Has anyone here used a Mudita Kompakt? I’m test-driving one and have some questions

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve had it a few days so far, and I’ve been taking my time getting acquainted, I guess you could say. Just today I discovered that the initial system update I performed upon unboxing didn’t bring me all the way up to the current OS for some reason. For extra annoyance, I had to update the thing like 5 separate times instead of just going straight to the current version. That fixed a few annoyances but added one or two more.

Overall, I quite like the device so far, and I’m leaning toward keeping it, but I need to tweak it just a little to optimize it for my life.

2

For those who, like me, had not heard of this thing:

It’s a modern take on a dumb phone. You can talk on it, take pictures with it, use SMS texts, and that’s about it. It has a calendar app, but it’s unclear whether / how that would interface with an online e.g. Google calendar. There are a couple more minor apps / capabilities, but I’ve listed the biggies.

That’s a very interesting idea. I could see it having application for the screen-addicted, or the ADHD folks who struggle with staying on-task while their smartphone AKA distraction machine is sitting close to hand.

3

That’s the basic idea… I was feeling like I was on my phone too much, and this has definitely helped me reduce my usage so far. I considered buying a flip phone like the Light Flip, but this seems like a good middle ground. Mostly it’s just a phone, but typing out text messages is definitely easier on it than it would be on a flip phone.

4
[Album] imgur.com

I’ve been with this thing a little while now, and idk if anyone else is really interested in it, but I thought I’d share my thoughts on life with it. Overall it’s been a great experience so far… although I thought I’d start by just talking about why I made this choice. It’s not about eradicating Google from my life, but it’s a step in the right direction I hope. I still have my old Pixel 7a, which I’m typing this on, but now that I have my Kompakt and plan on sticking with it for a while, I’ll work on the Pixel. I’ll upgrade it to GrapheneOS in the near future, which will help.

I wish I had tracked the time I spent on my Pixel, so that I could know how much I’ve reduced it, but it feels like a significant reduction. I still use it on most of my walks with the dogs because it has my podcasts on it, but I should be able to side-load a podcatcher on the Kompakt. As of right now I’ve been using the stock OS for my new phone, and it’s really bare bones… I can load music on it right now, but that requires my laptop and a cable, and I’ve just been on my test drive with it really. That can happen soon, too.

I don’t plan on side-loading too many apps, as I feel it runs counter to the whole point of the Kompakt, but I’m thinking about 1) a podcatcher, 2) a 2FA app, 3) a password manager, and 4) Whatsapp. That would just about do it, I think.

The feel of the device in-hand is pretty fantastic, imo. No notes. I bought one of their cases to hopefully help protect the camera, but it’s got a nice feel to it tactilely, and the whole device is just a pleasant size. If I were to pick nits I would say the next one :crossed_fingers:t3: should be a bit slimmer, but it’s got some charm to it, like an original iPhone—considering that the Kompakt is a bit like a throwback device, that might actually be a selling point. I adore it as a device overall.

Drawbacks? It feels pretty laggy sometimes. Just unlocking it doesn’t always work the first time, because (I think) I’m sliding my thumb up the screen too quickly. If I slow down and swipe more deliberately, it works. The native apps are mostly serviceable. Calling hasn’t really been an issue at all, and texting is way better now that they’re on version 1.6.1. It was awful at first! The camera sure isn’t a great user experience, but it works. I made a little album, so if this link works you can see my van, my dogs, my LEGO, and a TMBG concert. I’m not a professional photographer (duh :man_shrugging:t3:) but I think it’s nice to have overall. I’ve only played a tiny bit of chess on it, and I haven’t even needed to mess around with the maps so far. No ebooks loaded yet, but I’ll hopefully get some loaded this weekend. I’ll probably start with Frankenstein, as is my custom. The weather app is a wonderful little addition.

Suffice to say, it’s like a 2¼ :glowing_star: out of 3, generally positive review so far. Watch this space, I guess?

ETA: the damn picture I took of my Mudita (taken with the Pixel) looks squashed to me. Is that the same for anyone else?

5

Oh, I’m also interested in developing an app for this. Anyone know a resource that would help me create an app?

6

Yep. You posted the url of the page for your Imgur album that contains the photo. You did not post the url of the pure image itself not on a webpage. The latter are rendered verbatim here, but the former get squished.

Depending on what device you’re using, Imgur tries diligently to make it hard for you to get the raw image url. They can’t brand that, nor show ads on that. They can on their album page(s), so that’s what they want you to share with others.