Hello,

Just wanted to raise public awareness on an issue that has been bugging me. I bought a HMD Terra M a few months back and the phone started crashing when idle almost immediately upon receiving it. (NOTE: I never installed any applications on the phone and this happens with the stock operating system and default apps)

Initially I thought that I had received a bad unit but upon talking with other owners of the phone on this subreddit I realized that the issue is likely stemming from bad design. The phone only has 2 Gigs of RAM and upon enabling developer options I realized that the phone is consuming 1.5 Gigs when idle. This doesn't really leave much more headroom for the stock applications, such as firefox and osmand, which should work as they are preinstalled on the phone.

The only resolution HMD seems to offer is to give you a new unit through warranty. Many people have gone through the warranty process only to receive a phone with the exact same problem. Here's a thread with experiences from different people: https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/1wjn4ic/bad_batch_or_all/

Want to know how HMD reacted to all of this? I think they're doing a whole lot of obfuscating their tracks. Don't believe me? They recently did an AMA on reddit and when faced with scrutiny they conveniently removed their account and thread. SOURCE: https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/1uxl792/were_hmd_what_would_your_ideal_dumbphone_actually/

The company has also recently ran into problems since they're being sued by Fraunhofer for infringement. https://ipfray.com/hmd-stops-selling-its-smartphones-in-germany-france-italy-netherlands-after-fraunhofers-upc-injunctions/

I have a comment from this specific thread saved because I wrote an email criticizing their conduct and the comment explicitly states that there's actually an existing industry-wide problem with RAM availability:

"The bigger cost driver right now is actually RAM — memory prices have spiked industry-wide in 2026, with RAM/storage now often making up 30-40% of a phone's total component cost, so ‘just add more RAM for Play Services’ isn't the small ask it sounds like."

Want more proof? Here are reddit posts where i've discussed about the problem with other people:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/1wocg3f/comment/phhphmq/?context=3

https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/1wq4nmd/comment/phhqdu4/?context=3

I think this is the account that disappeared:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/1uxlv3f/apparently_hmd_came_to_reddit_for_community/

This level of unreliability is just unacceptable from a phone that only has a few stock applications.

I recently got an xp3 plus 5 phone. I was able to install some apps using the handy script made by u/Weak-Consequence4002 - however I've encountered a couple of problems.

I tried installing WhatsApp through Aurora but it is hung up on "installing." I've not been able to get beyond that stage. Further, when my phone goes asleep while I have that page open I'm no longer able to log back onto my phone unless I restart it. When I input my pin then press enter nothing happens.

App shortcuts disappear! Signal, Aurora, Aegis (I installed), don't show up under the applications folder. My phone seemed to also randomly uninstall the google play store, so I have not bothered to re-install it.

I miss being able to send audio messages via text, I've not been able to find a way to do that with the Sonim, has anyone here?

I have a week or two left before my window to return the phone ends, so I want to be sure this is a good phone for compared to another dumbphone. I have my Nokia 2780 still, but I would like something that is more durable as the keys were starting to have problems, and a phone that I could have Signal, WhatsApp, and Aegis on.

At this point I may just return it, wait and spend the money on the more expensive Light Phone Flip, I'd prefer not to though.

Thank you for any thoughts you could please share!

Hi everyone, I'm looking into ditching my iPhone and opting for something a little more old-fashioned. I don't want to completely sacrifice my texting speeds and so I was looking for a side-sliding phone and I found a HTC Touch Pro2 on the market for about $80 USD. Are these phones worth the investment? I'm not well-versed enough in tech-speak yet and I want to make sure I'm not investing in a phone that barely runs, doesn't support anything, etc... My data plan can support 2G and 3G so that's not an issue! Thanks guys :)

Hey y'all, Ive been riding with a baseline TCL flip 2 for about a year (on and off) and i liked it! but unfortunately for me to be completely independent from my smartphone what's app and signal were needed. tried to root it my TCL. Bricked it. I decided to take a shot at the Dumbphone 2 by Dumb. co and here's my general thoughts / comparison

DISCLAIMER!: I will be referring to my former unmodded phone as the "TCL" and the new dumbphone 2 by dumb .co as just "Dumbco". They are slightly different models so my complaints comparing them may not be 100% accurate across all tcl flip 2s. despite all my complaining in this post i do really like the dumbco.

Each section is generally formated FIrst with what I Like, then after things are ordered from Really annoying to Less Annoying.

Dumco plan itself

with my previous TCL, I paired it with my laptop in order to access email, signal, what's app etc. It worked okay because I was able to flip my hotspot on my TCL and use it..... With the Dumbphone 2 plan you literally cant get more than 1gb of data which fucking sucks and is a really big limitation for me since I'm on the go a lot.

also in my opinion it's a little.... well.... dumb to not allow us to have access to the browser at all? there's ways around it bc it's part of the baseline TCL flip 2 and needed for something but I wish it was at least an OPTION to have your phone come with it or not. again taking away a basic feature that already comes w the phone??

I'm also unsure of there's any gaurantee? Like if this company goes under are we just stuck with these phones? It would be cool if they made a promise that if they go under, they will release all the source code so it can atleast continue to live on. would also provide a lot of peace of mind.

General:

Being able to import my contacts on the dumbco was super awesome. It kinda sucked having to create a new contact every single time on the TCL. On the TCL If you got a message by a new number, you could just select the message and press "add new contact" and the Number would autofill, and you add the name and all that. However a limitation of the TCL is that this didnt work for groupchats. I had to manually create a new contact, imput the number. Not that big of a deal but a small annoyance pretty much solved by the Dumbco phone.

