Can dumbphones revive Europe’s mobile industry? (thenextweb.com)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I post this knowing the article naively hopeful but it's also food for thought. With the recent drama where Google stopped publishing device-specific AOSP code - thus making maintaining custom ROMs more difficult - what will more tech-knowledgeable people do if Android is enshittified further?

Will "phone ludditism" - switching to dumbphone with a simple OS like Mocor RTOS, S30+, ThreadX etc. be the answer for some of them? They're deGoogled out of the factory. I switched to a dumbphone as my main phone, but I still keep an Android smartphone at home for online banking. I also take the smartphone with me if I know I'll need a hotspot or a map. I use the smartphone like a PDA, or a terminal to the Android ecosystem.

It's also questionable whether "Europe is leading in the dumbphone sector". Sure we have HMD, Doro, Crosscall, Gigaset (sold to South Koreans), MaxKom or myPhone but there are so many other potentially bigger companies like TCL or Itel. One thing is for sure - in the dumbphone sector and considering how simple those devices are, Europe at least stands a fighting chance. Whether somebody will become a dumbphone martyr in order to exist in this Europe-friendly sector is another thing.

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'm not sure that is necessary to go that far, unless one wants to. Both Volla and Jolla phones and Fairphone 5 version with /e/os are all degoogled out of the factory. Sailfish and Ubuntu touch are great Smartphone OS options. If you haven't tried it on someone else's phone, you should, they're both really great.

But I completely support people using dumbphones. Getting away from the hassle and hustle of an app centered world is quite refreshing.

I've degoogled my Samsung Android quite a while ago. And, no, I don't have Google Play Services in the background either. Completely degoogled. If you don't know how to jailbreak it to remove the apps entirely, you can just deactivate the apps and uninstall the updates from them. It will free a lot of space and memory and your battery will last longer. My phone is over 5 years old and the battery lasts over 4 days. Although I only have two non-system apps installed, voyager for Lemmy and Pixelfed. And when I travel and need directions I install Herewego or Mapy. I take turns between them. When I don't need them, I uninstall them. And that's it. No Meta shit (no, not WhatsApp either), no youtube, nothing. I do my banking in person. Malware is getting too good too fast with A.I. as a sidekick for hackers. This is a huge cybersecurity concern all over. One can risk it out of convenience, I won't. If the bank gets fucked on their end, the money is ensured, if I get fucked on my end, it isn't. It's that simple.

Anyway, there are decent European alternatives for both Smartphones and Dumbphones. And yes, we should support them. Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are some of the worst companies out there.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago

This is dumb. Nobody is going to go back to dumbphones. Europe should fund projects like PostmarketOS which provide a fully free OS for mobile phones.

UbuntuTouch may be a bit more usable right now but it too depends on Android.

If Europe funded PostmarketOS and funded the development of a Linux-first mobile phone it would do itself a great favor.

[-] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

Why would anyone (besides some privacy conscious nerds) go back to using a dumb phone? Besides everyone using WhatsApp as the default messenger, in so many aspects of life we're damned to use apps. Banking, charging electric vehicle, insurances, loyalty programs, etc.

Whatever is your dumb phone will run on, an Android compatibility layer is an absolute must.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

This is unfortunately the truth.

I'd like to use a dumb phone, it does help me quite a bit since I have difficulties dealing with distractions… but even as someone who is very detached from the entire social media lifestyle (although I obviously use Lemmy lol) it's quite difficult nowadays.

I tried… But even simple things like getting my grandma to call me using the normal phone app on her smartphone instead of WhatsApp is basically impossible.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

Also, privacy conscious? SMS, MMS, and cell calling is like the least private you can get IIRC.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

True, but with apps not only the government, but the companies can spy on you.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Do you think your ISP and cell phone providers aren't companies?? 😂 in america it was made fully legal like a decade ago for them to spy on you 24/7 and sell all of that information to the lowest bidders.

Here in the EU it is better, but still not great...

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

Dumbphones aren't just about privacy, they're also good for treating phone addiction.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I agree that using a dumbphone can be hugely impractical, especially in today's app centric world. I posted the article to this community because I found it interesting how before smartphones came about, the phone market had major stakeholders from Europe (that I listed in the original post) and how using a dumbphone OS automatically cuts you off from American big techs (a big theme in this community). Switching to such OS is naturally "solving the problem" by nuking it and as you noticed - impractical for some, but I dunno, found it interesting.

Whether somebody will become a dumbphone martyr in order to exist in this Europe-friendly sector is another thing.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Every fucking year is the year that dumb phones are coming back.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I have a little Nokia I use when I want to be away from my iPhone but still can make calls in case of emergency

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Not for me, although peak-phone would be one that could be repaired and upgraded (like a Framework laptop), uses a privacy-first OS, has hardware (especially the camera) that doesn't suck, and has modern specs.

I'm not interest in going back to having a dumb phone, a GPS, a camera, an MP3 player, a portable gaming system, tablet for entertainment, etc...

Smartphones replace so many things, they just need to stop being enshittified.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I have similar thoughts and really hope the Liberux Nexx gets sustainable production and doesn't die off like so many other promissing kickstarters and indiegogos.

Right now the Librem 5 would be the closest of things actually produced but its starting to be outdated already in specs (starting to suck) and no way to upgrade. Its also US based which would make it a nonstarter for many reading in this here.

Fairphone is cool but the mobile non-Android Linux ports are still a bit behind. The specs aren't really flagship level either, but I wouldn't say the 5's "suck" yet even if they're midrange. I haven't played with /e/os but it could be a neat combo since they have the partnership.

What are you targeting of things that are being built today?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

How about Volla phone? It’s a German company and at least what I have heard support dual boot and multiple nongoogled os’s.

Volla

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Also see Fairphone 6 leaked specs, and the phone itself releasing in 2 days. Fairphone 5 is fully supported by Ubuntu Touch no? Or do you mean that Ubuntu Touch as an ecosystem is in general "behind" Android?

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I'm glad to be wrong.

I hadn't tracked that Ubuntu Touch had bumped up the Fairphone 4s and 5s to advanced support, that's really cool, glad to see how far that's improved (it had been awhile since Iast checked). PMOS still lists the 4 and 5 as community & test levels not main level, still listing only partial support for camera and phone calls. That being said, looks like they're further along too than I thought too.

I hadn't heard of the fp6 leaks either, those are definitely better stats, thanks for the heads up!

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

What are you targeting of things that are being built today?

I'm not sure I understand the question.

After years of holding onto my old phone, I recently gave in and purchased a new one from OnePlus.

It's not my ideal phone, but it offered a good value, and I plan to keep it for many years.

I don't like the AI implementation (most AI features are cloid based), and it's still very much full of Google. But, you can uninstall pretty much everything, and the hardware is excellent (including battery life).

Not being able to easily repair it is a bummer.

I might have gone with a Fairphone, if it were available in Canada. I've never used one, so I don't really know.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I really like those with eink displays and a pared down android. It's a great compromise. There are several european brands. Of course you still need a smartphone for banking and so on.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

No. Next question.

this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2025

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