by wonger_ on 8/31/25, 2:58 AM with 118 comments
by swores on 8/31/25, 11:08 AM
I don't have a great solution but I suspect I do know the cause of this on iPhones, which I'll mention for anyone else curious:
I'd bet that he has a contact saved called Something Hall, and the autocorrect isn't clever enough to realise that he isn't typing the name of that contact and just automatically capitalises the H. (It's not 100% of the time, but it is ridiculously often that it wrongly assumes you're using the name from a contact, in my experience.)
I wish there was a way to turn this off, but afaik there isn't - I've removed or edited a contact's surname for a few words that I type as non-name nouns often enough that it got annoying.
Of course I might be wrong, maybe there are other causes for incorrect capitals.
by colingauvin on 8/31/25, 11:30 AM
The trick about this phone is that because it is full fat Android, everything is possible. But because it is low refresh rate black and white screen with a physical keyboard, everything is also a pain in the ass. Rather than hear a chat message notification and immediately get the urge to pull out my phone and engage, I actually now get slightly annoyed because typing out a proper response with proper grammar is going to be a pain in the ass.
The company is pretty lousy and doesn't communicate well. They have missed every single deadline they've ever set for themselves. The software is glitchy but usable (I have all the same issues mentioned in the article with the autocorrect, refresh settings, fingerprint, etc). All those things are fixable and hopefully do.
The phone itself is very weak hardware and the screen protector and case still haven't shipped. I had my phone in my back pocket and it did not survive that, I got two cracks along the edge and a slight bend. Still works though, but I have switched it to my front pocket.
Android Auto works great in both my vehicles, so maps/navigation are not an issue. Bitwarden works. Duo auth works. Banking apps work. Roon works. Podcasts work. Things that I need, that other dumb phones can't provide.
But the critical thing is, I am trying to avoid using the phone because it is just a pain in the ass to do things on. For this, honestly, I'd pay 10x the list price because it has given me so much of my life back. I actually had a mini crisis when I realized I was bored, with nothing to do in the evenings after work, because I had so much time back. (Don't worry, channeling that time into productive hobbies now).
I would highly highly highly recommend this if you want to spend less time on your phone but need certain functions a smartphone provides.
by walthamstow on 8/31/25, 7:30 AM
by y-curious on 8/31/25, 8:37 AM
The author makes great sacrifices to make the phone work in his life. He mentions: - The phone needs to be put in his pocket a certain way or it takes input - The phone loses keypresses when typing quickly - It can only render readable Google maps when set to the slowest setting - The phone forgets your fingerprint and requires pin, which suffers from dropped inputs
The author brings up the point that 2 developers work on the phone. The author doesn't mention, but I think should mention, that this phone WILL have vulnerabilities not found on flagship phones. Anyone security minded is going to be lost here.
Overall, I want a phone like this, but the sacrifices are way too numerous to justify it.
by nesk_ on 8/31/25, 9:54 AM
- my bank requires a smartphone
- whatsapp desktop requires a smartphone too
This smartphone could be an alternative: no videos, you can still use third party applications, perfect for reading.
Thank you for sharing!
by marticode on 8/31/25, 9:36 AM
by jbstack on 8/31/25, 8:51 AM
by dandelionv1bes on 8/31/25, 7:32 AM
Quite tempted by the phone, but predominately a physical book reader.
by boomskats on 8/31/25, 8:46 AM
If it's a real device then that's awesome! If it wasn't for Zinwa I'd probably be getting one.
by netfortius on 8/31/25, 2:04 PM
by cousin_it on 8/31/25, 7:39 AM
by A_Duck on 8/31/25, 8:53 AM
At the moment I have my iphone set to black-and-white but still find myself idly browsing
I think I’ll buy this phone
by locusofself on 8/31/25, 3:33 PM
What I really want is a super reliable way to block social media from my iPhone, only allowing a short window per day.
I use "Freedom", but it doesn't reliably block things, and I end up cheating.
by amilios on 9/1/25, 5:37 AM
by jokethrowaway on 8/31/25, 9:54 AM
The technology is needed to avoid short video / social media addiction but a working map app is a must.
by owenversteeg on 8/31/25, 6:51 PM
With these interventions I went from using my phone for hours a day to using it (most days) only when necessary, and some days not at all. Feels very liberating!
