u/diogomes26

Playing Pokémon Unbound while on vacation. I'm around 6h in and having a blast. Can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Pokémon game!

Just finished Pine Creek and My Friendly Little Island, two very different games that fit perfectly in the Miyoo Mini! I have The Machine to play next, but I'm already looking for what to add to the list, as I'm enjoying this little device so much. Anything GBC / GBA that is homebrew or indie, no matter the genre.

Enjoying a bit of summer holidays to do two of my favorite things, ride a bicycle and taking pictures. Photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III paired with Panasonic Lumix 12-32 mm f/3.5-5.6 and Olympus 40-150 mm f/4-5.6.

Hope you enjoy them. Feedback is welcome, if constructive :)

I've made a couple of posts in this community in the past few months. One about how I could finally start overcoming my phone addiction with changes in my environment, and another one about my first impressions of owning a Doov R77 Pro with DumberOS, a semi-dumbphone (I guess we can call it that), which I thought would be the last piece of this puzzle.

Spoiler alert, I was correct. The honeymoon phase is now gone after more than a month of using this device in daily life and even while traveling.

Normal day things that just work, although at a slower pace:

• Google Maps for directions, public transport, and driving (for long car drives, I would prefer something with a bigger screen)
• Hotspot
• Translating app of choice (a must for me, as I live abroad)
• Teams for quick messages to colleagues on my way to work
• Authenticator for MFA, both personal and work
• WhatsApp for messages and video calls
• Taking the occasional picture

For traveling, I had to take a plane and used the phone to show my boarding pass and scan it without issues, as well as message people about my ETA. Battery was not a problem. The device usually lasts around one and a half days. It does sometimes shut down shortly after 20%, even with power saving automatically enabled.

I’m using InkOS as my launcher of choice (nice suggestion from another redditor). It makes the phone simpler and easy to navigate with the keyboard.

But it’s not all flowers and green fields. Let’s dive into some of the annoyances that come along with this little thing, mostly related to the T9 experience.

Typing with the T9 keyboard is slow and clunky. I end up only typing the essentials and leaving conversations for later. If something requires more typing, I use WhatsApp Web instead, since I’m on a computer most of the day. In reality, 99% of messages can wait.

I’ve found some bugs where, in Teams and Firefox, when I try to delete text, the TT9 keyboard closes and I have to tap the text box again to continue typing. It’s frustrating. When this happens, it defaults to typing numbers, so I end up in a loop of tap, delete, tap, delete quite often.

I also tried configuring voice input but couldn’t get it working, so if anyone knows how to set that up, I’d appreciate it.

This is an 80€ phone, and although I love the minimalist design, the quality is not the best. I can see that both the front and rear camera modules have dust inside. They were clean when I started using it. So far it doesn’t cause issues, but I assume it might in the future.

Also, the keyboard backlight has two different colors. I’m not sure if this is intentional or just a manufacturing inconsistency, but it looks a bit odd.

Overall, I’m satisfied with the usability and, more importantly, the friction this device creates in my life. It helps me spend my time more intentionally.

Is this a perfect phone? Absolutely not. But that’s exactly where its value lies.

I feel like I’ve finally reached a healthy balance with this topic, so I’m happy to share my experience, especially since I often see others struggling with the same issue in this and other communities.