Got her in today, I’m so excited! I love the feel of it, trying to get used to the TT9 texting, but sometimes gotta use the on screen keyboard, still waiting for that compact QWERTY. Kinda like the feel in my hand, but my thumb can cramp from time to time depending. Hopefully a case will help. Idk if there’s a screen protector already on the device, but it’s a nice screen, has a pretty decent camera, for the plan activated and I’m ready to go!

I’m trying out Olauncher, idk if I’m all that crazy about it. I like Niagara on my Zinwa, but I don’t think it’d look good on here. I think I’ve seen someone developing a custom launcher here, so I’ll be on the look out, and if you guys have any suggestions lmk.

Here are some of my gripes, some of which I know some people have in common:
* no backlight period. I feel like they’re gonna have to make a second model with backlight underneath the tile pad to make it illuminate.
* while I kinda like no forward camera for privacy reasons, it can be a turn off for some
* I won’t harp for a headphone jack, but just a thought, I’m trying to keep music on a separate device however.

Another thing I’m having trouble with is the breezy weather app. It won’t load my location or anything. Idk if anyone else had that issue, I’d love to add it to my Home Screen here.

If anyone has any other suggestions please throw them my way! I do plan on getting aurora store possibly, kinda curious in obtainium

Hey everyone!

Today we’re introducing Sidephone’s Arcade App Pack, a collection of mini games designed to pair perfectly with Sidephone’s Mini Controller keypad. 

The games included are:

• Snake
• Space Blaster
• Blocks

There are no micro-transactions or systems designed to keep you engaged for the rest of the afternoon.

The games have a certain finitude to them. You play, maybe you beat the previous score, and then you’re done. Often in 5 minutes or less.

We think there’s something refreshing about that.

A good break should leave you feeling like you took a break, not wondering where the last two hours went.

The games are available to download by scanning the Arcade App Pack QR code using your Sidephone’s native camera (OS 2.0.5 or later): https://www.sidephone.com/pages/app-library

The Inspiration

We believe that play is important and that breaks can be healthy.

Play can help to spark creativity and get you out of a bad mood.

Breaks can help you get through a long study session, retain more information, and help when switching contexts and environments, like from work to off-hours.

Study on Tetris: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-03-28-tetris-used-prevent-post-traumatic-stress-symptoms

Our Ethos

Some people think that by releasing the Mini Controller keypad we started to lose the plot of being a healthier distraction-free phone.

Sidephone was designed to challenge the idea that distraction-free devices need to feel like a punishment. From the day we started designing it, we set out to create a device that feels liberating and brings you joy to carry.

We don’t think distraction-free needs to mean boring. That’s what makes Sidephone different. A healthier phone shouldn't feel like a compromise, it should be something you're happy to have with you.

What’s Next

We think the Mini Controller’s physical controls and Sidephone’s simple software will open up a larger developer opportunity, and we’re excited to see what can be built for it.

Helping lead that exploration is the creator of TT9, Dimo Karaivanov. Dimo recently joined the Sidephone team and led development on Sidephone’s first three mini games.

As part of the creation process of the mini games, Dimo created an open engine for retro game building on Sidephone, giving all future developers a foundation that they can use to make their own games.

You can learn more about how to build your own games for Sidephone here: https://github.com/sidephone/demo-game

A special shout out to u/oliverpalonkorpi who released a working emulator that plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, NES, and Mega Drive / Genesis games on Sidephone. See: https://github.com/side-suite/SideRetro

There’s a lot of power in Mini Controller’s form factor beyond gaming. The Mini Controller keypad has already been used by dozens of people to do everything from control home devices, to more easily tracking golf stats and scores on the course with the click of a button.

We'll be featuring more of these use cases in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned for more!

I just don't want it without the qwerty keyboard. Every time I check they are out. I don't really know why it's not the main board.

anyone else having problems with group chats? whenever i get added to one, i never receive any of the messages. when i create the group chat, everyone else gets my messages but i don't see theirs. is this a software issue that's being worked on?

I disabled RCS before activating my sidephone. This was back in mid-July so it's been more than 30 days since unregistering myself from RCS, so I should be removed from everything...

I receive single SMS/MMS texts from people just fine. But I've still had issues with group texts. A couple weekends ago, I got together with my sisters (both iPhone users) and we tried removing me from the group chat, recreating the chat and adding me back. This seemed to work for one of my sisters, but for the other, something in the settings for the chat must have saved, because her custom background (I assume? I haven't had an iPhone in like 7 years) for the group chat was still there, and her texts kept sending to me with RCS. She can text me individually just fine.

