose android phones will have a abysmal performance. I don’t know this device but it’s perfectly possible that a feature phone like this will provide good performance for its limited feature set on much lower specs.
- martheen 3mo agoIn theory, yes, a dedicated development team should be able to write a usable feature phone OS today, considering we had blazing fast feature phones in 2013 at even lower spec playing music seamlessly while browsing the web. In practice this phone's YouTube reviews show it's running dog slow while lacking basic features, just like pretty much any other recently released feature phones at its price point.
- jocelyner 3mo ago[dead]
- ppnpm 3mo agoIt's sluggish.
- danangReader 3mo agoI really liked to buy these HMD phones for my kids. Unfortunately the camera quality is not very good enough . Sometimes kids need decent image quality for printig and home work, and I couldn't think a few MBs are nice to have nowadays.
- ColdStream 3mo agoUnfortunately, the camera is the one place they always cut very hard. It gets to the point that it would probably best to have nothing at all.
- Venkatesh10 3mo agoWhat's the point of even releasing this device? Serves no distinguishing factor.
- abc123abc123 3mo agoIt's a nice attempt. Dumbphone, with 2 MP camera and wifi hotspot. Sadly they shoot themselves in the foot by only offering it in india. Now, if they would only remove the gimmicky touch screen, and replace it with buttons, the phone would be a perfect for those who do not like to have a surveillance device in their pocket. Or at least a "lesser" surveillance device.
- stonogo 3mo agoThey "shoot themselves in the foot" by only offering it in a billion-and-a-half-person market? Not sure how. The sales numbers in ROW are probably a rounding error compared to India. Also HMD already sells that other product you're describing. They're on the same website linked above; click "Feature Phones" to see them.
- kerrieshitz 3mo ago[dead]
- yorwba 3mo agoGuayaquil is in Ecuador.
- kerrieshitz 3mo ago[flagged]
- butz 3mo agoThere is a severe lack of compact smartphones in the market. Are there any devices available with regular OS updates, that fit into normal sized pocket?
- jaclaz 3mo agoI have found a very usable phone (for what I do, which is not much) in low cost Chinese "mini rugged phones" namely I had (until I broke the screen and battery was not in very good condition) a "king kong mini" and then I got the (slightly larger) "king kong mini 3" (the 4 is the latest model, I believe). They are slightly heavier than you would expect, but have very long autonomy and fit nicely in a shirt's pocket.
- butz 3mo agoNeat. Even with all that padding it is smaller than current "compact" devices.