Basic Android phone with fancy skin, what am I missing? I suppose their custom launcher app might be neat, but I'm not sure I'd buy complete phone just for that..
Check out Siempo (www.getsiempo.com), a new launcher with a similar mission.
Blloc – minimalist smartphone
101–110 of 174 posts
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#10250K 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.
we didn't accept money so far and won't till we have working phones reviewed by youtubers. The pre-order just reserves u a spot as we're doing limited batches. and oh boy I wish we had 50k on marketing, the website & content is done part-time by the same team working on the OS.
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#103Any other details about the OS? Is it an Android? How are the applications managed and what's their update pipeline? Are they whitelisted and managed by the manufacturer's own App Store? What's the privacy policy like? How often will it issue updates? I really like the display. I've been waiting for a phone with minimalistic display to save battery ever since the Motofone F3. But there's way too little information th…
we def. screwed up communication as we've been focused lately on finishing hardware. its based on Android 8.1 and the apps are downloaded via play-store normally. We don't white or black list, but rather are going through the most used apps and building easier integrations for them
What's the differentiating feature between the Blloc and all the other black rectangles that run Android?
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lots of companies sell Android devices without explicitly calling it Android. The most notable example is Amazon (Android - without GApps - is the OS on pretty much everything in the Fire line, e.g. Fire Tab and Fire TV). In other words, I think you've got it backwards: you're not allowed to use Google's branding/trademarks (including "Android") unless you have authorization from Google. Meanwhile, I'm not aware of a…
Incorrect. Look at the specs page: OS Android O (8.0) It's not just that it's not visible, it's the Blloc is pretending they invented an entire new os ("Blloc OS"). Amazon Fire is a different story, because they package their own app store ( not the Google Play Store). But Blloc is loading the Play Store. I am fairly sure that a requirement of doing so means you have to accept the Google branding (i.e. you have to ca…
oxygenOS ? lineageOS ?
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#105I 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/
we actually tried copperhead at the very beginning as our base, too slow unfortunately.
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#106"The root" is an exact copy of BlackBerry 10's Hub and sounds great. The problem with all these new phones is they can't secure enough funding or developer attention to ever take off. Not to mention hostility from third party app providers like Facebook. This is android based which is great, but how the heck is The Root supposed to work? I don't think it's possible with closed APIs and walled gardens. You chat with y…
For a while now people have bypassed Facebook's API restrictions for chat and news-feed by using the "mbasic" webpage version. It's pretty trivial to get around most of their API hostility. How long that'll last I don't know, but it's a pretty important service for connecting people in places with very low bandwidth.
But... That said, building one decent chat app is a massive time sink in itself. Then do this for many different popular apps with massively varied features (Google maps, Uber, etc) - then build that all into Android, then build the hardware - this phone isn't going to be released for years.
Note that it's a pre-order and not an order, it's just not ready yet and likely will never be ready at their price point. They'll get less backers than they expect, burn through the cash faster than they want and will struggle to meet their promise. As other comments have points out, they're better off starting with lower expectations and a website people can use. That's all just assuming it's not a scam.
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#107Any other details about the OS? Is it an Android? How are the applications managed and what's their update pipeline? Are they whitelisted and managed by the manufacturer's own App Store? What's the privacy policy like? How often will it issue updates? I really like the display. I've been waiting for a phone with minimalistic display to save battery ever since the Motofone F3. But there's way too little information th…
Indeed, I'm immensely curious about the OS (I'm an unabashed OS junkie) and if it's not Android based I want one just to dig into that part of it. Beyond that, the display and the GUI are absolutely gorgeous. I was always a fan of Microsoft's flat design for Windows Phone, and this takes it to another level of minimalism. I'm drooling over here.
Edit: I see below that it's Android based after all. I still love the way it looks but it's a hard pass. :-(
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#108Devices like this intrigue me but the price always seems way too high. I wonder if anyone will actually come up with a minimalist phone that has a minimalist price to match.
honestly its the lowest thats technically possible to sell. Good components just cost that much. After vat our margin is around 35 (pre-retail) which is lower than most vendors, meaning if we sell to retail we wont make a cent. it just costs that much to get tested, working components with decent manufacturing. If you find good specs cheaper trust me they used B-grade components that will break down sooner or later.
I both disagree with your assertion, and find it sad that michaelmior is being downvoted.
My wife uses the moto G Play. As I told a coworker when I saw this post: Either our expectations of "minimal" or the english language has gotten entirely out of wack, because 350 pounds for a smartphone is so far from minimal as to be laughable. Maybe a "minimal flagship" (and this is where I'm inclined to think the gap between your view on this and mine is, where you said 'if you find good specs cheaper'. Perhaps my view on "good" is a much lower bar, but I'm perfectly happy with my 60$, 5 year old Lumia, and find it to be _far more minimal_, while directly challenging your "break down sooner or later" assertion; I've had droid flagships that didn't last as long.)
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#109Trying to do hardware and software simultaneously from the start is going to kill this project. Pick one and get it right; let the lessons from that inform the next phase. It looks like you're building a pretty generic device with an interesting software stack, so I'd start by making the software shine, and leveraging e.g. LineageOS to get an install base. Once you have feedback from a good swath real users you can l…
well put advice. However countless projects started the software route and never managed to go beyond step 1. We're focusing on HW atm, offering a great price point, great experience, insurance and using as much off the shelve software as possible. Offering a complete working package that just works right now. And installing the software one by one
Re: Blloc – minimalist smartphone
#110Nice design. I also like the idea of built in insurance (but only 12 months, seriously?). Fact that it runs Android kills the case for me, though.