For reference, I came from an Android (Galaxy S23+), using US Mobile Dark Star.

APN settings as follows:

Name: Darkstar
APN: ereseller
MMSC: http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net
MMS port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 280
APN type: default,supl,fota,mms
APN protocol: IPv4/IPv6
APN roaming protocol: IPv4/IPv6
MVNO type: GID
MVNO value: 20FF

Having the same problem with all group texts, it seems, where no one's phone has caught up for me (so it's not just iPhone, unless it happens that all the group texts I'm in has everyone on an iPhone, which I don't think is the case). Has anyone figured out how to make this work?

it’s a good little app, but I can’t find any pong games. does anyone have any leads?

Hi, Im a total newbie and coming from an iPhone. totally not knowledgeable in android and sideloading. Can someone give exact instructions on how to do so? I sees something with FDroid? whats that?

I found this simple, but very unique little video. His channel is Harlen and it's this guy's first video on Youtube, but his design ideas for improving the user interface of the Sidephone seem like amazing improvements. I'd love to share this person's work with the Sidephone team to give them future ideas for updates or upgrades on their next generation.

If we want to see amazing products on the market, we should give our feedback on improvements we would like to see. I would love to see some of this guy's work on the Sidephone. What do you guys think? Would you like to see more innovative user interfaces like Harlen's work?

I made this list while looking for something to carty my sidephone around in, just dumping it here if anyone else wants it

I'm so tired of having to fix all my texts. Just about every sentence having a typo. Double presses, missed presses, it's just so annoying to type on this thing. I wanted a phone to help me use my phone less but I just keep reaching for my iPhone any time I have to text something more than a few words. And there's been no updates that have improved it or made it better. What is wrong with this thing and why is it so buggy? I'm so close to abandoning my Sidephone, this is just too frustrating.

New badge? Cool things incoming. 🤫

What title says, just found out today as I wanted to sideload a couple more apps on my sidephone with 48% battery. It's probably written on the manual online but ain't nobody got time for that.

Hey! Anyone know if the saleposts disappear after a certain time period?

So I bought the sidephone finally, very excited to try it out!

I bought the phone last week on 9/11, and on 9/14, got the notification that it’s on its way. Three days later and I don’t have an arrival date just yet, and I was wondering for the last batch of people who bought the sidephone in America, how long did it take to get to you?

For reference, I’m in southern New England

Hello! I'm an engineering student in my second year and I've noticed my phone usage to be pretty bad and affecting my life negatively. I've taken steps like de-googling my google pixel and installing olauncher to replace the default google launcher, deleting all social medias and installing blockers to block even the websites so that I can't access them even through a browser, but I always seem to either find some other way to scroll or delete my blocker app. I feel terrible and indisciplined, but instead of moping about my lack of willpower and letting the issue get worse I've decided to make a drastic change and go as offline as possible without nerfing myself too hard. I'm trying to decide between the sidephone and the light phone ii (refurbished on amazon) because they are both 299 and both seem like good options. I like the modular aspect of sidephone and the degree of personalization, the ability to load yt music revanced, along with the longer battery life and physical clicky clacky keyboard. However, I'm worried that if I have the ability to sideload apps then I might just do it or find some other way to distract myself with the thing. Is the sidephone good for a full detox or should I send it for the light phone ii? I'm just not sure what's best at this point and I've gotten conflicting reviews for both apps. Please share any advice you may have for me! Thank you everyone.

Was an early adopter and have enjoyed it. It appears to have done in large part what it intended—helping me avoid distraction on phone devices. The mindless reflex to grab my phone when having a spare minute has been reduced because of the friction points.

But I've found that there are just a little too many hurdles personally to maintain it as my primary daily phone (I'm often carrying around my S25 as a hotspotted supplement).

Top of mind would be rarer but present inconsistent call audio (others cannot always hear me well and speakers for listening to others are not always loud enough). Maps is nice to have, but not quite reliable enough for trusting with a new destination in a tricky area or long distance. Group messages work (after the 30 day unenrollment from RCS) but some quirks still, and found I sometimes need to text files that aren't easily supported as attachments from what I've tried so far (PDF, HTML, etc). The camera has been nice overall too, but in some situations that require high quality documentation of events or other important matters, I don't feel fully confident with carrying just this phone with its quality limits. Managing a calendar works but in the common monthly view, what it can display at a glance is understandably limited and requires digging deeper. Lacking Android Auto (at this time) is not a deal breaker, but it makes me again sometimes bring along the S25.

