HMD Fusion review: Cheap modular Android phone
Maybe I have I’ve tested nearly 100 budget phones over the past 9 years, and I’ve never really had to worry about carrying a backup phone in case things go wrong. Budget phones are often slow but work well enough. But I almost immediately regretted not bringing a backup smartphone when I took the HMD Fusion on a short trip to another state.
The first model of this Android phone kept freezing and restarting on the way to the airport. Then, to panic me even more, it would boot to the home screen but my passcode wouldn’t work. “The password is incorrect.” What? Thankfully, a forced reboot gets it back to normal. However, throughout the weekend at my friend’s wedding in Kentucky, the Fusion would reboot itself repeatedly. It also refuses to boot sag—although that may have been a blessing because work was far from my mind the entire time.
HMD said they couldn’t reproduce my problem so the company sent me another device. It’s completely fine. It’s hard to suddenly switch gears after being so disappointed with this black monolith, but this is a $300 phone. It also has a trick that no other phone has these days: mods.
The return of modular phones
HMD may not be a name you’re familiar with, so in short, it’s a Finnish company that has licensed the Nokia brand to produce Nokia Android smartphone and feature phones (also known as dumb phones). They started doing this in 2017, but earlier this year the company announced that while it still makes Nokia phones, it also plans to make phones under its own name (which, by the way, is spelled stands for Human Mobile Devices). Its feature phone business also continues with larger collaborations such as Boring phone And Barbie phone.
HMD Fusion is one of those devices (also available horizon And vibe). It focuses on repairability — just unscrew a few screws and you can replace many parts, from the battery to the screen, and the company plans to maintain these parts for seven years. (Much of this is necessary to comply with upcoming plans law in the European Union.)
But what causes it? Actually The highlight is the pogo pins on the back. In fact, the entire back of the phone looks unfinished. That’s because you can attach “Outfits” as HMD calls them. These module components can change the look of your phone with different colored backs. They are not magnetically sticky like iPhone and MagSafe. Instead, these Costumes are like containers and pogo pins that transmit not only energy but also data.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
