Nokia is back with four new feature phones, and this time the headline isn’t nostalgia — it’s a button. Right in the middle of the D-pad, where you’d expect the “OK” key on any classic brick phone, HMD has wedged in a dedicated AI assistant button. Press it, and the phone talks back.
The four models — Nokia 200 4G, 210 4G, 215 4G 2nd Edition, and 235 4G 2nd Edition — are otherwise exactly what you’d expect from a modern dumbphone. T9 keypad, headphone jack, microSD slot, FM radio on most of them.
No app store, no smartphone bloat. But now there’s a chatbot living inside a device built to help people escape chatbots.
How the AI Button Actually Functions
The assistant is powered by Sikey AI, a Shenzhen-based company, and it works entirely through voice. Hold the button and the phone listens, so instead of navigating menus, you just talk.
It can place calls, set alarms, flip on the torch, or answer basic questions — think quick recipes or how to say a phrase in another language. It’s less “AI companion” and more voice-command shortcut layered on top of a very old-school interface.
There’s a catch, though. The AI features are free for 180 days. After that, HMD wants roughly £3 a year in the EU and £2.25 elsewhere, and you’ll need a separate smartphone just to activate the subscription.
That last part is worth sitting with for a second — a phone marketed partly to people who don’t own smartphones now requires one to unlock a feature baked into its hardware.
The phones also come with a front camera for video calls through an app called Xpress Chat, which handles group chats, voice notes, photos, and emojis too. So it’s not a total return to 2008 — there’s clearly a modern communication layer sitting quietly underneath the retro shell.
Why the Reaction Has Been Mixed
Tech writers and dumbphone communities haven’t exactly welcomed this with open arms. The core complaint, and it’s a fair one, is that people buy these phones specifically to get away from constant digital assistance.
Slapping a chatbot button on a device meant for digital detox feels like missing the entire point of why someone chose it in the first place. One review put it bluntly, saying the button risks defeating the whole purpose of owning the phone.
I’d add a slightly different angle to that criticism. HMD hasn’t said which markets will get these phones yet, but earlier company statements point toward a specific audience: older users and people in regions where data is expensive or unreliable.
For that group, a voice button that can dial a number or check a phrase without typing on a tiny keypad isn’t a gimmick — it’s arguably the most useful part of the phone.
The tension here isn’t really about AI being bad on a dumbphone. It’s about HMD trying to serve two very different buyers with one device: the minimalist who wants silence, and the first-time or accessibility-focused user who wants help.
Whether that balancing act works will depend a lot on execution — how easy the button is to ignore, how pushy the subscription prompts get after six months, and whether Sikey AI’s assistant is genuinely helpful or just another thing nagging you to upgrade.
Nokia’s older feature phones, like the 2660 Flip, built their reputation on doing very little, very reliably. Adding an AI layer changes that calculus, even if the intentions behind it aren’t unreasonable.
Source: Dezeen, "Nokia Unveils Nostalgic Dumbphones with Dedicated AI Button"