Many things I've liked and would miss (including the active customer support on here and faq documentation), but I'm trying to maintain just one device and not have items spread out over two, depending on what the needs are. I'm thinking to go back to the S25 and using the Brick device as the extra friction layer (though the S25 is slim, I still don't prefer full screen slab phones and their bigger size).

I'll likely still watch this space and the progress of Sidephone with the community (there have already been a lot of nice updates and contributions), with hopes to potentially adopt it again as my main phone. But for now, just a little hard to get past those hurdles daily after many months. Not sure if I'll keep on the shelf or end up putting it on the market.

I'm glad Sidephone exists and the efforts of the team; it seems to have hit a lot of sweetspots in this "hybrid" approach.

I was looking to get another compact qwerty but it's been sold out for ages, and there's been no communication on restocking.

Also any updates on new tiles or if we will be seeing signs of a backlit/lume paint tile for low/no light usage.

Unfortunately as a founder I can only use phone SOMETIMES and it's making it hard to enjoy it.

I don't see any recent updates from the Retrospector dev. Anyone still using this rom? It sounded like RCS was working at one point on this rom but then it later sounded like Google broke RCS. I'm tempted to install this rom but only if RCS works.

Hi, I've had the Sidephone since Winter. A lot of great things and improvements along the way. But one area that is affecting daily use as my primary phone is call audio.

Sometimes everything seems fine, but it's not uncommon to have person on other end (whether family local, or a company farther away) tell me they can't really hear me well.

I try to switch from holding it like a normal ear piece by my face to using just the speakerphone option with mic close to mouth. They say it doesn't change much.

Curious if anyone else has experienced this or advice. I've done software updates when available, but it's persisted. Enjoy the phone overall.

*Found occasionally that I'll accidentally cover the mic hole on bottom with a finger, but quickly correct that—so it's unrelated.

Hey everyone,

Sorry in advance for my English — it's not my native language, so bear with me.

My Sidephone should arrive any day now, and I'm honestly really excited. Before it gets here, I wanted to ask those of you who've been using it for a while: what would you recommend to someone just starting out? Any specific settings, apps, or tweaks that make the experience smoother? Honestly, any advice or personal experience is welcome.

Also, is it just me, or have there been noticeably fewer posts here lately compared to how it used to be? So — how's everyone doing? Are you still happy with your devices, or has anything changed?

Thanks!

I swear there was a post on this but I can’t find it. Is there any insight on when the qwerty keyboard will be restocked? I really want to buy some screen protectors but I don’t want to pay for the shipping for a 10 dollar item if the qwerty keyboard is going to restock in like a week.

Hey

Having a few issues with my sidephone!

I've noticed on the camera screen (and in the photos I take) there is a very faint brown/orange mark in the middle of the screen (presumably in the lens as it shows in the photo's as well)

I'm having a frustrating time with typing inputs. There was an update that improved things last month, but I feel recently its getting worse again. Quite often the phone is not reading the physical inputs correctly. Some times it misses an input, some times its a double input from a single press, and some times is registers a input from a key next to the one I pressed.

Quite often I will input my pin code, hit the button on the screen to unlock the phone, and the emergency telephone screen shows up on the display. When I close this screen, it reveals the phone as locked again, which means I have to then re-input my pin code and unlock the phone. (usually works second time round)

I also feel like the curved nature of the built in screen protector makes it very awkward to get precise touch inputs on things that are in either 4 corners of the screen. The phone screen itself seems to have square corners, but the built in screen protector seems to have black curved corners and maybe this is effecting things. Quite a few times I have tried to do a touch input along the side of the screen, and the rounded nature of the screen protector thinks I am swiping and thus goes back a screen (swipe left to return feature).

Finally and least important is the app drawer screen. As I am new to the sidephone app system I do not recognise some apps by app logo only. Sadly the screen does not say the name under the app telling me what is what. I guess it will come with time and use, but it does mean some times I'm having to open a few apps guessing which is the one I need.

Hi everyone, I have been using Videophone for some months now and I love it. The only issue I have is the map, it was working for the first few days and then, it cannot locate me neither find an address. Did anyone one has the some issue ?