There is no doubt that smartphones have ensnared us in diverse ills, from idle doomscrolling to disrupting our sleep patterns and exposing us to a wide range of bad information. These concerns have spurred a whole trend of dumb phones or minimalist phones such as the Mudita Kompakt and the QWERTY keyboard-toting Minimal Phone. HMD, the former home of Nokia, is registering its presence in the niche with the cutesy Touch 4G phone.
What even is this thing?
Technically, this is not a smartphone, but more like a feature phone with a touch-sensitive display and a physical home button for navigation. The design is reminiscent of the Nokia Asha smartphones from a decade ago, which ran Symbian software.
The Finnish brand, which continues to make stylish smartphones, refers to the HMD Touch 4G as a hybrid phone, one that comes with its own built-in chat and video calling features. It runs a custom software that is pretty barebones, but the Express Chat app (for Android and iOS) will allow users to engage in text exchange and video calling with HMD Touch 4G users.
The chat system allows text, photos, and emoji exchange for two-person and group chats. There’s also a dedicated Quick-Call button at the top edge that allows users to record voice messages. The software hinges on what HMD calls Cloud Phone Service, which opens the doors for surfing the internet, checking game scores, and more.
What does it offer?
Aside from its basic communication duties, all the internet-linked software experiences on the phone are delivered via cloud-hosted browser shortcuts. The dedicated quick call button at the top also serves as an emergency button for calling and recording voice messages to alert friends and family members.
There are two cameras on the phone, one each at the front (0.3-megapixel) and the rear (2-megapixel), while connectivity is handled by Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 4G cellular. Given its tiny size, it’s not surprising that the phone packs a small 1,950 mAh battery, while the Unisoc T127 SoC runs the show under the hood.
Up front is a 3.2-inch display with a QVGA resolution and curved 2.5D cover glass. Thankfully, it retains a 3.5mm headphone jack, while charging duties are handled by a USB Type-C port. You get 64MB of RAM, 128MB of onboard storage, and the ability to expand the storage up to 32GB using a microSD card.
The HMD Touch 4G will hit the shelves in Cyan and Dark Blue colors, carrying a price tag of roughly $45, but the price will be raised to $56 after the discount is waived. Unfortunately, there is little clarity on the phone’s international availability, including the US market.
