Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by nabla9 | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

nabla9

You are describing new Nokia 8110 4G (aka "the matrix phone" reincarnated)

* 25 days on standby, 8.5 hours LTE voice calls

* removable battery

* WiFi hotspot functionality

* 4G network connectivity

* KaiOS will have basic apps (Google maps, FB, Google assistant and reportetly WhatsApp in near future)

https://www.nokia.com/en_in/phones/nokia-8110-4g

View on HN

I was very excited by this phone but KaiOS seems worrying though hopefully I just misread: they seem to be quite closed-source even though they are based on FirefoxOS [1], the app store is closed and carrier controlled [2], and the hotspot functionality also seems to come with carrier control [3], which given the lack of openness and root capability, means that it may very well be disabled if you buy the phone through the wrong carrier.

As a basic phone with features, it still seems exciting (priced at $99USD I think) but after LineageOS, this feels like a step back in terms of openness and control.

[1] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-14

[2] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-6 - to me, this means outdated apps or ones that will eventually die (such as the YouTube app on Sony DVD players a couple of years ago.)

[3] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-16

If you want a dumb phone, why would you even care about locked app store? You aren't getting it to use the apps.

Same for root capability; either WiFi hotspot works with your carrier out of the box, or you don't buy the phone. If you have to fight your carrier on that, hacking every device you use on the network is not a solution anyway.

And a closed-source OS doesn't mean it's not hackable. Back in the day, you could mess a lot with Symbian.

True. The thing is that under the covers, this thing is kind of a smart phone and as such, the lack of control bothers me a bit. Your other points are valid though - one could just get this device for hotspot/call functionality and be happy.

LOL - of course it has Facebook. In the video, there's an icon for Twitter too.

Pretty cool. I was seriously looking at the new 3310 but it doesn't have GPS. Ideally would like maps/navigation. A phone with SMS, maps, and email is all I would ever need.

I would love this to work with the same phone/carrier technology that allows Apple Watch LTE and iPhone share a phone number.

I'm sold, when is it coming out?

Thanks! This looks awesome

Reply on news.ycombinator.com