Nokia Keeps the Dream of the '90s Alive With an Update to Its Dumb Phones (gizmodo.com) 64
The Nokia 130 and 150 are two new updated feature phones from Nokia that ship "with the form of an earlier generation of tech but the software of the current time," reports Gizmodo. From the report: The Nokia 150 is arguably the more worthy of the two; it comes in three colors and features a 2.4-inch QVGA display, a 1,450 mAh removable battery with up to a month of standby time, and a headphone jack for listening to music like we're still pirating it from the internet (though you can also tune in to the built-in FM radio, a feature you'd have to download an app to replicate on an iPhone). The rear-facing 0.3-MP VGA camera is as mediocre as it sounds; it's similar to the camera specs on an LG-made candybar phone I was carting around in 2008. You can save all your data on a MicroSD card and charge the phone with micro USB.
The Nokia 130 has the same size screen and removable battery, but it doesn't have a camera, which makes sense if you were looking at one of these as a secondary device. You probably already have a smartphone that takes satisfying photos. The Nokia 130 and 150 are rated IP52, making them resistant to dust and water but not entirely waterproof. And they both have physical buttons, including a full 12-key number pad, plus navigational buttons to get around the operating system, called Series 30+ or S30+. Nokia developed the software specifically for these entry-level devices, and it made sure to include a revamped Snake game. Nokia swears there are "hours of fun in store," which seems like marketing rehashed from its '90s glory days.
The Nokia 130 and 150 are primarily available abroad. Note that these two models have been around since 2016 and that this latest release is a part of the phone's upgrade cycle. The company, acquired by Finnish conglomerate HMD Mobile, has yet to reveal pricing. But previous generations started at under $50 after converting currencies. It's quite a deal compared to what you'd get with an aging, low-cost Android phone.
The Nokia 130 has the same size screen and removable battery, but it doesn't have a camera, which makes sense if you were looking at one of these as a secondary device. You probably already have a smartphone that takes satisfying photos. The Nokia 130 and 150 are rated IP52, making them resistant to dust and water but not entirely waterproof. And they both have physical buttons, including a full 12-key number pad, plus navigational buttons to get around the operating system, called Series 30+ or S30+. Nokia developed the software specifically for these entry-level devices, and it made sure to include a revamped Snake game. Nokia swears there are "hours of fun in store," which seems like marketing rehashed from its '90s glory days.
The Nokia 130 and 150 are primarily available abroad. Note that these two models have been around since 2016 and that this latest release is a part of the phone's upgrade cycle. The company, acquired by Finnish conglomerate HMD Mobile, has yet to reveal pricing. But previous generations started at under $50 after converting currencies. It's quite a deal compared to what you'd get with an aging, low-cost Android phone.
Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:1, Troll)
Is ass.
Please tell me it's not Android under the hood.
Re: (Score:3)
What specifically do you find objectionable about the underlying OS being Android?
The (mostly) older people who would be attracted to this phone couldn't care less what the OS is. They just want a phone that's a *phone* and doesn't try to be everything else.
The dumbphones of the 90s were hard to use, to do things like add entries to the contact list. If the new OS and software improves the usability, then I say go for it.
Re: Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd like the phone not to be wired into Google.
That Moto RAZR relaunch a couple years ago was awful, since it only relaunched the form factor. It was Android under the hood, and just as poison as any smart phone.
I don't want the simplicity of a flip if it's got all the privacy problems of a smart phone. Might as well use a smart phone in that case.
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Re: Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:2)
So get an unlockable Android phone (the bootloader that is) and put lineage on it, and don't install gapps. Done and done.
This option may not exist for ever, but it still does now.
Re: Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:2)
But then you're back at a smartphone.
Part of the attraction of a dumb phone is that you don't have ads, notifications social media, web browsing to distract you.
You get real life back, and don't have to pay for a data plan.
Re: Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:2)
Try ad blocking. It works. I am using Firefox on my phone with ublock. Ads are not a problem. Don't play helpless. It will not endear you to anyone here.
Re: Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:2)
Funny. I'm far from helpless.
I've considered for some time getting rid of the smartphone, for the above-mentioned reasons.
I'm way past millennial, but a fair number of millennials are picking up on the same things: that Smartphones may have been a terrible mistake for most of us, most of the time.
There are a very small number of things I'd like from a smartphone. Phone and SMS. A hotspot. A calendar and great to-dos. Notes. And maybe stop there.
