
Punkt MP01 Mobile Phone - andor
https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp01-mobile-phone/
======
rsync
Things like this interest me because I would like to see some diversity in the
mobile phone design space ... in 2015, there is only one design, the design of
the original iphone. It's iterated on and refined, but it's still just a
monolithic touchscreen slab.

So this is interesting, but also frustrating - in the last few years there
have been several successors to the MOTO FONE (or MOTO F3) which was the
ultimate candybar phone.[1][2] There are the two Nokia phones (220 and 222)
and Nokia 130.

And now there is this. And the question is, why are these so thick ? This (and
the modern Nokia candybars) are basically phones that do nothing ... and yet
they are 12, 13, and in the case of this punkt phone, 14.5 (!) mm thick.

If the F3 could do it in 9.1mm, and if modern smartphones can do everything
they do in even less, then why aren't these "dumbphones" <9mm thick ?

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Fone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Fone)

[2] 114x47x9 mm in size

~~~
nfoz
The Blackberry Passport is one of the more innovative modern phones IMO:

[http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-
passport/ove...](http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-
passport/overview.html)

The physical keyboard is also a touch-screen, so you can make gestures across
the surface of the keys (e.g. swipe right-to-left across the keyboard for
"backspace a word"). I love the phone, and people comment on it everywhere I
go.

However, it's not in stores in the U.S., and most tech-minded people are quick
to laugh it off ("oh blackberry is dead"). Seems like the public only wants a
very small number of equivalent players in the market.

~~~
walterbell
They also have an upcoming Android QWERTY "Priv",
[http://www.cnet.com/products/blackberry-
priv/](http://www.cnet.com/products/blackberry-priv/)

~~~
w-ll
I'm happy to see a phone in 2015 with a QWERTY keyboard, I only wish it slid
out the long side, like the original Motorola Droid series.

------
sivers
I think the name "punkt" is a play on "punk'd" from the TV show that pranks
people:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk'd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk'd)

Looking at their other products like the $185 alarm clock:

[https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/ac01-alarm-
clock/](https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/ac01-alarm-clock/)

... and ridiculous cordless phone:

[https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/dp01-cordless-
phone/](https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/dp01-cordless-phone/)

... I think this is a site/company set up as clever commentary about how the
$10 items that have been around for decades already satisfy our needs.

(And many people here were "punk'd" by it.)

Even better, it looks like they actually took some of these ideas to market?
[http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004U5V7V2/](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004U5V7V2/)

But I still suspect it's all a grand parody.

~~~
hauget
The real funny thing is that there's people out there that will really buy
these things (i.e. [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thelightphone/the-
light...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thelightphone/the-light-
phone/description))

------
jarcane
You realize of course that this is actually not unique in any way, right?
Dumbphones still exist aplenty, you can practically buy them in bulk nowadays
for a tenth what this costs.

------
stonogo
Why can't someone make a phone exactly like this, but with an e-ink display,
LTE support, and a wifi hotspot?

~~~
CrackpotGonzo
Still early, but it's being worked on: [http://minium.co/](http://minium.co/)

------
rchaud
They're upfront about the only 2 features of this phone, so why would anyone
pay $300 for the privilege of "distraction-free" telecommunication, which is
available at 10% of the cost at any cell phone shop, anywhere in the world?

~~~
derrickdirge
Aesthetics.

------
tptacek
This looks like a $300 feature-phone.

~~~
tlrobinson
Well, that's a step up from their (1-star reviewed) $300 cordless phone
[http://www.amazon.com/Punkt-Cordless-Telephone-Jasper-
Morris...](http://www.amazon.com/Punkt-Cordless-Telephone-Jasper-
Morrison/dp/B004U5V7V2/)

~~~
tptacek
So, we're all just acknowledging that these are Veblen phones.

------
MrRadar
Considering that service providers in developed countries are already starting
to shut down their 2G networks (Optus and Telstra in Australia; Singtel, M1,
and StarHub in Singapore; AT&T in the US) buying a 2G-only phone in 2015 does
not seem like a good idea.

------
myheadasplode
This doesn't look as good to me as the Light Phone[1] (which doesn't text) and
is way more expensive than the Nokia 106[2] (which does text).

[1] [http://www.thelightphone.com/](http://www.thelightphone.com/)

[2]
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HQS2MCS?psc=1&redirect=t...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HQS2MCS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=AYSI9CNL93O4X)

------
superuser2
I'd pay that for a smartphone that was pure phone + Google Maps. Google Maps
is the _only_ reason I refuse to drop down to a dumbphone.

