Didn’t look through this reddit post but it looked interesting:
Reddit user: Chemical-Method8780
I have been getting a lot of questions about the Sonim XP3 Plus 5G since I posted about it . I didn’t feel right recommending this phone far and wide because making it work for me REQUIRED developer mode. I got really far with my setup and mistakenly turned off Developer mode. I COULD NOT GET DEVELOPER MODE TO TURN ON A SECOND TIME USING THE SAME METHOD. I continued using this as my main phone because it was mostly set up the way I wanted. It nagged at me that I couldn’t get back to Developer Mode and worried that some new need for it would arise. Today I finally figured out how to turn developer mode on reliably and I am ready to recommend this phone. It’s not for the faint of heart to live this life though. You have to be committed to the alternative phone lifestyle. I would love to support folks considering this phone or those who are in the middle of setting it up just the same way reddit helped me get where I am today.
The Sonim XP3 Plus 5 G is the phone of my dreams. I hope for it to be my phone for the next 10 years
- Pros
- The right amount of friction to keep me from using my phone too much
- No touch screen
- It’s a flip phone, c’mon it’s the best form factor of phone created by man
- The battery life feels infinite
- 5G support with wifi tethering
- Android version 14 with the possibility of future updates and security updates
- Built like a tank but feels nice in the pocket
- All the apps (or at least workarounds) that I need to live in the modern world
- Outlook/Thunderbird for email
- Waze for navigation
- Discord
- Facebook Messenger
- Wyze for security cameras
- Spotify
- Fennec Browser
- FDroid/Aurora for App stores
- Before Launcher
- TT9 Keyboard
- $210 USD
- Works with TMobile $15 USD/Month prepaid plan
- Cons
- Plastic of the phone body is kinda creaky sometimes
- Keys are a little stiff
- I didn’t think the poor camera would be a big deal but not having autofocus is quite limiting
- Notifications are a little flaky with some apps
- I use both Thunderbird and Outlook for email, one for reliable notifications and the other to actually read email.
- Wyze notifications plain didn’t work so I had to use FTTT to notify me via email which does work (see above bullet)
- It randomly generates a LOT of notifications from it’s precise GPS hardware. This is probably a bug. I use an app called Notify Blocker to filter out unwanted notifications. Problem solved
To set up this phone for my liking took a few key foundational steps:
- Turning on Developer mode to side load the first few apps (in hindsight this might not be exactly necessary, but it’s way more convenient than trying to download the first few apps using the built in browser and installing apks that way)
- Virtual Mouse
- MATV version 1.03 (The newest version did not work)
- Switchboard to enable scrolling via volume keys
- Install FDroid and Aurora Store to get whatever other apps I need.
Pitfalls encountered along the way:
- Switching from an Android phone to a phone that only supports MMS required logging out of all RCS chats. This was worrisome because I was not getting all my MMS group texts. Once I did the global logout things started working just fine
- Turned on Developer Mode, then turned it off and couldn’t turn it on again
- At first dialing ##2387## allowed me to turn on developer mode, but once I turned it off I could not turn it back on again. Then I realized this method works reliably:
THE RELIABLE WAY TO TURN ON DEVELOPER MODE (thanks! https://www.reddit.com/user/amger/ )
- "In the Phone app, enter the following shortcode:
*#*#0701#*#*- Select the OPEN DIAG PROPERTY option."
- I wasn’t expecting this to work, so I didn’t check to see if it was this step that enabled Developer Options or if it was the next step.
- Hit the back button and navigate to Settings > About phone. Click on Build number 7 times.
- Note that you won’t get the typical popup message stating you are now a developer (at least, I didn’t).
- Navigate to Settings > System; upon scrolling down to the bottom of that menu, you should see Developer Options, which should be enabled by that point!"
After 4 months I feel like I finally have a phone that I can coexist with on my own terms. I would highly recommend it! I have no plans on changing to something else. This phone replaced my CAT S22 which I used for about 6 month before I switched to the SONIM.