They are very cheap noname phones, branded with the name Nokia, but I am sure no Nokia R&D team was involved in these products.
Old Nokia had RM-xxx or RX-xxx model numbers, so it's also clear that some of their corpo structure did survive.
I thought only HMD [0] had the right to put the Nokia brand on a phone, and had several former Nokia executives in their leadership able to validate whether a device is "worthy" of that brand. Which made sense since Nokia as a company and brand still exist albeit in a different field, and junk branded with this name can tarnish the image.
Edit. I see HMD may transition away from the Nokia brand. [1]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMD_Global#:~:text=The%20compa....
[1] https://www.gsmarena.com/hmd_is_dropping_its_nokia_branding_...
After probably a month or so the hinge brackets broke from normal use.
Nokia refused to refund / repair it saying that only a drop could have caused it.
I replaced it with an AGM M8 which is a great dumbphone.
Until a manager for a tempting job wanted to do the first call on the phone. The call quality was so bad, it bombed the interview for me. So I kissed my privacy goodbye, and bought an iPhone.
(I've since switched to a GrapheneOS phone, which works well, with less violating.)
I guess part 2 was left as an exercise for the reader.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190827183214/http://alumni.med...
The reason for that (I think) is not that the 5110 is less robust, but that the 3210 and 3310 were much more widespread - they came onto the market when mobile phones really started to become widespread, while the 5110 (their predecessor), with its stub antenna and bulkier size, looks a bit like the last representative of the previous era...
A month or two later you could get the 3210 for free, plus a better contract from orange, that took advantage of the MMS options - plus had the programmable ringtones which was soooooo much cooler than the 5110.
I was lucky to jump from the 5110 to the 8210, and then to a 8250 which I adored and used on an off through to 2007 - when I moved to the E61 then e71 - which both still hold a very special place in my heart!
MMS is much later technology where the user data go over HTTP, which implies at least WAP support and GPRS to be really practical.
With stats like that, it is no wonder that Nokia leadership thought they had cell phones figured out and ended up completely oblivious to the challenge the iPhone presented.
Was a joy to use the joystick hehe
4G doesn't even have a proper voice call support, and substitutes that with a carrier grade Discord type thing called VoLTE(oversimplification). Zero chance old firmware could work.
That "carrier grade Discord type thing" is more or less standard SIP VoIP, just over a prioritized data channel similar to how DOCSIS has PacketCable which is more or less MGCP VoIP over a prioritized data channel.
It's absolutely proper voice call support, the majority of calls you make or receive in 2024 have been connected over SIP at some point along the path.
> Zero chance old firmware could work.
The sorts of modules like the author was proposing using can be interacted with over relatively standard AT commands, so it's actually plausible that if there were a separate application processor it might be able to perform basic functions like placing/receiving calls without any firmware changes. The module handles all the VoLTE stuff and just exposes it as if it were any other modem.
That said it's not uncommon for "dumbphone" type applications to run the application code on the baseband processor, in which case obviously it's incredibly unlikely that this new module is even a related family of processor, much less compatible with existing code.
This would be like plugging your monitor and keyboard into a new computer.
There are some lorawan handheld communicatiors using surplus blackberry cases and keyboards from blackberries that never were, that they got for pennies.
Except this dude wants to drop in a roll-your-own cellphone board with a basic os, instead of a lorawan radio and basic os. Same idea. But he will have to design this.
Whereas You can get schematics to build a lorawan communicator with blackberry parts, and there are community supported roms for that
For a design with a modem module and a ux module, it might possibly just work to swap things out, but it would depend on how VoLTE is supported. If that is all managed by the modem module, then you're probably good.
These modem modules are generally a serial port that speaks Hayes (AT) protocol. Plus some analog lines for mic and speaker. Some 4g modules might be serial over USB and may leave VoLTE entirely up to the application module, that's going go look different.
Some of the modules are a qualcom SoC that runs headless Android. Which works, I guess, but seems bizarre.
"Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched."
Which in my language translates to:
"You should not sell the bear’s skin before killing it."
Not that it appears in the article, but rather because the author wrote the blog post before doing the thing. Which results in a blog post essentially saying "here is the cool thing I plan to do", which was apparently never done.
Anyway, I'm happy to know about counting chickens now :-).
The original Nokia 5110 obviously lived long, probably still is there in author's drawer in some disassembled state.
Now, HMD has decided to drop the Nokia name from the new phones because it's not helping them. Nokia has lost its glory, and HMD took the right step to use its name.
People who have old Nokia phones should keep them as it is like a lost meaningful art.
I like the word "simply" in this sentence
> i will simply be able to recreate the baseboard with the new 4G module, a microcontroller, and some audio processing and power management circuitry and it will be able to seamlessly fit inside the phone.
Seems like a bigger project than the author would let us think ! But I hope to see the PCB soon !
I've looked once or twice, and found two categories: one was expensive phones leaning in to the "super slick minimalist" thing, which looked like they could be good devices and cover what I'm looking for, but again, 300 dollars or more type range.
The other was remakes of the "old classics", which were cheap, and claimed to cover roughly what I was hoping for, but are actually horrible quality, as another commenter said.
Maybe there's no solution, and those expensive ones are the only good option. Exceptions, or surprises, please throw them at me!
Runs Android Go, big battery that lasts a while, I can use Signal Messenger on it (though not super well), and it's tank-like in its construction. If you want to take that up a notch in terms of build quality, Kyocera sells a similar phone, the Dura XV Extreme+, which is roughly $250.
r/dumbphones is a decent resource. Unsuprisingly, it's not a large community, but it's a good place to get people's anecdotes about specific models.
