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Ask HN: Are there any 5G feature phone out there?

13 points by thetoon ↗ HN
I'd like to decouple phone and "pocket computer", for both security and "digital hygiene" reasons.

So far, feature phones I could find are 4G at best. Though I definitely thought there'd be a market for connection sharing capable 5G feature phones. Am I alone?

14 comments

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ksec
Why 5G feature phone ? I assume you want 5G purely for future proving ?
thetoon
More for connection sharing/tethering, actually. Just because I don't want to use a smartphone so often doesn't mean I don't have a laptop with me.
gbin
Why not just using a 5g hotspot?
thetoon
I like calls and texts as well ;)

One option would be to have a 5G hotspot AND vowifi feature phone, but it'd be much more convenient as a single package (not to mention I'm not even sure there are more vowifi feature phones than 5G feature phones)

jimlikeslimes
I follow this market a little, and haven't seen one yet. The brands I'd check would be Nokia and Doro. There was a company making small power bank and feature phone combo but I can't remember the name.

It might be more fruitful to look at mobile broadband hotspots or whatever they're being called now. Could imagine a 5g one of those would be more likely?

thetoon
For anyone interested, there is a database here : https://dumbphones.pory.app/
anonymouskimmer
To save everyone the time. When filtering by 5G: "No results found"

Poster would have better luck dumbing down a smartphone, and refraining from installing any additional apps or app stores.

cbeach
Why are we using the term “feature phone” to describe phones that have unusually few features?
thetoon
That's a real good question. I always supposed their name was out before smartphones (which are definitely more "featured") existed.
clnq
Like a safety razor, which is much less safe than modern alternatives.
etskinner
Probably because the only things you can do on that phone are things for which there is a feature. That's what distinguishes it from a general purpose (smart) phone. Similar to the distinction between general purpose computer vs an embedded system.
runjake
There's not, that I'm aware of, at least in the US market.

And using a feature phone for security reasons is laughable. Feature phones are notoriously insecure.

If you need tethering, just use a 5G hotspot.