My user experience of the HMD Arc smartphone: practical, repairable, affordable, and surprisingly reliable for daily use.
When the HMD Arc launched in the country, I was expecting a generic budget smartphone made of cheap plastic, running on laggy software, and a camera setup that barely works. But after using it for a good amount of time as my daily driver, I realized that this phone isn’t trying to be flashy or punch above its weight. It is doing something instead – it’s defining what a budget smartphone should prioritize in 2025, and that it should be reliable, practical, and surprisingly fixable.
Sure, it’s not going to walk away with awards from its performance benchmarks, and there’s no flashy AI camera wizardry. But the HMD Arc isn’t here to impress spec nerds. It’s here to be the affordable phone you don’t have to throw away when the battery wears out, and I find that quite revolutionary.
Design
Picking the phone up, the HMD Arc has a modest, minimal look. The clean back finish is interrupted by the subtle camera bump. Handling it feels very solid for a phone priced at Ksh 11,000. It’s not titanium or ceramic, but the material doesn’t shout cheap plastic.
More importantly, the phone is repairable. HMD’s sustainability goals extend from its premium smartphone to its entry-level device. The back can be popped off easily with little effort to replace the battery or other parts of the phone. In a world of glued-down glass slabs, its Gen 1 repairability feature makes the Arc stand out.
Besides that, HMD Arc is rated IP52/54 to handle water splashes, which, for day-to-day life, is more than enough. Don’t take it swimming, though.
The Arc sports a 6.52-inch HD+ screen with a 60Hz refresh rate and 460 nits of brightness – decent enough even outdoors. It’s not AMOLED or has a high refresh rate, but it’s perfectly usable. The colours are slightly cool, and the viewing angles aren’t that amazing, but there are no glaring issues. This screen does the job – no frills. I enjoyed consuming multimedia content – from watching TikTok videos and Reels to browsing the web.
Read also – HMD Arc: A Stylish, Repairable Smartphone That Lasts
Performance
Running the show is a Unisoc SC9863A processor that comes paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage. It’s not the latest chipset and you’ll feel it when opening heavy apps or heavy gaming, or multitasking. But it ships with Android 14 Go, which makes the experience smoother than I expected. It is also set to get quarterly security updates for 2 years.
Basic light tasks are manageable, from texting, watching YouTube, light web browsing, and light gaming. When you push it too far, you’ll be reminded you’re using a budget smartphone. But for someone who just wants a dependable smartphone for everyday use, the HMD Arc holds up.
And even with limited RAM, you get additional Virtual RAM up to 4GB, which stretches its performance a little further. While this feature won’t magically turn the Arc into a gaming beast, it helps with multiple app switching and general responsiveness.
Cameras
The HMD Arc isn’t a camera smartphone. But for a budget phone, the 13MP main camera is surprisingly good in daylight, and lowlight performance is a hit or miss – but on most occasions, it was pretty decent thanks to the included Night mode.
You also get a 5MP front-facing camera, and I liked taking portrait selfies with it. However, it’s soft and noisy when the sun sets. But overall, it held its own when compared to other entry-level smartphones. It didn’t blow anything away, but you get accurate colours and photos less aggressively processed. The HMD Arc will work well if you need a point-and-shoot camera in your pocket. Just don’t expect 4K video(video recording is capped at 1080p for both cameras) or optical zoom.
Battery Life
The HMD Arc earns real points when it comes to its battery. Yo have a 5000mAh battery that just keeps going. With light use, you can get over two full days – if you only text, stream music or movies and browse social media. If you’re a heavy user, the phone will give you a full day without battery anxiety issues.
The Type-C cable’s charging is capped at 10W, which is pretty slow. But honestly, at this price, I’ll take its longevity over fast charging.
Verdict
If you’re looking to be wowed by specs or outstanding design flourishes, the HMD Arc won’t do that. But what the phone delivers is the essentials which include a big battery, a dependable camera setup, repairable design and clean software at a price you can’t argue with. And that’s what the Arc exactly does.
The phones comprimises are thoughtful. The intention of why the Arc exists is clear – build something that lasts, costs less and doesn’t turn into e-waste in two years. And that in 2025 os mor eradical than it sounds.
Pricing and Availability
HMD Arc is available in the country starting from Ksh 11,000, and you can buy it from HMD’s website, Kilimall, FoneXpress, Avi Communication, and PhonePlace Kenya.
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