HMD Fusion Review: A Cheap Modular Android Phone Leave a comment

I’ve in all probability examined near 100 low-cost telephones during the last 9 years, and I’ve by no means actually needed to fear about bringing a backup in case issues go awry. Price range telephones are often sluggish however work nicely sufficient. However I nearly instantly regretted not bringing a spare smartphone after I took the HMD Fusion on a brief journey to a different state.

The primary pattern of this Android cellphone saved freezing and restarting itself on the way in which to the airport. Then, additional fueling my panic, it might boot up the house display however my passcode would not work. “Passcode is inaccurate.” What? Fortunately, a pressured restart would set it again to regular. Nonetheless, for the whole thing of the weekend of my buddy’s wedding ceremony in Kentucky, the Fusion would restart itself always. It additionally refused to launch Slack—although which will have been a blessing as work was off my thoughts that entire time.

HMD stated it couldn’t replicate my points, so the corporate despatched me one other unit. It has been completely wonderful. It is arduous to immediately shift gears after being so annoyed at this black monolith, however this can be a first rate $300 cellphone. It additionally has a trick up its sleeve that no different cellphone has right this moment: mods.

Return of the Modular Cellphone

HMD won’t be a reputation you are accustomed to, so to recap shortly, it is a Finnish firm that licensed the Nokia model to churn out Nokia Android smartphones and have telephones (aka dumb telephones). It started doing this in 2017, however earlier this yr, the corporate introduced that whereas it might nonetheless make Nokia telephones, it additionally plans to craft telephones underneath its namesake (which, by the way in which, stands for Human Cell Units). Its characteristic cellphone enterprise continues too, with larger collaborations like The Boring Cellphone and the Barbie Cellphone.

The HMD Fusion is a kind of units (there was additionally the Skyline and the Vibe). It has a give attention to repairability—simply take away a handful of screws and you’ll substitute lots of the components, from the battery to the display, and the corporate plans to hold these components for 7 years. (A lot of that is wanted to stick to imminent legal guidelines within the European Union.)

However what makes it actually stand out are the pogo pins on the again. In reality, the entire again of the cellphone appears as if it is incomplete. That is as a result of you’ll be able to connect “Outfits,” as HMD calls them. These modular elements can change the cellphone’s look with totally different colour backings. They do not magnetically stick like iPhones and MagSafe. As a substitute, these Outfits are like circumstances, and the pogo pins do not simply switch energy however knowledge as nicely.