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The original Nokia's used Symbian. The reason the software sucked was because they were all customized for the wireless carrier, and if a carrier didn't want something on it, it was not available, ever.
If I were to re-invent the dumbphone, I'd want first:
- Use the current radio standard with a physical SIM card
- Use the current USB-C & PD standard
- Use SDUC, use one full size SD card and micro. The full size card is hot swappable, the micro is used as the "system" disk and is under the user-replacable b
Re:Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:5, Insightful)
The original Nokia's used Symbian.
Symbian was just for the smart-phones. The later "feature phones" like this used "Series 30", and still do.
Most Nokia's were dumb phones, with NokiaOS. The less said about Nokia's time with Maemo, Meego, and Windows Mobile, the better.
Why did they go with S30 over S40? (Score:2)
Do you know why they decided to go with extending S30 as S30+ rather than updating S40? I never really understood the point of introducing S30 below S40, further fragmenting their software platform.
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The less said about Nokia's time with Maemo, Meego, and Windows Mobile, the better.
Eh, not sure what you mean and why you are lumping them together. The N9 Maemo/Meego phone was years better that anything out at the time. On modern hardware the OS itself would be better than anything out now. Stephen Elop probably knew it when he took over Nokia and tried to bury it in order to switch to Windows Mobile - I had to source my own N9 from Romania (Kazakhstan was the other option I had).
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The less said about Nokia's time with Maemo, Meego, and Windows Mobile, the better.
Eh, not sure what you mean and why you are lumping them together.
Painful memories. I used all those. Nice, software, might have been something, but Nokia & Microsoft messed it up.
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The problem is really that nobody wants a phone that isn't feature parity with a smartphone.
I do.
Re: Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:1)
There's likely a market for a rotary cellphones [gizmodo.com] with NO display, no tiny buttons, and a nice, big charging port connector.
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The 3-digit Nokia's of late run a platform called S30+, and it has nothing to do with Android. Neither externally, nor even under the hood. S30+ is based on a proprietary OS, developed primarily by Mediatek.
As for Nokia S40, it's most definitely a dumbphone platform. Being able to run Java and having a keyboard, large screen etc. doesn't make a dumbphone smart. Although I must admit, S40 is way less dumb than its current replacement, S30+ . I wish Nokia continued to develop S40.
Re: Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:1)
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OK sure, as opposed to what other option? Can you name an OS maker that isn't a "spyware" company?
And before you say Linux, I'll remind you that Android is Linux under the hood. Sure, Google added their own "spyware" to it. Do you think that Nokia wouldn't do exactly the same stuff with their dumbphone OS, whether it's Android or Symbian or whatever else?
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The appeal of those old phones from the 90's was that their battery life was EXTREME compared to a modern phone. If you didn't use your phone a lot it was common to be able to go 7 to 10 days without recharging an old Nokia phone - particularly the old ones with a monochrome LCD display.
All they're doing here is reproducing the negative form factor of the old phones while eliminating the specific features that fuel the nostalgia.
Re: Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:1)
Up to 30 days of standby life, seems like they improved on the 7-10 days of standby you are pining for...
Article to the rescue! (Score:5, Informative)
Please tell me it's not Android under the hood.
As it says in the article: "And they both have physical buttons, including a full 12-key number pad, plus navigational buttons to get around the operating system, called Series 30+ or S30+ [wikipedia.org] ."
So, not Android.
Re: Article to the rescue! (Score:2)
Wheee! A contender!
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... a 1,450 mAh removable battery with up to a month of standby time ...
is what have it away for me.
Re:Yeah, but the software of the current time (Score:4, Informative)
According to the official specs https://www.nokia.com/phones/e... [nokia.com] and Wkipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] the OS is Series S30+ that Nokia he continuously developed for this phone series.
If this platform improves the on-board memory or is able to store the SMS on the SD card, I might consider it. Most annoying to me with competing feature phone offer is the ridiculously low memory for stored SMS (something like 100 SMS on the Samsung clamshell I still use as secondary), and there is no way to export those SMS to outside of the phone.
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I'd be concerned about the lack of security on these phones. They don't appear to encrypt their flash memory like almost all Android devices do. If you store any important information on there, or use it for 2 factor auth (my bank forces me to use SMS) I wouldn't want to trust one of these.
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Is ass.
Please tell me it's not Android under the hood.
It could alwyas be KaiOS.
