The trouble with trying to switch to a smaller phone that's more comfortable to hold and less distracting to use is, you don't have a lot of compelling options. There are dumbphones that don't do a lot of essential things like display directions, minimalist phones that cost a pretty penny while offering limited hardware, and just a handful of truly compact smartphones that make substantial compromises on performance or battery life.
HMD, which also makes Nokia phones, has a new offering that's sort of growing on me as a potential choice – despite the fact that it's not really billed as a low-distraction handset.
Instead, the Touch 4G is an accessibly priced option for the budget-conscious segment of consumers in India that slots in between feature phones and low-end smartphones. However, it's got some interesting ideas packed into a compact body that I'd love to see the brand explore further for those of us who want to spend less time with our mobile devices.
This model is only a little larger than a credit card, runs a basic OS with a fixed set of apps, and includes essentials like front and rear cameras, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity, USB-C charging, and a hotspot feature.
What makes this attempt at a dumbed-down phone special is, should you need them, you can access apps that are typically available only on regular smartphones, like Google Maps, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, X, and even cricket scores and weather.
Those apps essentially run in a browser wrapper, rather than being natively coded for the Touch 4G's platform. That means they may not work as well as they would on a regular smartphone – YouTube videos might skip a few frames on the low-end hardware, and Maps might not operate as responsively as you're used to.
The cameras aren't great either. You can use the front cam for low-res selfies and laggy video calls, and shots from the rear cameras will just barely pass muster. There's no WhatsApp on here, but you can send texts, voice messages, and make video calls through a free app called Express Chat which also has Android and iOS versions. It's even got a dedicated hardware button at the top of the phone – right next to the headphone jack!
That said, you can use them all via a familiar touch interface, in a really compact form factor that fits easily in your palm. I'm especially interested in how it can advance the conversation around what we actually need in a phone to get through a typical day – and what we can leave behind to avoid distractions.
I've been trying to dumb down my Android phone by deleting apps and blocking sites, but the fact that it's always got the hardware and software to run time-wasting apps is enough to make me fall prey to all kinds of time-sinks on the device.
If I can reach everyone in my contact list, get directions, stream music and podcasts, and make mobile payments, that should get me through most of my day. The Touch 4G doesn't do the last two, sadly, so it's not quite the distraction-free phone I dream of yet.
But it is actually pretty darn close. The E-ink-screen-equipped Mudita Kompakt, the BlackBerry-style Minimal Phone, and the tiny Light Phone III are compelling too, and have more intentional approaches to the curation of their respective feature sets. But they each cost hundreds of dollars (way higher than more performant entry-level smartphones), while the Touch 4G lands at just US$56.
Naturally, more powerful hardware to support better content streaming and security features to enable payments will bump that up to triple digits. But I've got a strong feeling it can be done. I love the idea of a handset that's not just distraction-free, but also built like a tank Nokia-style, and priced around what you'd pay for just a pair of earbuds. I'm ready for that no-doomscroll life.
Source: HMD
