This pocket-friendly e-reader also wants to be your minimalist phone

Nov 01, 2024 01:09 AM - 1 week ago 14853

Mudita is not the first institution to build a telephone pinch an E Ink screen, but its Kompakt isn’t only astir bringing the benefits of e-paper to smartphones. The institution describes the Kompakt arsenic a “minimalist E Ink phone” that’s designed to trim distractions pinch a constricted postulation of bundled apps.

The Kompakt is being made disposable to consumers done a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The earliest backers tin pre-order 1 for astir $325 pinch shipping expected arsenic early arsenic April 2025. Full unit pricing is expected to beryllium person to $476, making the Kompakt cheaper than different E Ink phones from companies for illustration Hisense.

Unlike the Boox Palma, which is simply a pocket-friendly 6.13-inch e-reader offering further functionality done a afloat implementation of Android, the Kompakt features a overmuch smaller 4.3-inch E Ink surface pinch a solution of conscionable 800x480 pixels and a stripped down operating system.

The Kompakt runs MuditaOS K, a civilization operating strategy based connected the Android Open Source Project. It skips each of Google’s services to guarantee your “data is ne'er shared aliases monetized by 3rd parties” and only has a mini assortment of preinstalled apps the institution has deemed essential. These see a telephone app pinch SMS messaging, offline maps, a sound recorder, a calculator, a photo-only camera (limited to 8MP), and an e-reader supporting ePubs and PDFs. The OS doesn’t see entree to the Google Play Store, and while different Android apps tin beryllium sideloaded, according to New Atlas, afloat compatibility and capacity isn’t guaranteed.

A sliding move connected the Kompakt offers a “hardware-level cutoff of GSM and each 3 microphones,” the institution says.

Image: Mudita

A statement connected crowdfunding:

Crowdfunding is simply a chaotic section by nature. Companies looking for backing thin to make large promises. According to a study tally by Kickstarter, astir 1 successful 10 “successful” products that scope their backing goals neglect to really present rewards. Of the ones that deliver, delays, missed deadlines, aliases overpromised ideas mean that there’s often disappointment successful shop for those products that do get done.

The champion defense is to usage your champion judgment. Ask yourself: does the merchandise look legitimate? Is the institution making outlandish claims? Is location a moving prototype? Does the institution mention existing plans to manufacture and vessel vanished products? Has it completed a Kickstarter before? And remember, you’re not needfully buying a merchandise erstwhile you backmost it connected a crowdfunding site.

To occasionally make the telephone moreover little of a distraction, aliases to heighten its privacy, the Kompakt has a package action to disable its camera, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. On the broadside of the telephone is besides a sliding move that activates a “hardware-level cutoff of GSM and each 3 microphones,” though Mudita doesn’t explicate precisely really it works, aliases to what grade those functions are disabled.

Other features of the Kompakt see a 3,300mAh artillery the institution says will supply up to six days of standby time, an IP54-rating, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a fingerprint reader, NFC, wireless charging, and a dual SIM tray that tin besides judge a microSD paper to grow its 32GB of storage.

Two versions of the Kompakt will beryllium disposable that are optimized for either North American aliases world cellular networks, but the mini telephone skips 5G connectivity entirely. Although that will further discourage utilizing it to entree distractions for illustration societal media, entree to 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE networks could besides inhibit its connectivity successful immoderate places.

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