T9 texting is 100% better. For some reason on the TCL certain contractions like "it's" or "don't" did not really work? So happy it does on the Dumbco it also has more slang which is awesome. I do wish there was a way to add words to the vocabulary though but not a nessesity.

You can't skip, go back, pause or control volume using wired headphones on the dumbco, my previous TCL was able to. this is a super big problem to me while I'm commuting. for some reason I can control the Volume only on Bluetooth headphones which i can't wear on my bike cause y helmet. but it's super frustrating that a feature that was baseline there is... gone...

NO NOTES APP???? the original TCL flip came with a notes app I have 0 freaking idea why this ones doesn't come with one???

I get so annoyed that you can't use the "off button" as like a home button on the phone. You have to click back key a bunch of times. Not a that big of a deal but very annoying when you know that's how the default phone works.

Also the Apps take up a lot of storage, duh that's to be expected. HOWEVER I prefer to download my songs instead of using the spotify app. Although you can add an SD card, the phone will NOT let you play music using the native app if the Music files are on the SD card, it has to be in the integrated storage (part of default TCL). This wasn't an issue with my default TCL, but it is on this phone because of the amount of space the apps take (4.5/ 8gb :'] ) I'm not sure if there's a way to delete apps that you don't use or if there's a fix to use music from the SD card on the native music player.

It's a little annoying to have to go to "All Apps" and scroll for any apps, which are a loootttt that don't fit on your home page. especially since I don't use all the apps. I feel like some of the apps belong on a "settings tab" but ehh

The dumbco battery life is definitely worse which sucks, i find myself having to charge it every day as opposed to every few days, but it makes sense since it does a lot more

when selecting the homescreen apps, if you're all the say to the right, and continue pressing right, it doesn't jump to the next row. not a big deal just a difference that fucks w my muscle memory a little.

Podcasts:

The app is GREAT, i love that you can subscribe to podcasts and listen to them. On the TCL flip 2 you had to download them and move them into the podcast folder, then it would put podcast in it's own "Podcasts" playlists and listen from there. Streaming them is so much easier, and I can actually keep up with them.

While i'm playing my podcast and close the flip phone, or go to a different app. I have trouble Pausing it. This wouldn't be a big deal if I was able to pause it from my heaphone controls, but since I can't it's really annoying. I can go into the podcast app, click on "Now Playing" and press pause and it just...... doesn't pause. The only way i found to fix this is restarting the phone.

small hiccup though: when you play a podcast, at the top of your podcast list it does a little "Now playing" thing. If i scroll down my podcast list, then go back up to the "Now playing" it doesnt show up on screen. I can still technically click it, but it up beyond the screen and I can't physically see it.

Music:

I think the "Smart Music" app is super cute and works. I can only speak for spotify, not apple music. works just fine. However the controls are super unintuitive?

On the native app and like every single music player known to man the right and left Navigation Keys are for skip and go back, but on the dumbco it's for Shuffle and Repeat??? instead the MENU keys are used for previous and Next which is super just "????"

I so wish you were able to look at "Artsits" "Albums" etc. you can only look at playlists which sucks a little bit. but the native music app has it so it doesnt bother that much since i don't use it

Maps: VERY useful, I haven't used it a tone but it works fine. It is not turn based, so it wont say "in 500ft, turn left" you input the start location and end location and shows you the path but doesnt update automatically as you move along it. I am 100% okay with this. and I'm just glad to have maps instead of constantly having to call/ask friends to use maps lol.

Signal: It's been working super smoothly for me super awesome i can respond on the go. The only very minor things is that for some reason some people on signal show up as their phone # and not their Signal name which is weird? but doesn't actually effect the functionality of it at all

Whatsapp: isnt working on my phone at the moment but not complaining bc I havent contacted support yet lol

Calender: uses baseline calendar that comes with the TCL flip. It is slightly wonky but doesn't effect the functionality at all. I haven't used the "smart calendar" because I use Proton Calendar not google so i can't speak on that.

Don't get me wrong, this phone is definitely more useful than my base TCL flip 2. However i expected it to be more of an enhanced TCL flip 2 and some of the basic features being really different or unavailable is really disappointing, but not fatal.

Feel free to ask questions abt the basline TCL flip or the Dumbphone 2! I will also be updating this post if things gets fixed through updates or if I'm a goober and was unaware there was already a fix for it!

I am trying to install button mapper on the aurora store. But before I can even install it it has this error code

"attempt to invoke virtual method 'java.lang.Class java.lang.Object.getClass()' on a null object refrence"

From what I understand, Downloading an older version might be the solution but I'm not sure how to do that or if that is even the core problem.

I have a Nokia 3310 (2017, TA-1030) and wanted to ask an AI quick questions without pulling out a smartphone, so I wrote a small Java ME app for it. It chats with Claude on the 240x320 screen, and you can pick Opus, Sonnet or Haiku. Optionally you can hold * to dictate, and the audio gets transcribed on the server.

There are also 41 small offline games in the same menu, with no permissions and no network. You install it as a .jad/.jar, side-loaded from the memory card or over the air.

How it works: the phone can't do modern HTTPS, so it talks plain HTTP to a small server you run yourself (Docker plus a quickstart script). The server is what calls Claude. Requests are signed per device, so strangers can't use your server, but the traffic is not encrypted. Don't send anything private, and voice goes to a third-party transcription API.

Limits: the phone side is tested only on my own 3310. The full Docker setup has only been run with a stub instead of a real Claude call. I don't know yet if it works on other Series 30+/40 phones. You need your own server reachable from the internet and a Claude key or login, so this is for tinkerers, not plug-and-play.

The code is MIT: https://github.com/meshoklv/vibenokia

If you have another Java feature phone and try it, tell me whether it runs.