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

3 weeks ago 8

Mudita is not the archetypal institution to physique a telephone with an E Ink screen, but its Kompakt isn’t lone 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 with 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 with shipping expected arsenic aboriginal arsenic April 2025. Full retail pricing is expected to beryllium person to $476, making the Kompakt cheaper than different E Ink phones from companies similar 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 with a solution of conscionable 800x480 pixels and a stripped down operating system.

The Kompakt runs MuditaOS K, a customized operating strategy based connected the Android Open Source Project. It skips each of Google’s services to guarantee your “data is ne'er shared oregon monetized by 3rd parties” and lone has a tiny assortment of preinstalled apps the institution has deemed essential. These see a telephone app with SMS messaging, offline maps, a dependable 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 portion different Android apps tin beryllium sideloaded, according to New Atlas, afloat compatibility and show isn’t guaranteed.

A close-up look astatine the Mudita Kompakt phone’s SIM paper slot and sliding switch.

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

Image: Mudita

A enactment connected crowdfunding:

Crowdfunding is simply a chaotic tract by nature. Companies looking for backing thin to marque 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, oregon overpromised ideas mean that there’s often disappointment successful store for those products that bash get done.

The champion defence is to usage your champion judgment. Ask yourself: does the merchandise look legitimate? Is the institution making outlandish claims? Is determination a moving prototype? Does the institution notation existing plans to manufacture and vessel finished 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 marque the telephone adjacent little of a distraction, oregon to heighten its privacy, the Kompakt has a bundle enactment to disable its camera, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. On the broadside of the telephone is besides a sliding power that activates a “hardware-level cutoff of GSM and each 3 microphones,” though Mudita doesn’t explicate precisely however it works, oregon to what grade those functions are disabled.

Other features of the Kompakt see a 3,300mAh artillery the institution says volition 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 volition beryllium disposable that are optimized for either North American oregon planetary cellular networks, but the tiny telephone skips 5G connectivity entirely. Although that volition further discourage utilizing it to entree distractions similar societal media, entree to 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE networks could besides hinder its connectivity successful immoderate places.

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