It’s not every day that a tech CEO throws his phone down on the ground before my feet, so when that happened with Punkt’s Petter Neby this week at MWC, it’s safe to say I was intrigued. Punkt, stylized as “Punkt.” in the company’s wordmark, is about putting a full stop to the distractions and diversions of modern life. Its phones are the postmodern anti-flagship devices that suggest that maybe their users don’t need the internet with them every waking moment of every day.

Nebby was talking me through the intent behind the Punkt MP02’s minimalist design when, without warning, he threw his personal phone to the ground, then picked it up, and texted his wife about Belgian potatoes. I’d heard of but never seen the original Punkt MP01, which the MP02 is (almost) physically identical to, and so I was both surprised and amused by the small stunt. The hardware design, Nebby tells me, is basically set. The company has no plans to change that, and upon handling and playing with the MP02, I can see why. The MP design combines ruggedness with character and a timeless minimalism that’ll look striking decades from now. The buttons and shape of this phone are pleasing to touch and to hold, and the overall construction has a high-end feel that belies the primitive hardware and capabilities contained within.

Many will balk at the $349 price of the MP02, and that is indeed a big outlay for a gadget that does little more than one of the rebooted Nokia feature phones of recent times. In spite of having a 4G radio, the MP02 can’t access the internet at all. In spite of being based on Android, it has no apps. Plus it doesn’t let you do anything with its 16GB of internal storage, and the fanciest bit of multimedia you’ll get out of it are some bespoke ringtones. So why would you bother?

Punkt’s argument is that its phone’s omissions are a strength rather a hindrance

Because attention and focus are the most scarce human resources of our modern time and lifestyle. Because I can’t unlock my Android pocket supercomputer to do one single task without being interrupted by multiple others — Slack and Twitter and Telegram notifications will inevitably pull me away into doing something additional to my original intent. There must be a way to pare all of this down, and devices like the Punkt MP02 are trying to provide the solution.

The 4G inclusion on the MP02, courtesy of a Snapdragon 210 chip, is intriguing. It shows a company that isn’t a total Luddite, and it allows users to tether their more advanced computer to the MP02 for a cellular connection when they need it. Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is another advantage that the MP02 can enjoy, though so far it’s only supported in Europe, with the United States to come by June.

‘Every pixel is designed’

My impression of the Punkt MP02 is an overwhelmingly positive one. It feels great to use, and it has subtle design niceties that enhance and amplify that sense. The animations, for example, are built around a concept of “cutting the line,” and so each transition between the text-based menus happens with a slicing animation. Nebby says of the MP02’s interface that “every pixel is designed,” and it feels that way.

Indicators on the lock screen only appear when there’s something to show: if your battery isn’t close to running out or your mobile signal is strong, they just hide in an easily accessible submenu. Nebby puts the idea nicely when he says, “if there’s no indicator, that means everything is fine.” This is the crux of the Punkt philosophy: at a time when every other phone works hard to agitate a user’s interest and solicit their attention, the Punkt phone wants to reassure you that things are fine and you can probably focus on whatever it is that you’re doing in the analog world.

I’ve seen more mispriced gadgets than this one. The Punkt MP02 does calls, texts, and serves as a handy 4G hotspot when required. It also looks and feels great, and its 2-inch monochrome screen will likely never break. What more do we really need from our phones?

Grid View Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge



Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge

Photography by Vlad Savov / The Verge