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Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

nytimes.com

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Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#111

Post by icebraining »

John_KZ wrote: post #89
cglouch wrote: post #67

I'm still using my "dumb phone" from 2010. I like it cause it has a physical keyboard, a long battery life, and I can drop it without worrying about breaking the screen. Plus I don't have to worry about the privacy issues that come from apps collecting data. Honestly the only feature I feel like I'm missing out on is GPS. But I've actually found that not having GPS improves my sense of direction, since I force myself…

The two things I've missed without a smartphone is maps and the ability to find phone numbers and addresses of businesses on the fly. Other than that, there's no substantial reason to carry a smartphone. It's funny how much R&D was used up to build what essentially is a digital phone book.

I, on the other hand, don't use it to find phone numbers and addresses of businesses, but use it all the time to download and listen to podcasts. Each person might only have a couple of important uses, that doesn't mean the total set is small.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#112

Post by megaman22 »

reaperducer wrote: post #95
megaman22 wrote: post #32

Why do people hold up the NY Times as such a great newspaper? There's been like 8 stories from them on here today, and it's the same repeated drivel they trot out every two or three weeks, on the same topics, and the same low-energy arguments. My flag button is wearing out.

>Why do people hold up the NY Times as such a great newspaper? Because it's been in business for 167 years, and in that time has changed the course of history and our understanding of the world around us multiple times. What have you done today?

> What have you done today?

Considerably more real work than I usually do...

A full third of the front page as I look right now is nytimes, bloomberg, wsj, theguardian, and other fairly junk mainstream news sites. Must be a slow day for the bloggers and people actually writing about technology.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#113

Post by alistairSH »

samwalrus wrote: post #93
alistairSH wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does that work for cellular plans? Are you in the US? In the US, most carriers won't enable a portable without a linked phone. And you pay an extra monthly fee for the portable ($15-$20, I think).

I am in the uk, I just have a normal sim in the watch which I pay £10 a month for.

Sometimes I hate the US. ;)

We pay somewhere on the order of $40/month for a smartphone plan. And if we add a watch, that's another $10-$20/month.

No option to use just a wearable.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#114

Post by braindongle »

phil248 wrote: post #23

The article uses the word "phone" about 40 times. Based on my own usage patterns, I don't even have a phone. I have a portable computer. I happen to use it to make phone calls a few times every week. I use my desktop to make video calls a few times a month, but I don't call that a phone. We all know a smartphone is a computer, and I'm not trying to be pedantic about the words we use, but I think our insistence that t…

I for one am fine with the idea that 'phone' means something different now. That's how important smart phones are. They changed the meaning of 'phone' in under a decade. I disagree that this skews the conversation about them. People know how often they use the "phone" app. Nobody thinks "phones taking over our lives" means people are using them for voice communication too much.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#115

Post by FRex »

The Light Phone 2 features are very poor[0].

Any dumb mobile phone from mid 2000s has those that are guaranteed in [1], they also don't run a modified Android but a bespoke locked down OS, cost less (Light Phone 2 is available for $300 as preorder on IndieGoGo and MSRP seems to be $400), have a physical keyboard, some games, colorful display, email, etc.

There are even some not so bad smart phones that cost less than $200 or $300.

I'd also expect things like calculator, GPS, unit and currency converters, weather, dictionary, directions, maps, etc. to definitely be in since they don't fight for attention and are pure utility tools that one only uses when absolutely needed, not to procrastinate.

I also own an old 8 GB black Creative Zen Style 300 media player[2] from like 2010 or 2011 that is like 7x3x1 cm, cost me like 180-190 PLN (22% or 23% of that is VAT) or so at the time and it decimates Light Phone 2 with regards to almost all non-phone non-online features.

I'd consider myself as audience for a featureful utilitarian dumb phone but not for something like Light Phone.

I wish there was an ARM flip phone (I love these as long as the hinge is good and the plastic thick), with physical keyboard (I love them when they're good), dual SIM, 1 or 2 GB of RAM, few GB of storage, SD card, low res software rendered displays (main one and one on the back when flip phone is closed) that you could code yourself against almost bare metal in pure C, calling some built in APIs when you want to make a phone call, use data transfer, access storage, etc. to truly own and personalize every aspect of it.

[0] - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-phone-2-design#/

[1] - https://c1.iggcdn.com/indiegogo-media-prod-cld/image/upload/...

[2] - https://imgur.com/a/QdMdHxN

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#116

Post by hawski »

gjs278 wrote: post #56
SamReidHughes wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spend a few minutes looking at a map before the trip?

road closed. detours. insane levels of traffic you didn't anticipate. have fun.

I had twice in a short time span a closed road that Google Maps did not know anything about.

It was useless, because it constantly routed me to the closed segment of the road. I had to manually select some far away point to finally get it to ignore the road almost completely, because I did not know how much of it was closed.

One was on a German side of a major highway connecting Germany and Poland. The other on Berlin's main highway. It was after midnight so it was a challenge, but it probably was a scheduled maintenance.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#117

Post by nradov »

combatentropy wrote: post #81

People would be better off if they turned off the notifications. Even better would be if notifications were at first off, rather than on. Your phone should ring for calls and beep for text messages, and that's about it. Well, it should buzz if you set an alarm. But it should not interrupt you for an email or post on Facebook. Each app you install has all notifications on at first too. I think it would be healthier fo…

Why is an email less important than a text message?

Large screens are great. You can see more without scrolling.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#118

Post by Ngunyan »

cabaalis wrote: post #13
alchemism wrote: post #6

I've just abandoned using a smartphone in favor of a $20 dumb Alcatel phone that can only do three things: calls, alarms, and an FM radio. It doesn't even vibrate. I offloaded every other functional use into my tablet, in this case an iPad Pro. The phone battery lasts for days on standby; I can drain my tablet battery without concern. I can leave the tablet at home if I want to stay light or if I want to stay focused…

I'm interested in doing something similar. Does the tablet have cell? What do do you when out and about, away from wifi, and need something? How do you carry the tablet around?

Google for a tablet model with a SIM card in it. Then apply for a shared data plan between it and the mobile. I use one.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#119

Post by icebraining »

reaperducer wrote: post #107
icebraining wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPS doesn't need data, just use an offline maps app on the tablet. HERE is okay, Google Maps nowadays also lets you download areas to use offline, and there are multiple apps that can use OpenStreetMap data.

You must live a very boring life if you never go anywhere other than where you plan to at the beginning of the day.

I do live a boring life! And I like that way!

But that doesn't follow from what I wrote. I keep my whole country plus the neighboring one on my tablet. And airports tend to have Wifi :)

Nowadays storage is cheap. The entire North American continent extract of OSM takes less than 8GB. Buy a cheap mini-SD card and you can carry the whole world map around.

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