Dumbphones have cameras, so if you can't or don't want to remember a map, you can take its photo. My short term memory if good enough for that. Random installable apps are really the only edge smartphones have.
This kind of compromise probably sounds reasonable to someone trying to break an intractable smartphone addiction.
But as someone who has never really had a problem with my smartphone, taking photos of a map and trying to pan around on a dumb phone sounds like pure torture. I can’t imagine it working well for any of the locations I actually need to pull up a map for, which are almost exclusively far away and require long sets of directions.
I guess the idea is that over time you'd learn to navigate without needing the turn by turn instructions that a smartphone spits out - like how people used to do it. It wouldn't just be to break smartphone dependence, but to gain a sense of direction if that makes sense?
Though your point about the phone/map telling you if the shop is open or not is a pretty strong advantage
Serious question: Is there a dumbphone that has a camera that is even remotely near a flagship from the last year or two? (Pixel/iPhone/Samsung) I wouldn't realistically carry around a camera everywhere because of bulk/UX, yet I (and most people) do care about having a pretty decent camera to take photos day to day.
Part of the reason modern flagships take such great pictures is computational photography. A dumbphone almost by definition can't do that, even if the optics were equal.
In 2022 I did a year long stint on a Nokia 110 4G and I carried a Canon PowerShot G7X Mark 3 around. It's a one inch sensor compact camera that fit my pocket just as well as my smartphone did (and since there's nothing to do but make phone calls and text with a super shitty UX that phone lived in my backpack). The UX for a camera is more annoying depending on how and why you take pictures. It does force you to be a little more mindful and focused on what you're doing though.
