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John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone

johnsphones.com

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Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone

#131

Post by andresmh »

jacquesm wrote: post #14

This 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 don't use SMS at all. I do use email a lot, so for me what would be ideal is an e-ink Android device. Right now I'm getting about 3 hrs of battery when I use the phone non-stop for data-related things. Very annoying.

Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone

#133

Post by drivingmenuts »

jacquesm wrote: post #31
rubidium wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Anyone who texts shouldn't buy this phone. However, I would say that it's not aimed at SMS'ers and as such is not executed poorly. Strikes me to have two major markets: (1) people who only want to talk to people via phones (e.g. some of the elderly) and (2) as a fashionable item. The gold one would be a head-turner and topic of conversation. Some people want to get rid of SMS from their way of life (or never…

> hark back for simpler times. When it comes to phones I go through alternating phases of high-tech and as simple as it gets, mostly because I get frustrated at how bad high tech phones usually work as phones (they're great little computers, but I mostly use my phone to call). SMS is no longer optional, even if you want to get rid of it, typically service messages are only sent using SMS, not voice and people will si…

> SMS is no longer optional, even if you want to get rid of it, typically service messages are only sent using SMS, not voice and people will simply assume that even if you didn't respond that you still read their SMS message saying they'll be an hour late.

And they'll be wrong.

And an hour late.

I would argue that politeness requires the sender to contact the receiver in a manner of the receiver's choosing, not the sender's, while the receiver should not go to extremes to avoid the sender.

Lack of SMS is the normal, passive state and since there is no legal or social requirement to have it, I wouldn't consider not having it impolite at all.

Odd, perhaps, if one takes the receiver's demographic into account, but not impolite.

Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone

#135

Post by roel_v »

eelco wrote: post #128
roel_v wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I found strange though is to see that it's from an Amsterdam-based company. Maybe it's different Out There In The West but in most of the Netherlands, iPhones aren't a big deal, and we don't have US-style hipsters at all.

Uh, in which part of the Netherlands do you live?

Dirty South Maastricht, so maybe these peasants here just aren't hip to what's hip ;)

(disclaimer: I'm culturally close enough to the people here to get to say that ;) )

Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone

#136

Post by spazmaster »

jacquesm wrote: post #70
roel_v wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh wow, didn't realize phones had really gotten that cheap. I did do a quick vergelijk.nl search before posting but I guess they got buried under the bundles that I got.

tweakers pricewatch ftw.

never thought tweakers would be mentioned on HN.

Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone

#137

Post by podperson »

jacquesm wrote: post #14

This 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.

It also requires instructions in order to figure out the quickdial function... which is more than I've ever needed for my iPhone. (BTW my toddlers can work iOS devices just fine.)

Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone

#138

Post by yason »

Where are all the phones that are minimalist in size?

We used to have quite small phones in the turn of 90's—00's but now that the smartphones are everywhere, and even for non-smartphones everyone is assumed to want internet and lots of features, the current phones are so big and come with such a big screens that my first Nokia 1611 has stopped looking like stoneage in comparison.

Something similar to MacBook Air but a phone would be cool.

Thickness closer to 5mm than 10mm. Slightly larger than a USB stick. A clamshell design would be a must to make it long enough to reach both ears and proximity to mouth. Something that you can certainly lose in your pocket, something almost invisible.

We could certainly manufacture those these days.

Re: John's Phone: a minimalist cell phone

#140

Post by bane »

yason wrote: post #138

Where are all the phones that are minimalist in size ? We used to have quite small phones in the turn of 90's—00's but now that the smartphones are everywhere, and even for non-smartphones everyone is assumed to want internet and lots of features, the current phones are so big and come with such a big screens that my first Nokia 1611 has stopped looking like stoneage in comparison. Something similar to MacBook Air bu…

Better yet, just fit a phone inside a USB earpiece and put a tiny dialpad on it (or perhaps shrink a rotary dial, turn it sideways like a volume roller and stick it in there). You should double purpose the roller as a selector for a minimal oled display showing just a couple lines of text so you could at least keep a phone book.
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