The Punkt MP02 Dumb Phone Is a Button-Masher’s Dream Dumbphone

Ah, the dumbphone. Freed from its connections to the internet, relatively unrestricted app stores, and social media apps, it goes a step further than the screen time management on smartphones.

There’s nothing to bypass, nothing to backslide on. The phones purposefully aren’t capable of running these things. With one, you can relax and let your self-discipline ease. You’ll have your phone for communication, plus a few core tools, and that’s it.

Check out my guide to the Best Dumbphones for more smartphone alternatives that won’t waste your time and drive you mad.

touchy-feely

Without a touchscreen, Punkt had to nail the tactile feedback of buttons. Mission accomplished, Punkt. Presses are crisp, if a bit shallow, and satisfying. All the Punkt’s buttons are on the front of the phone, and they’re as clearly labeled and intuitive to decipher as could be.

There’s only a 2″ screen, and it’s in grayscale. It’s plenty large enough, since you won’t be watching videos or playing games on it. Behind that Corning Gorilla Glass 3 display, the screen is easy to read both indoors and in sunlight.

There’s a contact book for saving the details of favored contacts, and you can also create notes, set reminders, set alarms, use a stopwatch or a countdown timer, and use the built-in calendar. There’s no 5G support, but the MP02 will connect to 4G LTE, 3G, and even 2G networks.

Remember, there’s no keyboard, so you have to text the old-fashioned way, though, with three selectable letters per number button (four on the 9 button). Texting is done via Signal, an encrypted and secure third-party messaging system.

Texting features an autocorrect feature that works pretty well, even though I generally hate autocorrect as a rule. Given that you’re using the number buttons to open a panel of three letters (per button) and then the arrow buttons to select the correct letter, I learned to appreciate the autocorrect quickly.

I was actually pleasantly surprised at how much better it worked than my old T9 flip phones of the Dark Ages. It’s those arrow buttons on the Punkt that make it work better.

It’s a charming phone. Although some dumbphones, like the Light Phone III, seek to emulate smartphones as closely as they can, with big touchscreens and premium materials, the Punkt goes fairly old school in its form, and for that, I appreciate the hell out of it.