There is a great curiosity about feature phones right now, simple devices with physical buttons and no apps or touch screen and many are considering whether to go back to a simpler mobile to reduce screen time. If you are one of them, this article is for you, we will go through tips and advice, and which button phones you should avoid.
Screen time is a hotly debated topic. The Swedish Public Health Agency has issued new recommendations for how much screen time is appropriate for children and adolescents, levels that most people far exceed. Even adults can probably feel that they spend too much time with their mobile. Either because they are addicted to social media or YouTube clips, or because they reach for their mobile as soon as they get a little bored.
Therefore, it's not surprising that some people look to the past, especially if you are older and have a nostalgic relationship with when you were younger. Interestingly, it's rarely a completely mobile-free time one longs for; the ability to always be reachable or make a call no matter where you are is such an obvious improvement to our lives that few long for phone booths or when long-distance calls were an expensive luxury. Instead, it's button phones that come to mind, the time when the phone gave us opportunities without being quite so much of a time thief.
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The idea behind digital detox, by taking a break from or reducing access to the internet, is not new. As early as 1998, internet addiction was discussed as a problem, even before mobile button phones had really taken off. In 2018, six years ago, Google launched the Digital Wellbeing feature in Android as a way for mobile users to monitor and control their own screen time. But there is still a sense that digital detox is a trend right now.
Are button phones really a trend?
First, we must be skeptical about whether there is actually a trend today of people switching from their smartphones to button phones. It is claimed that button phones are trendy, but those who claim this are rarely impartial. For example, it's not surprising that the mobile manufacturer HMD likes to refer to figures showing this, as they license the Nokia brand, which they primarily use today to sell nostalgic versions of old Nokia phones with buttons. When you look closer at these figures, they often involve vaguely posed questions about people feeling they spend too much time on social media.
The second source of the trend is influencers, both niche ones in the field and general ones talking about their new feature phones. Besides the fact that many influencers are just billboards talking about the products they have been assigned, there is something inherently unreasonable about an influencer whose entire business idea is to live in symbiosis with social media disconnecting.
This has not stopped media like CNBC and The Economist from writing about the trend, but it has been characteristically lacking in numbers to back it up.
According to the online platform Statista, which collects and publishes openly available statistics, the sales of feature phones are steadily declining. There might be a plateau in 2022-2023 where the number of units sold only decreased by two percent per year, but that was after a couple of years of sharp declines, and over a longer period, the trend is steadily downward. Looking further at where feature phones are sold, the five largest markets are China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the vast majority of feature phones are purchased by people who cannot afford a smartphone or a mobile subscription with a data plan.
If we look at the button phones marketed here, we have, for example, the Barbie mobile, which has more the character of a collectible and toy with its Barbie-related accessories than as an actual everyday item intended to be used. The trend is perhaps more a nostalgia for the 90s and 00s than people choosing to abandon their smartphones in favor of button phones.
This does not mean that there is not currently a curiosity about button phones, which is certainly reinforced by the marketing that is ongoing via influencers, and there is no reason to dismiss this curiosity outright. Therefore, we will now delve a little deeper into button phones and their pros and cons, what you should consider, and alternatives for those who want to reduce their screen time.
Beware of old mobiles
It can be tempting to go all in on nostalgia and buy a real old Nokia 3310 or whatever you had in 2002. It is certainly possible to get hold of fully functioning examples with a replaced battery, but there is a big problem.
Old button phones are made for GSM networks or at best 3G, but Swedish operators are in the process of shutting down these networks. The reason is that the frequencies used can be repurposed for 4G and 5G, providing high data speeds with room for more simultaneous connections and significantly better coverage than these networks have today. The old GSM and 3G networks are also becoming increasingly expensive to maintain and consume significantly more power than newer network technologies.
Operators plan to have shut down their GSM networks by the end of 2025. The exception is Telia, which plans to complete the shutdown in 2027, to facilitate those who still have older equipment that needs upgrading. After that, the Nokia 3310 will mainly be usable for playing Snake, which in itself might not be wrong, but making calls or sending SMS will not be possible.
If you are keen on using a button mobile as a replacement for your smartphone for calling and texting, you should make sure to buy a new model with 4G support.
Which phones are available for purchase?
If you want to buy a button phone in Sweden, the market is completely dominated by two brands: Nokia and Doro.
Doro is a Swedish company, now owned by Norwegian Xplora, specializing in phones and safety alarms for the elderly. They also make Android phones, but with their older target group, many have never switched to smart phones and still prefer a button phone.
Doro's button phones are often relatively large, with large number buttons and a screen with large text to make it easier for those who are starting to have mobility and vision problems to use them. They also usually have an emergency alarm button that can be used to easily alert relatives and emergency services if something has happened, and other adaptations for the elderly.
The Nokia phones are currently manufactured under license by the Finnish company HMD, but they can still be considered "genuine" Nokia phones. HMD actually bought the production of feature phones from Nokia, and the system that the phones use is still the same as when Nokia themselves made feature phones. In other words, those who had a Nokia phone in the 2000s will recognize themselves.