Helpful for older people (Score:2)
Smartphones are mystifying to many older people. Many have trouble accurately pressing the tiny on-screen keys, especially if they have lost their sense of touch in their fingertips, a common problem. I'm glad Nokia has updated their phones, to give these customers something familiar, that works with modern cell networks.
Download an FM radio? I'd like that! (Score:5, Insightful)
though you can also tune in to the built-in FM radio, a feature you'd have to download an app to replicate on an iPhone
An actual FM radio is not the same as an app that provides access to internet feeds from FM stations. Among other things, game blackout policies differ, never mind the requirement of an internet connection versus FM radio signals. So I'd like to know what app they claim will actually download a real FM radio onto my iPhone!
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FM radio in a cell phone would be a very nice feature to have.
There was a big storm here a few years ago that left wire phone/internet services and cellular phone/internet services damaged for days. It was nearly impossible to make a phone call, and difficult to get anything by internet. Oddly enough SMS was still fairly reliable. If people wanted to know what was going on in the world they needed access to some kind of radio, a radio that wasn't reliant on cell phone towers that were damaged and/or over
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My cheapo U102AA has a nice FM radio.
failing to put in a proper antenna for FM reception
The headphone cord doubles as the FM antenna. The jack for which many 'fancy' phones lack. Resulting crap FM reception.
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The headphone cord doubles as the FM antenna. The jack for which many 'fancy' phones lack. Resulting crap FM reception.
The headphone jack ground wire is used as the antenna, USB-C has a ground wire also, meaning the lack of a headphone jack will not inhibit the ability of a cell phone to have FM reception. What inhibits FM reception is pressure from cellular service providers to keep FM reception out of the phone. I suspect this goes a bit further with Apple as they have their own internet services for music and news so they have their own incentive to maintain a captive audience. Perhaps it is not as nefarious as that,
Re: Download an FM radio? I'd like that! (Score:1)
The headphone jack ground wire is used as the antenna, USB-C has a ground wire also, meaning the lack of a headphone jack will not inhibit the ability of a cell phone to have FM reception.
Do you walk around with a 3 foot USB-C cord hanging off your cellphone?
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Do you walk around with a 3 foot USB-C cord hanging off your cellphone?
Did people walk around with 3 foot cords hanging off their cell phones before USB-C existed? Yes, they did. We called them "headphones".
The point made earlier was that cell phones with FM receivers would use the headphones as an antenna, the claim was that without the headphone jack there's no longer a means to use attached headphones as an antenna. This is not true as the USB-C port is still capable of using headphones as an antenna, the shape of the connector changed but the function has not. USB-C co
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So, basically, the only way to get FM reception is via wired headphones. Which is provided by the headphone jack nouveau, aka USB-C.
But, now said phone user wants to plug their phone into a dock so they can listen to FM radio on it. Except they do that, and because it's plugged in and grounding the USB-C cable, all FM radio reception is gone. (People will either Bluetooth it to their speaker, or generally plug into a home system so they can listen and charge).
Now you get NO FM reception.
Yay?
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So, basically, the only way to get FM reception is via wired headphones.
No, the headphones extend the antenna to improve reception. FM reception would still work without a wire hanging out for strong stations. Have you ever tried to pick up TV stations without an antenna connected to the TV set? I have, and it worked for the strong local stations. This is the same thing.
Which is provided by the headphone jack nouveau, aka USB-C.
"Nouveau"? That's a big word that confuses me.
But, now said phone user wants to plug their phone into a dock so they can listen to FM radio on it. Except they do that, and because it's plugged in and grounding the USB-C cable, all FM radio reception is gone. (People will either Bluetooth it to their speaker, or generally plug into a home system so they can listen and charge).
Now you get NO FM reception.
Yay?
People at home would be using the FM receiver in their cell phone for news and music? I'm pretty sure once at home people would have access to a better FM rece
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There exist smartphones that have radio antennas built into the phone and don't require headphones to be plugged in to listen to the FM radio. Here are two such low-end Nokia phones available in New Zealand at the moment:
Nokia C02: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/produ... [pbtech.co.nz]
Nokia C2 2nd Edition: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/produ... [pbtech.co.nz]
There's also the CAT B40 rugged feature phone: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/produ... [pbtech.co.nz]
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Re: Download an FM radio? I'd like that! (Score:1)
Re: Download an FM radio? I'd like that! (Score:1)
That is the very definition of a First World Problem - "I hate having to skip over a band I never use when switching sources on my car radio, it's like one more wasted button press!"
