MAKERphone 2.0 is on pre-order and has not shipped yet, so this is what we have announced so far; the product page is updated as details are settled.
eSIM. MAKERphone 2.0 takes a standard physical nano-SIM card. It does not support eSIM.
Keeping your number. Your number belongs to your SIM and carrier plan, not the phone, so moving the nano-SIM from your current phone into MAKERphone 2.0 brings your number with it. If your number is on an eSIM, ask your carrier about a physical nano-SIM, or get a separate SIM and use MAKERphone 2.0 as a second phone.
Your phone bill. Building the phone does not replace your plan: calls and texts still need a SIM and a carrier plan, and prepaid is fine. Without a SIM, it still plays games and music, runs modules and connects to Wi-Fi.
Calls and texts. With a SIM in, it makes ordinary calls and sends and receives SMS texts, like any mobile phone. Whether it works on your network depends on bands and VoLTE: see Will MAKERphone 2.0 work with my SIM card and mobile network?
WhatsApp and other apps. MAKERphone 2.0 is not an Android or iOS phone. It runs our own firmware with no app store, browser or social media, so WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube and other smartphone apps cannot be installed. Instead, you code your own apps and games with VibeBoy, MicroPython or Arduino C++.
Going off grid. Calls and texts go through your carrier's cell towers, as on any phone. Where there is no signal, the LoRa module lets two MAKERphone 2.0 phones that each have one text each other directly over long-range radio, with no SIM, Wi-Fi or towers. It comes in the Pro Module Pack: see MAKERphone 2.0: how to get one, shipping and the LoRa module.
Mesh and Meshtastic. MAKERphone 2.0 does not run Meshtastic. Its LoRa texting is our own phone-to-phone messaging, separate from Meshtastic.
If any of this decides whether you pre-order, message us here, or email [email protected], and a colleague will tell you what is known so far.