Blloc – minimalist smartphone • Hacker News Board

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#91

Post by ManFromUranus » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:22 PM UTC

cryodesign wrote: post #84

Who designed this site? Readability is very poor. 8px font size for the 'pre-order' button, really? And the contrast ratio is pretty low too. Please, don't hire designers who just care about the graphic design aspect and making it look beautiful, but a pain to use, i.e. totally neglect usability. Erik Spiekermann said it best (enable english captions): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw0syzCeH4Q

I don't doubt that the phone is going to be a physical implementation of the site's aesthetic, so it will be beautifully unuseable

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#92

Post by ggggtez » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:26 PM UTC

crsv wrote: post #83

50K for the marketing campaign to probably 200K in pre-orders for a product that will never ship. Not a bad 4X return on investment for the founding team.

My conclusion exactly. These guys clearly missed the boat on fake phones. Fake ICO is where the real money is.

The little information that is on the site about the specs of the phone has massive vaporware smell.

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#93

Post by ggggtez » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:28 PM UTC

yitchelle wrote: post #76

Just a warning on the name. Phonetically, it could sound very close to bullock, or bullocks (if multiple of them). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollocks

I think it's on purpose, because it's a fake marketing site designed to steal the money of gullible people.

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#94

Post by adhambadr » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:28 PM UTC

thinkxl wrote: post #52

So, I'll give some unsolicited recommendations for your website, regarding accessibility: - The contrast between the body text and background is to low; it makes it difficult for people with visual impairments to use the website. - Font size and font weight, the font is too thin and adding this to the low color contrast, it makes it even more difficult to read. - Images that don't add meaning (textually) to the page,…

thx for taking the time, will consider the feedback in our re-launch (we were working already on making our pos better) this thread took us by surprise while reworking it

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#95

Post by uncletaco » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:29 PM UTC

cryodesign wrote: post #87

You should feature Signal in your app section.

It would really mean something to all twelve of us.

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#96

Post by jjrh » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:32 PM UTC

01001010 wrote: post #72

Does anybody know of any projects similar to this one (and Light Phone 2 [1]) but for desktop OS in laptop format? Apple's products of late does not interest me and I'm stuck with my beloved 2013 MacBook Air until it dies or something better comes along. I have yet to find something better. I long for a laptop purposely designed for productivity, simplicity and minimalism. Ideally with a custom designed OS (could jus…

Lot of people want eink on a laptop (including myself) - mostly for the benefit that it's readable in the sun and low power. My understanding is the refresh rate is still too slow and the cost of a large panel is pretty high.

I'd just grab a used thinkpad, chromebook, whatever and treat it as a dumb terminal. Pretty much how I used my laptop these days, ssh -X to a powerful machine and go. emacs --daemon / emacsclient (and of course a couple tmux/screen sessions) means I never lose my state.

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#97

Post by adhambadr » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:34 PM UTC

kennysmoothx wrote: post #60

Looks fake. Do you have any working versions of the phone? A video of the phone being used? All pictures look like renders, not real devices. Not sure who would pre-order something with such little information.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgHeTAjFlmZ/, https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdxps6lHBE2 are not renders, yes we have working versions of phones. We're not accepting any money before youtube reviewers post their reviews (June) for now pre-ordering right now just reserves you a spot

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#98

Post by garyfirestorm » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:35 PM UTC

I am totally looking for a phone like this which serves the minimalism purpose.

All I need is Calling, SMS, Whatsapp, Browsing (HN), News Occasionally, Email, Calendar, Navigation (maybe Uber)

Apart from the Black and White UI and amazing looking device, why is this any different than installing Copperhead[0] on Pixel XL and sideloading chosen apps?

https://copperhead.co/android/

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#99

Post by jjrh » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:36 PM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #68

aw3c2 wrote: post #43

I was excited as long as I assumed this would be E-Ink.

It is odd how that has not happened in the mobile phone form factor or even as part of an add on case. I do think you have a point in that there should be marketspace for what the old Nokia was - something that could stay on all week without babysitting the battery. Website accessibility is possibly an important part of this, if everyone wrote proper responsive websites that met accessibility standards to look good o…

> I do think you have a point in that there should be marketspace for what the old Nokia was - something that could stay on all week without babysitting the battery.

There is, besides aliexpress which has a huge selection (including nokia knockoffs) most carriers have a couple super budget non smart phones.

Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone

#100

Post by adhambadr » Tue, Apr 24, 2018, 9:40 PM UTC

nickles wrote: post #69

kennysmoothx wrote: post #60

Looks fake. Do you have any working versions of the phone? A video of the phone being used? All pictures look like renders, not real devices. Not sure who would pre-order something with such little information.

EDIT: Given the presence Blloc has established online, it's likely that this is a real project. My apologies to adhambadr and the rest of the team. ------------------- I noticed this as well. The images of the device are entirely inconsistent with one another [0]. * Rendering effects are visible in some of the images * The front is displayed inconsistently. In some renders, a speaker is shown. In others, it is absent…

not sure how to proof we're legit, but here are some more links : from berlin university (https://bit.ly/2vDJHSs) & our trademark registration : https://bit.ly/2HoiXed (why would we bother if it was a scam?)

pictures are a mix of renders and post edited photos, the models changed over time as we tested / verified components