Rugged, Android-Go powered "Call/SMS/MMS" devices, week and a half on battery if you leave it on constantly, hotspot, and you can, if you insist, sideload apps. Just, don't expect any modern Android app to be usable on a 240x320 screen with keyboard input only. If you use a Bluetooth mouse, it's marginally less-awful, but still, don't expect much to work.
I did get KDE Connect working - that allows you to send text messages with a real computer keyboard. It's not as nicely integrated as the Apple iMessage ecosystem, but it does allow for sending texts without having to T9 the whole thing. Alternately, the better option is to just move longer conversations to email or an actual phone call.
One of these shouldn't run you much over about $150 (in the US), and they work fine on the super cheap MVNO operators out there.
My writeup from about a year ago: https://www.sevarg.net/2023/12/30/more-flip-phone-sonim-xp3-...
Update: not available outside US, or you can get it shipped but it's locked to US carriers (which seems nonsensical...)
Anyway. I'm back looking at the Cat B35, and I think that does the job. Thanks again!
Although I also loved the sound of that little engine.
In Europe, 3G is shutting down, but 2G as a fallback seems to be staying for years to come.
> However, 2G networks were still available as of 2023 in most parts of the world, while notably excluding the majority of carriers in North America, East Asia, and Australasia.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G
AFAIK, in the US, T-Mobile still has a 2G network.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/1eppo3p/tmobile...
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/t-mobile-network-e...
>Capacity and coverage of T-Mobile's 2G (GSM) network is expected to change starting as early as September 1, 2024.
They do but most won't be able to use a phone this old on it. Reason being the SIM application was taken out of the issued sim cards years ago for T-Mobile (something like 6 years or so at this point). Newer 3G-era cellphones use the USIM application and can fall back to the 2G network.
So the only way to still use a device that's pre-3G (circa-2007 or so) on the 2G network is to have a SIM that's been activated the whole time. T-Mobile will not activate expired SIM cards that still contain the application.
Source: I have used back to the Sony Ericsson t68i this past summer on T-Mobile. If you have an ancient SIM and want to browse WAP 1.x as well you can use this site for the gateway: https://nbpfan.bs0dd.net/index.php?lang=eng&page=wap%2Fmain
EDIT: Funny thing about 3G-era phone support, you can use a euicc (removable ESIM) on a phone from 2007 (I used Sony Ericsson K850i) and it will work just fine with an activated esim to access 2G.
Germany's mobile network is worse than most third world countries. Working on a train? No internet for you! Going a few meters outside a settlement? Might not even be able to do calls.
Sources:
https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilung...
https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilung...
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrain-Repeater
https://www.heise.de/en/news/Mobile-communications-for-rail-...
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YF5WDLLK2nA/RhE6QSReO7I/AAAAAAAAB...
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YF5WDLLK2nA/RhE44SReO6I/AAAAAAAAB...
Disassembly video (2019), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdhlOlx2gxY
Schematics: https://www.nodevice.com/service-manuals/telephone/nokia/611...
[^1]: https://medium.com/@jamesdwho/australias-3g-shutdown-why-you...
Others say bestowing the power of 4G on a device as formidable as the 5110 opened a portal to realms hitherto unknown, to which our hero travelled, and we'll meet him again someday.
But my guess? He's still out there, trying to make the dream of a 4G-enabled 5110 a reality. And I still have hope for a "Part 2".
Found a video where the boot-up speed/usage are shown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40KwKvCGZo
You mean 2G and 3G in favor of 3.95G LTE, AKA 4G.
The 3G shutdown was ...problematic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJavqEzEIw
They are not made by Nokia, but by HMD which has very low standards of product quality.
Battery would probably last a lot more if I only play snakes and use the phone app.
Not for much longer.
I also got a Nokia 6300 to use for tethering and it works well for that.
Indeed, the announced Part 2 has not been linked so far...
It was quite big, with big buttons, and looked somewhat like a walkie talkie. I liked it and used it for about a year, before I got another make of phone.
I searched and found some images that look something like it:
But still felt wild at the time that they were 'giving away' a mobile phone.
but the US practice of a contract thing for phones seems to me to be a scam, kind of like a lock-in scheme. in fact i am sure that it is that. because then they have you by the balls, financially, for their gain and your loss, and you can bet your ass that they will exploit that position, if not now, then in the future.
It is highway robbery, IMO.
I wonder why people in the US do not understand this.
Or is it related to what I have heard, but not sure whether it is true, that a lot of people in the US do not have much savings, and so live paycheck to paycheck? and is it also related to the constant desire for consumption, which I've also read about?
Fuck, that's pretty bad, if so. I can understand that there can be many historical reasons why a lot of people are now in that state, due to past and current oppression, non-level playing field, etc.
I am not judging, just commenting and asking.
In at least some other countries, including India, mobile providers or mobile phone sellers trying to lock in people to such schemes, would be laughed out of court, so to speak, by the vast majority of consumers, IMO, although I have have heard of some such schemes that do exist, and some people probably do go for them, for short term reasons, due to being cash-strapped.
Here in Spain we still get the full set, 2G through 5G :)
I like my iPhone 12 mini with its 5" screen (though it is glitchier than one would hope) but now all phones seem to be 6"+ which is hard to fit into a pocket or even manipulate with one hand.
I know the Samsung ZFlip 6 and Motorola Razr+ are small, though rather pricey at $800-1000. Any opinions from folks on reliability/usability etc of these?
I am embarrassed to say I have some Apple lock-in with earbuds and even basic conveniences like "find-my" working for my children's watches so not sure if these are worth staying with Apple for, even if I dislike their latest devices.
It was really the worst of both worlds.
