Mudita Kompakt is a minimalist phone with an E Ink display and modern features like wireless charging and a fingerprint reader (crowdfunding)

The Mudita Kompact is a mobile phone designed for people who don’t want a portable distraction device in their pockets or handbags. Instead of a large color display it has a small black and white E Ink screen. And while it features an Android-based operating system, the Mudita Kompact ships without any Google apps or services: instead it comes with just a handful of simple apps for making calls, sending text messages, taking notes, reading eBooks, or listening to music.

But the Kompact is closer to what you’d expect from a modern smartphone than the company’s first phone, the Mudita Pure. That candybar-style phone has an even smaller E Ink display, a number pad, and significantly less powerful hardware and software. Mudita has launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the new Mudita Kompact and hopes to begin shipping devices to backers by April, 2025.

The Mudita Kompact features a 4.3 inch, 800 x 480 pixel E Ink display, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage plus a microSD card reader. It’s powered by a MediaTek MT6761V/WBA (Helio A22) processor, which is a 2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor with Imagination GE8300 graphics.

That’s not exactly a high performance hardware. But it means this phone is capable of running a full-fledged smartphone operating system called Mudita OS K, which is basically a de-Googled version of Android that’s been optimized for an E Ink display.

And the phone does have a few modern touches including a fingerprint sensor, support for USB-C and wireless charging, and support for WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, and 4G LTE as well as VoLTE and WiFi calling.

Mudita says that the phone gets up to 6 days of standby time thanks to a 3,300 mAh battery and an energy-efficient display.

Other features include a speaker, 3.5mm audio jack, an 8MP camera with dual LED flash, and a body that’s IP54 rated for light water and dust resistance. The phone’s microSD card reader serves double duty as a SIM card slot, so you have a choice of using the Mudita Kompact as either a dual-SIM device (SIM + eSIM) or as a single-eSIM device with support for removable storage.

Mudita offers two versions of the phone: one that’s optimized for use in the US and Canada and another that’s optimized for global networks. They’ll both work anywhere, but you should get better performance from North American carriers if you use the North American model, while the global model should work better if you spend most of your time outside of the US & Canada.

The Global model supports the following 4G network bands:

• LTE-FDD: B1/3/5/7/8/12/13/18/19/20/26
• LTE-TDD: B34/38/39/40/41

And the North American version supports:

• LTE-FDD: B2/4/5/7/8/12/13/18/19/26
• LTE-TDD: B34/38/39/40/41

Mudita expects to start shipping the global model in April, 2025 with the North America version following in May, 2025.

Both versions of the phone feature the same Mudita OS K software, which the company says it plans to keep up to date for at least three years “after the last device is sold,” with regular software and security updates.

There’s also an “Offline+ Mode” that not only turns off the WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular modem via software, but also physically disconnects the camera and microphones when you want to really avoid any distractions and/or ensure privacy.

Some of the pre-installed apps will include an eBook reader, Maps, Notes, Calculator, Calendar, Weather, Camera, Music Player, and Voice Recorder plus a Meditation Time and an App Manager that basically lets you choose which apps are displayed and which are hidden.

Notably absent are any web browsers or social media applications. Theoretically it should be possible to sideload applications since Mudita OS K is based on Android. And if there’s a must-have app or two that you cannot live without, it might be worth looking into that. But loading this thing up with a whole bunch of third-party apps kind of defeats the purpose of buying a distraction-free Mudita phone in the first place.

The Mudita Kompact comes in black, gray, or white color options and Kickstarter backers can reserve one for as little as €325 (about $350) while Super Early Bird rewards are still available. Retail prices are expected to run €439 (about $475).

via Mudita Blog