I've seen them, and they are very annoying. Not having an address book is annoying, and not being able to receive text messages is just frustrating. It's an awesome idea, but not for use in real life.
John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
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Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#12It's good for old people and aggressive people that frequently like to throw their phones away, because they are cheap. Nobody else will buy it just because its got a "minimalist design". The iPhone has only one button.. seems even more minimalist.
It's not that cheap actually, compared to other 'cheap' cell phones. Typically those are around 40 euros, this one is twice that.
Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#13I want one but I live in Japan.
I swear, i never thought it would come tothat. Dunno why it won't work if my iPhone works :/
Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#14This is a very good idea executed poorly. SMS has become a way of life and you'll be receiving messages that you can not read, also a paper phonebook requires that you carry a pen with you.
Play it again, John, this time with a pager sized (text) display and I'll buy one.
edit: added the (text), it does have a display but can't display text messages.
Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#15I've seen them, and they are very annoying. Not having an address book is annoying, and not being able to receive text messages is just frustrating. It's an awesome idea, but not for use in real life.
Perhaps not for use in your life. I'm not a smartphone user and don't do text messages. I really like the idea of this phone because it strips away all the crap that I don't need.
Granted, if I did have a smartphone, or was a "power user" of my current phone, then perhaps I'd feel the same way as you do.
Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#16I don't think I could survive very long without an electronic address book.
It appears to have a paper phone book in the back behind a flap .. awesome.
We'll talk about how useful that is when you're in a non-ideal lighting condition trying to find a phone number and typing it in on the front.
I used to remember pretty much all the phone numbers of all my relatives and people I'm in contact with, even the international ones but with the coming of cell phones something else has happened: people switch phone numbers far more frequently today than they did in the past and the ability to re-program the phone but keep the mnemonic the same is actually far more useful than a piece of paper.
Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#17It did not get a very good review from Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/06/johns-phone-review-the-wo...
Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#18This is a very good idea executed poorly. SMS has become a way of life and you'll be receiving messages that you can not read, also a paper phonebook requires that you carry a pen with you. Play it again, John, this time with a pager sized (text) display and I'll buy one. edit: added the (text), it does have a display but can't display text messages.
I think this is a good idea and has been executed pretty well, I don't think this is necessarily aimed at the HN crowd, but possibly at the HN crowd's grandparents.
I'm sure there are some pretty switched on grand parents out there, but I don't fancy the idea of sending my grandmother an SMS. I'd need to call her and no doubt visit her to explain the whole SMS thing.
I have a friend with a parent who is getting on in years, she described a device very similar to this "If only something like this existed" - I've just sent her the link, I imagine a purchase will follow soon after.
Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#19I always wanted something like the old Nokia 7280 for a second (small) phone for times when I don't want to carry my expensive smartphone but I could never get myself to buy a second phone... http://www.livingroom.org.au/cameraphone/images/thumbnails/1...
In terms of simplicity and resistance nothing beats Nokia 3310 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_3310), for me at least. I even threw it against a concrete wall once, it all dissembled into several pieces, but after I had re-assembled them back it was as new.
Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone
#20More expensive than a phone that can do more? Laughable pretentious rubbish.