As far as reading goes, I switched back to physical books.
by octoberfranklin on 8/31/25, 5:08 PM
Can I recompile all (or at least most, modulo firmware blobs) of the software running on it?
Obviously I'm not expecting Pixel/GrapheneOS levels of openness. But I'm hoping it's not Samsung-level icky.
by jokoon on 8/31/25, 10:36 AM
2. I doubt that keyboard will last forever, it will probably get quite dirty or tired.
3. I don't think an ink screen saves that much power.
4. I just have a cheap smartphone without 4G internet, 2 euros/months, 50MB in case I need to read some email. That way I will not stay on my phone for long.
5. I watch movies and shows on my phone, actually.
6. Physical books feel better, honestly.
Although I can find it useful to write code with it, but again, apps are not tailored to write code, the toolchains are not made for it.
by StevenNunez on 9/5/25, 6:11 PM
I find it makes it easier to do something else with my free time.
by jeeezus on 8/31/25, 9:19 AM
by kristianp on 9/1/25, 10:54 AM
by LightBug1 on 8/31/25, 10:39 AM
And then I get back to - ok, just get a normal e-reader and normal mobile phone.
Someone school me on why I'm wrong, thanks.
by billy99k on 8/31/25, 12:16 PM
by mariusor on 8/31/25, 8:09 AM
by CommenterPerson on 8/31/25, 3:12 PM
by octoberfranklin on 8/31/25, 5:04 PM
Sanity is returning to our world.
There is hope. WAGMI.
by finaard on 8/31/25, 11:08 AM
Most of my life I've been using phones with keys - the Treo/Centro series with PalmOS, then (due to working there) the Nokia N900, N9 and Jolla devices. The best ever on screen keyboard I've encountered was on the N9, followed by Jolla (unfortunately, we never implemented swype there). A had a regular Android phone for a while after that, but pretty much all Android on screen keyboards are just horrible - so I went from actively doing stuff on my phone to just reading stuff, and using it as notifier for getting my computer.
Things changed when some companies did end up doing new phones with keyboards: I had the Planet computers Gemini, followed by the Cosmo. Both had great keyboards, but a lot of other issues. Next were Unihertz Titan and Titan slim (which I'm still using) - both also nice devices, but starting to age, not really getting updates anymore, and putting something else on there is problematic due to Unihertz not releasing kernel sources.
The way I'm using my phones also changed again - I fully stopped using banking apps on the phone. The modern way is to combine an authenticator into the banking app, and treat the banking app as having built in two factor auth, which is just stupid. I can use a separate token with all of my banks - but using the smartphone app would forcefully sign me up to using them as authenticator, so I can't use them anymore.
A lot of other applications also are pretty much useless nowadays - most are just wrapped web pages anyway, and even for the ones which are not: Nothing has long living auth tokens anymore (which used to be one of the main selling points ) - and if I have to log in to not regularly used applications every time I use them it's easier and more convenient to just use the corresponding website on the computer anyway.
So we're back to just wanting a phone I can read on, and that sends me notifications - and the keyboard should allow me to even respond without taking out my computer. The main issue with the device is that I don't need Android for doing that - and with the ongoing enshitification of Android I'm not really sure anymore if it's worth the trouble of getting another device, or if I should just go towards "when I'm not on my computer I'm offline" again.
by WXLCKNO on 8/31/25, 4:22 PM
I have a private Instagram account with ~100 followers of people I actually know.
And I still agree with this although I'm trying hard not to. I'm just trying not to be cynical.
But I hate this feeling of my life experiences seeming like they require external validation.
Am I doing things just so that others know I did them? Is it just a curated feed I can look back on by myself? Social media feels like it steals our lives away from us.
by utf_8x on 8/31/25, 7:29 PM
by 4ggr0 on 8/31/25, 1:55 PM
by layer8 on 8/31/25, 3:18 PM
by rsanek on 8/31/25, 12:59 PM