The Nokia phones focus on nostalgia in marketing, often reusing old model names in new phones that mimic the design of old classics. However, as feature phones, they are modern, and often light and handy.
If you are considering buying a new feature phone, the most important thing to check is that it supports 4G. Without it, as we write above, it will stop working in a few years when the older mobile networks shut down.
What features can I expect?
As an example of a modern button phone, we have the Nokia 3210 from HMD. It is not the old Nokia 3210 but a button mobile from 2024 that mimics its design. Compared to its predecessor, it is a noticeably lighter and thinner mobile, and compared to an iPhone 15, it is perhaps half the size and not much thicker. A light and handy thing, in other words, the price tag is just under 1000 kronor. The phone is entirely made of plastic, including the screen, which is not scratch-resistant.
Anyone who has ever had a button phone will recognize the Nokia 3210, it is striking how little development has occurred in this area over the past 15 years. Making a phone call is super easy, you just dial the number on the keypad (after unlocking the phone by pressing the select button, then star) and the call button.
But the time when you could remember people's numbers by heart also belongs to the past, and then you are forced to enter numbers into the phone's contact list. You can't sync it with Google or iPhone, but you can save up to 250 contacts on the SIM card, and if you're moving from an Android phone, you can first transfer contacts to the SIM card on your smartphone. Samsung's contact app has this function built-in, otherwise there are third-party apps that can solve it. Unfortunately, you can't transfer your contacts to the SIM card on an iPhone.
You can also send SMS of course, but you don't have a real keyboard, so you have to step through the letter combinations on a numeric keypad. For a certain segment, this might evoke warm nostalgic vibes, but it's not particularly fast or practical.
You can connect a headset to the phone, either with a cord or wirelessly with Bluetooth. You can also listen to music and take pictures (but more on that under limitations).
There is actually a web browser too, Opera Mini, but there's little risk of falling back into Internet addiction when you try to enter web addresses and read compressed and redrawn web pages.
There are a handful of games on the mobile, including Snake of course, but it's not the original version so it's doubtful if any real nostalgic vibes are awakened by it. There is also FM radio, a calculator, and a voice recorder.
The Nokia 3210 lacks Wi-Fi, and therefore also the function to share the Internet, but there are other Nokia button phones with Wi-Fi and Internet sharing, and with that function, you can use the phone to connect computers and tablets wirelessly.
Limitations and obstacles with a feature phone
The list of features you miss out on when you choose a feature phone instead of a smartphone can basically be made as long as you want. Missing out on features is part of the point if you use your feature phone to get rid of digital addiction. We will still list some common features you will be without as a basis for considering whether you can replace your smartphone with a feature phone.
There is no chat function other than SMS. If your family or friends usually chat via Whatsapp, Messenger, or similar, they cannot reach you on your mobile. Even regular SMS becomes more limited, today the messaging app in Android and iPhone is practically more than just SMS, you can get read receipts and send reactions and emojis via either Apple's iMessage or the RCS standard. The messages will still go through but may look uglier or be more limited in other ways. All text input must also be done via number keys with three letters on each key, which is slow and cumbersome.
New button phones have 4G, but not yet 5G, and sometimes, especially in cities, the coverage is worse for a mobile with only 4G connection.
The button phones do not support either Swish or Mobile BankID, two functions that make life in Sweden significantly more complicated if you are without them.
There is no map function in your button phone, so you cannot quickly look up places or navigate.
There is a calendar, but it is extremely limited compared to Apple's and Google's calendars, and you cannot synchronize your calendar with these.
You can take photos and listen to music, but the camera is extremely primitive by today's standards, and you cannot share your pictures in any simple way. For music, you can forget Spotify; you need to have MP3 files that you transfer to a memory card that you insert into the mobile, very cumbersome by today's standards.
Other ways to disconnect digitally
All smartphones have built-in tools that help you limit your screen time if you feel it's too much.
iPhone: If you have an iPhone, you can find these features under Settings/Screen Time. Here you can see how much time you use your phone over time, and how much time you spend with different apps, and you can set up limits for yourself. You can create schedules for or spontaneously turn on screen-free time. With this feature enabled, all apps are turned off except those you have specifically allowed and phone calls. You can also set a maximum time for each individual app that you can use per day.
Android: Under Settings, you will find a feature called Digital Wellbeing or something similar. Here you can see how much time you've spent with different apps, and you can set timers and time limits. The available features vary slightly depending on the manufacturer of the phone, but two additional features are Focus Mode, where you can set it so that only a limited number of apps are available while the rest cannot disturb you, and Bedtime Mode. Bedtime Mode dims the screen and sets it to grayscale, both as a reminder that it's time to sleep and as a way to make the phone a bit less appealing. Some manufacturers have additional features, and as an example, we can mention OnePlus Zen Space, which when enabled limits the phone in the ways you've chosen and encourages you by providing statistics on how much time you've used the phone in limited mode.
Of course, it is possible to bypass these limitations by going into the settings and changing them, but they can still serve as an aid and a reminder when you reflexively pick up your phone for the umpteenth time during the day.