------
haddr
I wonder how is the UX of this phone. Definitely it looks more lean and
probably the UI is better streamlined, but smaller screen always makes it
harder to provide good user experience.

Anyway this phone looks great and probably makes a good Christmas gift for
some less techy member of your family.

------
zokier
That keypad layout looks bizarre. T9 offset from center, and navigation on one
side only. I wonder how left-handed people fare with it...

I can't say that I'm a fan of the visual looks overall, but that might be
partly because of the CG look.

------
minerb50
Is this for real? Why not get yourself some old Nokia 8910 or a cheap 1100 or
something?

Although, I guess there's always market for patsies

------
chrisBob
How did the same person submit this twice 20 hours apart? The two appear to
have identical links.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10340573](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10340573)

~~~
dang
We invited andor to repost it. This is an experiment we've been running to
give good stories that fell through the cracks a second chance at getting
attention on HN.

Allowing a small number of reposts if (but only if) a story hasn't had
significant attention yet is the principal thing we can do to mitigate the
problem that /newest moves so fast, most stories don't get seen.

~~~
hackuser
> an experiment we've been running to give good stories that fell through the
> cracks a second chance at getting attention on HN.

Thanks for your efforts to improve HN. Some thoughts from a random user:

I'm much more interested in having consistently high quality in 99% of the
stories (and especially discussions) and don't mind at all if 1% or even 5-10%
are overlooked. There's not much cost to missing a story or two; HN doesn't
have to be complete record of tech news.

I would greatly value a higher signal-to-noise ratio. That is HN's primary
value to me now; while it's better than the competition, it's still low. A
discussion forum with a high signal-to-noise ratio (informed, well thought
through, rational, well-expressed, polite discussion) would win me over
immediately; I'd pay $ hundreds a year to be a member.

~~~
dang
Not just a story or two, but shockingly many good stories get overlooked by
default. I wrote about this at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9828818](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9828818)
if you're interested.

> _I would greatly value a higher signal-to-noise ratio._

Fully agree! The question is how. It's a tough problem. Any ideas?

~~~
hackuser
> Not just a story or two, but shockingly many good stories get overlooked by
> default

I didn't realize that. Like every reader, I thought only my good stories were
being overlooked! :)

> Any ideas?

I agree that signal-to-noise is a tough problem and I have no specific
expertise. I suspect part of the solution is less democracy and freedom of
speech: They are absolutely necessary in government and public life, to
protect rights and ensure voices are heard, and I think we instinctively apply
those ideals to online forums. But those tools don't apply well here; there
are few rights to protect and much less risk to an unheard voice; nobody is
going to jail, dying, or paying taxes. Also, democracy is a poor method for
creating great products. The content, the linked stories and discussion, are
your company's product [1]; what company designs their product/content by
public vote? Does the NY Times? Do game studios? (I don't want to be Reddit or
Wikipedia.) Even community-based open source projects have benevolent
dictators.

I suspect a good benevolent dictator (BD) editing/managing content, including
front page links and discussions, could greatly improve signal-to-noise. Maybe
the users and BD split votes 50/50, or the users control and the BD overrides
them when it is valuable. Of course I might dislke that particular BD's
judgement; as with strongmen/women in government, be careful what you wish for
(though maybe the BD could reign and users vote up/down on the BD's overall
performance). But I expect I'd much rather have the judgment of one or a few
of the best HN members/admins than of the HN average.

A couple more thoughts: 1) It would significantly differentiate HN from a
million 'democratic' competitors. 2) It could be implemented experimentally:
Have both a BD-edited front page (and maybe some disucssions) and the normal
front page; see which draws traffic; experiment with different BD formulas and
arrangements.

I've talked more than enough. Thanks if you've read this far, and thanks for
wrangling the community.

\-----

[1] I realize YC's profits come from elsewhere but for the sake of discussion
let's focus on HN. I also realize YC may feel that engagement, not content, is
the priority for HN. That may be your choice, but this one user is interested
in signal-to-noise of content, and that will drive my engagement.

~~~
dang
What you describe isn't super far off from what HN does—it is a mixture of
voting and curation. I wouldn't go so far as to call us a BD though.

For sure the goal of HN is to optimize for quality content, though, not
engagement per se (though engagement is important to deciding what counts as
high-quality), nor raw numbers. That's because the value of the site is
intellectual curiosity.

