HMD Fusion Review: A Cheap Modular Android Phone

I person probably tested adjacent to 100 inexpensive phones implicit the past 9 years, and I've ne'er truly had to interest astir bringing a backup successful lawsuit things spell awry. Budget phones are usually sluggish but enactment good enough. But I astir instantly regretted not bringing a spare smartphone erstwhile I took the HMD Fusion connected a abbreviated travel to different state.

The archetypal illustration of this Android telephone kept freezing and restarting itself connected the mode to the airport. Then, further fueling my panic, it would footwear up the location surface but my passcode wouldn't work. “Passcode is incorrect.” What? Thankfully, a forced restart would acceptable it backmost to normal. However, for the entirety of the play of my friend's wedding successful Kentucky, the Fusion would restart itself constantly. It besides refused to motorboat Slack—though that whitethorn person been a blessing arsenic enactment was disconnected my caput that full time.

HMD said it could not replicate my issues, truthful the institution sent maine different unit. It's been perfectly fine. It's hard to abruptly displacement gears aft being truthful frustrated astatine this achromatic monolith, but this is simply a decent $300 phone. It besides has a instrumentality up its sleeve that nary different telephone has today: mods.

Return of the Modular Phone

HMD mightiness not beryllium a sanction you're acquainted with, truthful to recap quickly, it's a Finnish institution that licensed the Nokia marque to churn retired Nokia Android smartphones and diagnostic phones (aka dumb phones). It began doing this successful 2017, but earlier this year, the institution announced that portion it would inactive marque Nokia phones, it besides plans to trade phones nether its namesake (which, by the way, stands for Human Mobile Devices). Its diagnostic telephone concern continues too, with bigger collaborations similar The Boring Phone and the Barbie Phone.

The HMD Fusion is 1 of those devices (there was besides the Skyline and the Vibe). It has a absorption connected repairability—just region a fistful of screws and you tin regenerate galore of the parts, from the artillery to the screen, and the institution plans to transportation these parts for 7 years. (Much of this is needed to adhere to upcoming laws successful the European Union.)

But what makes it really basal retired are the pogo pins connected the back. In fact, the full backmost of the telephone looks arsenic though it's incomplete. That's due to the fact that you tin connect “Outfits,” arsenic HMD calls them. These modular components tin alteration the phone's look with antithetic colour backings. They don't magnetically instrumentality similar iPhones and MagSafe. Instead, these Outfits are similar cases, and the pogo pins don't conscionable transportation powerfulness but information arsenic well.