Hands On With Punkt's MP 02 Voice Phone

The platonic unproblematic voice phone is finally coming to the U.s.a.—if you tin can beget information technology.

The $350 Punkt MP 02, which is a real phone from a small Swiss phone company, is a great-looking voice-and-text phone that fills a big hole in the AT&T and T-Mobile lineups.

I've railed before about how difficult it is to notice a good elementary voice phone in the U.s.. I get regular emails from people, generally older users, who desire a phone that's focused on vocalisation quality. While Verizon has a few choices, virtually notably the Kyocera Cadence LTE, there's just no adept voice phone for T-Mobile correct now.

Punkt MP02 inline 1

Many global voice phones typically apply 2G or 3G GSM rather than LTE. Making voice calls over LTE requires a more than powerful, more than expensive chipset and software than older systems, and 2G and 3G are still widespread in well-nigh of the world. That'due south non the case in the The states. We have effectively no 2G GSM networks. AT&T turned its off, and T-Mobile's has been turned down and then far that information technology's but really usable for machine-to-machine applications. AT&T runs the but 3G GSM network in the country.

The Punkt MP 02, on the other mitt, is one of the very few unlocked LTE voice phones out there. Dissimilar the Nokia 8810, it supports US network bands, and the company is actively trying to sell information technology here.

The telephone will be compatible primarily with AT&T and T-Mobile, although it might work on Verizon. There are The states and European versions of the MP 02; the Us version has 2G and 3G GSM, and LTE on bands 1/2/4/five/7/12/17.

You're Not Being Punked

I was initially skeptical of Punkt, simply it's a real company that'south been around for ten years. Founded by Petter Neby, a Norwegian, but based in Switzerland, information technology's fabricated a few well-designed products in partnership with designer Jasper Morrison—an alarm clock, a cordless desk-bound phone, a USB charger, and a 2G vocalization phone.

"Initially, nosotros got interest from industrial blueprint geeks because of the designer," Neby said. "Only for the phone, it became more of a wider range of audience."

Working from a European perspective, Neby didn't come across the urgency of switching to 4G for phonation calls. Rather, he wanted the phone to act as an LTE hotspot for other devices, letting European executives carry it as their single phone and nevertheless be able to plow to tablets or laptops to get their Slack messages.

Punkt MP02 inline 2

"With the tethering, [the phone] tin can sit at the summit of the bureaucracy and spread every bit a hotspot to whatsoever kind of device," he said.

The MP 02 is designed to work in the US, merely it doesn't accept quite all of the frequency bands nosotros apply here. Most notably, it doesn't include Verizon'due south band 13 or T-Mobile's band 71. Band thirteen is "more of a rural issue," Neby said, and his cadre market is "urban busy people."

Punkt's history of really making and selling products sets information technology apart from Light Phone, another frequently mentioned loftier-cease maker of simple phones that has leaned on crowdsourcing and has had perpetual stocking and availability issues. Lite is currently promising an LTE-based phone to launch in April 2022, simply I don't trust its projections.

An Artisanal Experience

The MP 02 costs $350, merely information technology feels similar something that costs $350. It's smooth yet angular, made from a matte blackness plastic with a slightly rubbery pad on the back that holds it in place when information technology'south ready down on a table. The physical buttons are very mid-century modern.

Punkt's elementary UI is text-based. On the home screen, you don't even see bombardment level and bespeak strength—Neby said it only shows those by default if y'all need to worry about them, not when they're proficient. Physical buttons jump to calling, texting, or the phone book, and you can program ix speed dials. There are 10 ringtones, and you tin can input contacts through a spider web site to preclude having to tap multiple times.

Punkt MP02 back

Bated from calls, you tin text. That's SMS texting, not WhatsApp or Facebook. Yous can enter texts using triple-tap or predictive texts, and select emoji from a menu. You lot tin receive texts and picture messages, but every bit the phone has no photographic camera or eeb browser, you can't ship a new picture. The UI is monochrome, but if you receive a motion-picture show message, the picture appears in color. The telephone has a computer and a calendar, only no camera and no games.

It'south a voice telephone, and then of class I fabricated a call. My test call was in the nigh forgiving atmosphere possible, a placidity role, only the earpiece was loud and clear. Punkt wasn't 100 percent clear on which vocalisation codecs the phone would utilise, or whether it would use voice-over-LTE on AT&T (which has college quality phonation calling than AT&T 3G), and then we'll bank check on that before the full review.

Nether the hood, the MP 02 is running a very stripped-downwardly version of Android on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 chipset that'southward been locked downwardly by BlackBerry security software; just software directly installed by Punkt can run on the telephone. Neby told me the phone has about half-dozen days of standby battery life.

Is this a master telephone, or a secondary one? Neby described a workflow where people use the MP 02 as their principal device, with its LTE tethering feature activating a tablet or iPod bear upon for internet access when needed. I think this is also probable to get a weekend phone for high-income disconnectors. Neby said Punkt is aiming to support AT&T'south Numbersync and T-Mobile'due south Digits, both systems that permit you lot use the aforementioned number on multiple phones.

What the MP 02 isn't, is an affordable voice phone for kids or the elderly. In that location's a trivial scrap of tension between the Punkt artful and my readership who desire simple voice phones. The MP 02 isn't a luxury product, merely it's design-focused and not cheap. I'chiliad very happy to see it in the marketplace, just it still leaves a giant hole on store shelves where $50 to $100 LTE phonation phones should go.

I'm very much looking forwards to reviewing the MP 02. It comes out in November.