New Phone
=========
I have got a new phone which replaced my BQ Aquaris E4.5 with Ubuntu.
An expensive one. The Punkt MP01 [1].
Why? I have researched that there is too little useful things that a
smartphone (no matter which one) can offer to me. I have Garmin eTrex
for navigation and geocaching and I travel to work by walk so I have no
need for ebooks/music/rss/www and thus I need no WiFi nor mobile data
on a phone. And for longer journeys (if I'm not driving) I have several
devices to select from.
This device (the MP01) can be used only calls and SMSs (well, it can
also show a calendar, has an alarm clock and one can enter short notes
and add date and time of reminder to them - but that's all). This is
actually fine for me. And the phone is light and does not have a
touchscreen. There is even no "flight mode" - you should to turn it
off. But the phone needs 2-3 seconds to turn on so it is not a problem.
There are only 2 cursor buttons (up and down ones), no 4-directions
button nor the joystick. And it is enough.
Yes, it was possible to buy a random feature phone (or a Nokia phone if
one does not want to get a phone from an unknown Chinese company) but
an inexpensive phone I will likely throw away on a first issue because
it was cheap and will start to lose money on further useless
smartphone. So expensive device I will have to keep for a longer time.
By the way, the phone is really not bad. It is for 2G networks only (so
it is useless in the Switzerland, I guess) but it works well. The use
is very simple and really intuitive. The Up, Down, Select and Back
keys are enough to control it. Some things seem to be somewhat
oversimplified but everything is perfectly usable. There is support
only for a few languages (English, French, German, Russian and so) and
no Czech support but it is not a problem for me.
It is possible to use a headset with the phone - a Bluetooth one or a
wired one (an USB one but a USB-to-3.5mm adapter is supplied with the
phone).
The only thing which is really not perfect is the Lock/Unlock button.
Not only its location is not ideal (left back side opposite to volume
controls) but to unlock the phone it must be pressed twice: first time
to wake up phone and to second time a longer press is necessary to
actually unlock the keyboard. It is not possible to skip the first
press.
Also the keyboard was nice backlight which is turned on automatically.
But if there is an incoming call then keyboard stays dim and the button
to accept the call is invisible. This cannot by changed in preferences.
Except these issues the phone is fine. I use it for more than 2 months
now and I still see no reason to return to a smartphone.
References:
[1]
https://punkt.ch
