Comment by 🚀 clarahd
Re: "Dumphone - w/MCU hello. I wanted to ask if anyone was…"
In my corner of North America they are blocking phones for the 5g switchover, even if they support Volte, but are not on their whitelist, like OnePlus. I use one of their dumbphones as a hotspot (although the greedy telco is charging new customers an extra 5$/month if they use hotspot feature!).
You can get a dumbphone that supports Lineage, but again, will they block it?
(Same goes for those Linux phones?)
— https://binboupan.github.io/2023/12/qin-f22-pro-gsi/
Another option for pinephone is running a SIP client with Sculptos over WiFi.
— https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=14780&pid=120324
This guy made an FPGA "phone" that didn't even bother with the cell networks - just for WiFi.
As for identity, I checked using Privacy Browser that my footprint was the only one like me in all 4 million!
— https://amiunique.org/fingerprint
— https://www.iplocation.net/myip
2025-07-12 · 10 months ago
8 Later Comments ↓
🚀 clarahd · 2025-07-12 at 19:53:
More Banana stuff:
— https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Nokia_8110_4G_(nokia-argon)
— https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Bananui
Other feature phones:
— https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Category:Feature_Phones
— https://hackaday.com/2022/06/18/notkia-building-an-open-and-linux-powered-numpad-phone/
🚀 baloof [OP] · 2025-07-12 at 20:46:
blocking phones?!
that sounds crazy. how are they enforcing that law?
extra money for hotspot also sounds like a real unecessary thing.
thanks for the links!
I would like to use a dumbphone, but I need a "hotspot" feature and at least LTE+. Otherwise I only use it for SMS and calling. So I think my options are limited, but if anybody knows such a tool, I would be thankful for hints.
I’ve been meaning to do a proper write up for a while but will have to make do with a summary of my thoughts. I am a big advocate of digital minimalism and share a desire to use tech less and use it intentionally when doing so.
I’ve used a dumb phone for about 6 years
- the nokia banana phone
was ok, build was poor but it mostly worked, audio was 6/10, software was not worth mentioning.
- punkt mp02
build was lovely, audio 7/10 but software was pants. signal app (pigeon) would break every few months and be PITA to fix.
*next?
I got excited by the lightphone, but the more I thought about it, the more it was a risky crippled android phone and you’d be better off just using a second hand phone and not having apps you don’t want.
- dumb’d iphone mini
About three months ago, I got one second hand from a family member, it has the following apps
- signal
- maps app
- self hosted music app
- home alarm app
no email, no browser (browser locked with screen time settings).
When I need to call the bank or some business, the sound quality is great, the four apps I use work perfectly and I charge the device every two days. I also didn’t cause a new device to be produced. This could easily apply to a degoogled android device, the mini was available and I like the small form factor.
I think people (myself included) in the alt tech scene want to have that cool device as its a conversation piece, a badge of honour. But I don’t care anymore what people think, I have an iphone but I don’t use it like 99% of people.
🚀 stack · 2025-07-13 at 15:17:
I'd dump my 'smart' phone in a second if there was a reasonable dumb option.
I used to have a flip phone. It never crashed, and the battery lasted a week. Towards the end I bought 10 of them on EBay for $10, and as they broke, I'd just grab the next one out of the box. The rest of my family had 3 smart phones, and in total paid less for service than my one flip phone, and I eventually gave up and got a smart phone too. Hate every minute of it.
On a modern phone network, ideally I'd have a dumb phone with a mobile WiFi hotspot feature, and use other devices chosen by me to connect to the Internet.
🚀 baloof [OP] · 2025-07-13 at 16:35:
hey!
i just found https://github.com/jgauchia/IceNav-v3
I truly think that this project is possible, I'll try to work on the software (for the matrix client) and then get it to a suitable microcontroller
🚀 baloof [OP] · 2025-07-13 at 20:21:
@fab i had for this reason used kaios, but i would not recommend it.
Not having whatsapp or a good map is kind of a bummer.
if i were to buy another dumbphone it'd be the cat s22, but i rather make my own.
🚀 baloof [OP] · 2025-07-13 at 20:47:
i found another treasure:
https://forum.lvgl.io/t/open-source-example-of-lvgl-on-square-screen/17753/11
Original Post
Dumphone - w/MCU hello. I wanted to ask if anyone was interested in building their own dumbphone...? And thought maybe this is a good place to ask, and maybe we could a community around that. I myself would focus only on these things: - Calling - Texting - Music And probably the hardest: - Navigation I don't think linux or anything is needed for that, and would only make it more complicated, just a low end MCU. Maybe that could make it better in other qualities like battery and...