Show HN: I made a phone in between a smartphone and dumbphone
by bouchardio | 2026-01-16 21:38:13+00:00
Hi HN,

my name is Eric, I am from Canada. I love technology, but for a long time now, I feel disrespected by technology.

Specifically smartphones and social media. Social media is built to keep you glued to your phone. Smartphones also have too many distractions, it's constantly spying on you (getting ads that are way too specific) and they are difficult to repair / they discourage you from doing it yourself (which voids warranties).

Social media can be used for great things (posting for your business, researching, learning, spreading a good message or educational content) but most of the time, it's used improperly.

My business has been around for a while, mostly making SaaS products, utility apps and mobile games. (I know, games are distracting, but I still believe they are better for you than doom scrolling) But last summer, I sat down and reflected on my core values. One of them was to make a positive impact and I looked at all the problems I saw in the world that I had noted down, this was one of them.

Mental health is impacted by social media, the subconscious comparison, unrealistic beauty standards, the amount of brain rot is mind blowing, reduced attention span, the time we waste, the irony that you are supposed to be more connected, but we have never been more isolated, the list goes on.

I had the idea for a few years to make this phone. I hired a few guys and we built a prototype. We worked hard from Q3-Q4 of 2025 and it was ready right before I went to exhibit it at Vegas for CES 2026.

The phone that we built is called The Basic Phone. It's a phone in between a smartphone and a dumbphone, but heavily leaning towards a dumbphone.

It runs Linux, on super low end hardware. This is on purpose. It's more private than Android, and it makes it next to impossible to install anything on it (because it's low end). It's even difficult for us to design apps for it! It has an e-paper display, black and white. Which makes it boring to use. Since it's slow to type on epaper, we included a keyboard.

All our code will be open source, showing that we don't track anything.
The phone will be fully modular, making it easy to repair or replace parts.
It has all the basic functionalities, calling, texting, gps, notes, alarm, weather, calculator, camera, e-reader, calendar, music, etc.

We will also have crucial missing features that most dumbphones don't have: two factor authentication app, ride sharing, banking, email, etc.

We will also have a limited web browser that runs on our own hosted cloud servers, or your own depending on how you want to set it up. This browser will block all malicious sites as well as distracting ones like fb, tiktok etc.

With that technology, we will be able to have popular messaging apps like: WhatsApp, Discord, Messenger etc. We believe you should be able to communicate using any kind of platform. It's the feeds that are the problem.

I believe this is just the right balance of utility. A phone should be a tool, not a distraction. It shouldn't hold you back either by not having all that you need.

With this technology, it would be great for anyone who has discipline issues, high performing individuals that want to achieve more in life or for parents that are worried their kids will just install any apk's.

I believe we had a better balance in the past. A dedicated computer at home, but when you left your house, you were more present in the moment.