Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by foragerdev 658 days ago
Why is HMD still creating this crap in 2024? I do not have problem with keypad phones or barbie style phones. I have problem with OS and 0.3MP camera.
2 comments

0.3mp is good enough for kitsch. It’s appropriate, and given the audience, this ensures a low level of information leakage in the form of naively snapped photos. Low-res is an arguable win for this feature set, speaking as a Parent.
Most likely bc their license for the Nokia branding is running out in 2026.

aside, but relevant: HMD is largely made up from old Nokia mobile phone hw guys and they probably feel that they've now established themselves in the market as "The guys that did the Nokia Android phone smartphone reawakening". They probably feel that they have some leeway to try out new stuff.

I do not think so they are established since Microsoft dented Nokia. Nokia is history and the people who has nostalgia about their old Nokia phones are dying. Newer generation only knows Apple or Samsung. They do not care about Nokia. They certainly should stop thinking getting success now, just because they were successful 20 years ago. Market has changed.

When they made a comeback back in 2017, there was enthusiasm in the market from the old Nokia users. Even then they failed to produce some good devices. Their phones were expensive and less features with other rivals. Just because Nokia has reputation for creating robust phones, which certainly cost a lot, you have to sacrifice a lot of features just to put your phone in metal enclosure. They tried for couple of years, and they just give up. Now they just try to attract old people to buy their Keypad phones. We see no innovation in keypad phones too. Just old phones getting released at heigh price in cheaper plastic than original ones.

Certainly, there is a lot of room in keypad phones especially in developing nations. Just make it cheap and with a lot features. People will buy that phone having Nokia branding than a Chinese branded cheap keypad phone having same features.