Punkt MP01 Mobile Phone

[rsync]

Things like this interest me because I would like to see some diversity in the mobile phone design space ... in 2015, there is only one design, the design of the original iphone. It's iterated on and refined, but it's still just a monolithic touchscreen slab.

So this is interesting, but also frustrating - in the last few years there have been several successors to the MOTO FONE (or MOTO F3) which was the ultimate candybar phone.[1][2] There are the two Nokia phones (220 and 222) and Nokia 130.

And now there is this. And the question is, why are these so thick ? This (and the modern Nokia candybars) are basically phones that do nothing ... and yet they are 12, 13, and in the case of this punkt phone, 14.5 (!) mm thick.

If the F3 could do it in 9.1mm, and if modern smartphones can do everything they do in even less, then why aren't these "dumbphones" <9mm thick ?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Fone

[2] 114x47x9 mm in size

[nfoz]

The Blackberry Passport is one of the more innovative modern phones IMO:

http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-passport/ove...

The physical keyboard is also a touch-screen, so you can make gestures across the surface of the keys (e.g. swipe right-to-left across the keyboard for "backspace a word"). I love the phone, and people comment on it everywhere I go.

However, it's not in stores in the U.S., and most tech-minded people are quick to laugh it off ("oh blackberry is dead"). Seems like the public only wants a very small number of equivalent players in the market.

[jay-saint]

I kind of like the design for design sake, but definitely think it could use a diet. I would excuse the thickness and weight if this was a cheap phone. I would by this in a heartbeat for $100 USD but at almost $300 forget it.

[tozachroberts]

I loved the F3 I had, and most people thought I was crazy when I used it. Alas, it was crippled by pretty terrible antenna design, and would drop calls all over regardless of coverage. The SMS capability was almost as entertaining to decipher as Google Voice voicemail transcriptions. One argument for slightly thicker devices is ergonomics. I found the F3 to be slightly tiring to hold on to, and I feel similarly about the Nexus 5 I currently use. At some point, thin becomes too thin and I feel like I am pinching the device instead of holding it comfortably. Obviously, these are subjective elements, but worth considering.

[tcfunk]

And (at least in my opinion) surprising expensive!

[ansible]

For that size, they could have put in a much larger battery.

[sivers]

I think the name "punkt" is a play on "punk'd" from the TV show that pranks people:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk'd

Looking at their other products like the $185 alarm clock:

https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/ac01-alarm-clock/

... and ridiculous cordless phone:

https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/dp01-cordless-phone/

... I think this is a site/company set up as clever commentary about how the $10 items that have been around for decades already satisfy our needs.

(And many people here were "punk'd" by it.)

Even better, it looks like they actually took some of these ideas to market? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004U5V7V2/

But I still suspect it's all a grand parody.

[hauget]

The real funny thing is that there's people out there that will really buy these things (i.e. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thelightphone/the-light...)

[derrickdirge]

The more I look around their site, the more convinced I am that it's legitimate.

And I don't feel that it's outside of the realm of plausibility that these products would exist at these prices. Minimalists tend to take minimalism pretty seriously and are, paradoxically, generally wealthier than non-minimalists.

If any of these products don't actually exist, they probably should. I'm sure there's a market for them.

[dang]

They have had a lot of press: https://www.punkt.ch/en/press/press-reviews/. If it's a gag, it's the mother of them all.

[now]

”Punkt” means ”point”, as in ”that’s it”. The prices certainly puts everything into question.

[jarcane]

You realize of course that this is actually not unique in any way, right? Dumbphones still exist aplenty, you can practically buy them in bulk nowadays for a tenth what this costs.

[stonogo]

Why can't someone make a phone exactly like this, but with an e-ink display, LTE support, and a wifi hotspot?

[CrackpotGonzo]

Still early, but it's being worked on: http://minium.co/

[rchaud]

They're upfront about the only 2 features of this phone, so why would anyone pay $300 for the privilege of "distraction-free" telecommunication, which is available at 10% of the cost at any cell phone shop, anywhere in the world?

[derrickdirge]

Aesthetics.

[superuser2]

I'd pay that for a smartphone that was pure phone + Google Maps. Google Maps is the only reason I refuse to drop down to a dumbphone.

[tptacek]

This looks like a $300 feature-phone.

[tlrobinson]

Well, that's a step up from their (1-star reviewed) $300 cordless phone http://www.amazon.com/Punkt-Cordless-Telephone-Jasper-Morris...

[MrRadar]

Considering that service providers in developed countries are already starting to shut down their 2G networks (Optus and Telstra in Australia; Singtel, M1, and StarHub in Singapore; AT&T in the US) buying a 2G-only phone in 2015 does not seem like a good idea.

[myheadasplode]

This doesn't look as good to me as the Light Phone[1] (which doesn't text) and is way more expensive than the Nokia 106[2] (which does text).

[1] http://www.thelightphone.com/

[2] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HQS2MCS?psc=1&redirect=t...

[haddr]

I wonder how is the UX of this phone. Definitely it looks more lean and probably the UI is better streamlined, but smaller screen always makes it harder to provide good user experience.

Anyway this phone looks great and probably makes a good Christmas gift for some less techy member of your family.

[zokier]

That keypad layout looks bizarre. T9 offset from center, and navigation on one side only. I wonder how left-handed people fare with it...

I can't say that I'm a fan of the visual looks overall, but that might be partly because of the CG look.

[minerb50]

Is this for real? Why not get yourself some old Nokia 8910 or a cheap 1100 or something?

Although, I guess there's always market for patsies

[chrisBob]

How did the same person submit this twice 20 hours apart? The two appear to have identical links.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10340573

[dang]

We invited andor to repost it. This is an experiment we've been running to give good stories that fell through the cracks a second chance at getting attention on HN.

Allowing a small number of reposts if (but only if) a story hasn't had significant attention yet is the principal thing we can do to mitigate the problem that /newest moves so fast, most stories don't get seen.