Wow.
Speaking as a parent... (Score:3)
...these are a tempting "thermo nuclear" option for my offspring.
I get the advantage of them going to high school and having a phone we can keep in touch with.
I don't see the advantage of them being distracted during the school day by all the crap smart phones provide in addition to calls/messages.
They have laptops these days. That should cover anything a smart phone offers.
I'd also hope they are cheap enough so that when a phone "has an accident" or "is lost", pocket money covers the replacement.
Re: Speaking as a parent... (Score:1)
The summary puts them at around $50/ea
wot no camera? (Score:4, Insightful)
means you can take it to places where cameras are not permitted - eg factory production lines.
4G? (Score:2)
There was an updated 33xx phone a few years ago that looked intriguing, but it was 2G only, so unfortunately not useful in areas where 2G has been switched off. If these new phones can work with more modern infrastructure and can give me 4G data over USB, it will have a use case, albeit a niche one.
The other issue I have noticed with some of these "modern dumbphones" is their sub-par implementation of T9 texting. It's more laggy than an early 2000s Nokia, the custom dictionary doesn't work well, and it does
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The phone carriers in my place (EU) offer a range of "basic phones" from various brands, Nokia and Samsung being the well-known brands in this range. The Nokia website presents 9 of these basic phones, 5 of which support 4G (225, 2720, 6300, 8000, 8210). Some of them have a native client for youtube/whatsapp/facebook (6300, 8000), one model is rugged (800) others support bluetooth headphones and has physical play/pause buttons (5710) some are clamshell (2660, 2710). The 3310 is offered with a nicer Snake bu
Re: 4G? (Score:2)
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Thanks. In the interest of completeness, my experience recently has been with a Nokia 2720. I'd be interested to hear if other dumbphones have the same issue with T9. Maybe it's a KaiOS thing?
The phones are S30+, not KaiOS (Score:2)
Sadly, with Jio abandoning KaiOS for androidGo , and Apps written for KaiOS 2.x not being compatible with KaiOS 3 (due to technical debt from Kaiostech), KaiOS is dying, and kinda-sorta this is proof, as these phones should have migrated from S30+ to KaiOS a while ago...
Sad to see the KaiOS dream fizzle.
Niiiiice! (Score:1)
Not my radio (Score:3)
Re: Not my radio (Score:3)
You forgot the Taser and bidet features. Nokia Human Factors spent all weekend making sure you don't get those two mixed up easily.
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Re: Not my radio (Score:2)
Heh... piezoelectric
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Jio Bharat (Score:2)
Is this to compete with the $12 Jio Bharat? I guess if they sell one to every Indian, that's $12 billion.
Useless for me (Score:1)
Charge the phone with Micro USB? (Score:2)
I thought new phones had to use USB-C? Or is that just the EU, and these phones are destined for India and Africa?
Worse than many models of the 2000s (Score:2)
I still can browse Internet on it using Opera Mini (of course not all websites are supported).
I remember Samsung feature phones of that era with 3 MP camera and autofocus.
Almost there... (Score:2)
Apples and Oranges (Score:1)
The Nokia 130 and 150 are primarily available abroad. Note that these two models have been around since 2016 and that this latest release is a part of the phone's upgrade cycle. The company, acquired by Finnish conglomerate HMD Mobile, has yet to reveal pricing. But previous generations started at under $50 after converting currencies. It's quite a deal compared to what you'd get with an aging, low-cost Android phone.
Comparing a $50 phone to the thousand dollar supercomputer in your pocket doesn't make sense.
They've been selling a version of these phones for over 6 years, obviously there's a market for them.
It's always fun to watch Slashdot commenters expose they are incapable of understanding how anyone else lives their lives - "I can't imagine having less than gigabit fiber internet in my home!", "why would I buy this phone with a 0.3 megapixel c as meta?", etc...
There are millions, possibly billions of potential buye
Not really Nokia phones (Score:1)
For some time now, Nokia has not manufactured phones. The Nokia name is licensed by HMD Global.
From the Nokia phone website:
"Nokia Corporation is not a manufacturer, importer, distributor or retailer of the Nokia-branded products offered by HMD Global Oy."
Personally, I would not have licensed the name, but I guess they are making some good monies off of it.
perfect for children (Score:4, Interesting)
Keep kids away from the toxic portions of the Internet while still being able to call them. This is good.