One of our readers sent us a tip about the HMD 106 Pure – a feature phone that appears on an online store in Pakistan, but that we couldn’t find on HMD.com. We did find an HMD 105 Pure that uses an older design, though.
The HMD 106 Pure looks a lot like the HMD 101. However, it’s powered by a different chipset, the Unisoc 6531E. It still only has basic GSM connectivity – this means that it can’t be used in regions that have already or will soon sundown their 2G networks. This chip is used in other models, e.g. the HMD 102, but that one has a camera – if you can call the 320 x 240p module a “camera”.
Anyway, the HMD 106 Pure is super cheap – it only costs PKR 3,250, which converts to $12 / £9 / €10. Okay, there is a PKR 250 delivery fee from this store too, but the point stands – this is on the same level as a cup of Starbucks coffee. The store only lists Dark Gray and Teal Green colors, though it also shows a blue version.
HMD 106 Pure in: Dark Gray • Teal Green • An unnamed blue color
This basic feature phone has features too – some of which you won’t find on your $1,000 flagship. Of course, we’re looking at the 3.5mm headphone jack (and FM radio receiver) and microSD slot (supporting cards up to 32GB) when we say that.
The rest of the spec sheet… well, there isn’t much. The phone has a QQVGA display, which is an old way of saying 120 x 160px resolution. It runs S30+ like most of the other HMD feature phones. And it has a 1,000mAh battery – that’s as big as some smartwatch batteries these days.
HMD 106 Pure
Okay, we didn’t really expect anything more for $12. The HMD 106 Pure is meant to be the most basic mobile phone possible. At this price we’re just glad that it doesn’t have a rotary dial and a cable plugged into the wall.
Thanks for the tip!