The Light Phone • Hacker News Board

Re: The Light Phone

#31

Post by war1025 » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:49 AM UTC

onli wrote: post #13

trox wrote: post #7

I wonder where this is heading. The original light phone (version 1 if I remember correctly) was simply for calling and very minimalistic. To that I am a bit disappointed that they are adding more features instead of cutting prices.

There were some background articles explaining they had to. The first version was too minimalist, not even the phone makers ended up using them. The set of the absolutely necessary services for a phone is bigger than one would think and it differs more - does it include maps? taxi services? texting? Answer will vary a lot, and by making it too minimalist they would end up satisfying no one. It's interesting to see ex…

> It's interesting to see exactly that happening in the comments here - "if it only had X, Y and Z I would buy it".

The classic response of anyone not financially invested in a product. Hopefully they follow through with their intention not to throw in the kitchen sink rather than burn all their resources trying to attract a picky customer base that has no intention of ever actually buying the phone.

Re: The Light Phone

#32

Post by jxcl » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:50 AM UTC

ITT: People complaining that a purposefully minimalist phone doesn't have the very specific feature that they want.

If the point is to be reachable by a loved one in an emergency and nothing else, this seems like a reasonable option.

Re: The Light Phone

#33

Post by ogre_codes » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:51 AM UTC

This isn't much in terms of value or functionality. You can buy a low end iPhone and just not install any apps and get more functionality and utility. I guess if you are on the road and need multi-week battery life??? Even then, it's easy enough to plug into your car outlet.

Re: The Light Phone

#34

Post by war1025 » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:52 AM UTC

sprafa wrote: post #9

oh_sigh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also only texting, not WhatsApp or other messaging platforms.

If it had texting, Uber and maps I’d buy it. Really unfortunate

It has texting. They are developing a "taxi" feature, which I think they'd be dumb not to integrate Uber into. And they have a screenshot of a "directions" app.

Maybe still too early to rule it out entirely.

Re: The Light Phone

#35

Post by hinkley » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:54 AM UTC

martin-adams wrote: post #20

hinkley wrote: post #8

I'm curious to see what would happen if someone made a simple phone that behaved as an access point. Hook up my watch, my tablet, bluetooth headphones, let it stay in my pocket most of the time.

That sounds exactly like a portable Wi-Fi hotspot which creates a hotspot from a 4G sim.

Doesn't do anything for my watch though, and can you make calls on those? I thought they were data only?

Re: The Light Phone

#36

Post by JohnJamesRambo » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:55 AM UTC

"It looks like a new thermostat." - my girlfriend when I showed it to her.

I'm the perfect customer for this phone (had a Nokia 3310 3g recently) but this is perhaps a little too minimal for even me. Still looking for a replacement for my iPhone SE someday.

Re: The Light Phone

#37

Post by huangc10 » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:55 AM UTC

jxcl wrote: post #32

ITT: People complaining that a purposefully minimalist phone doesn't have the very specific feature that they want. If the point is to be reachable by a loved one in an emergency and nothing else, this seems like a reasonable option.

ITT? This isn't Reddit. Of course people are going to talk about missing features.

If the point is to be reachable by a loved one in an emergency and nothing else, I can think of a hundred other options that don't cost $350. I think that's what you meant.

Re: The Light Phone

#38

Post by Swizec » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 12:58 AM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #30

tashoecraft wrote: post #11

I think an Apple Watch with cellular accomplishes a lot of what light phone does. Leave your phone behind and just keep all the social apps off the watch (they’re not really usable anyway). You can still accomplish a lot of what you need from a phone, and pair some AirPods and you have music, podcasts, easy hands free calling

I think that going out with an Apple Watch instead of a phone will become popular as a way of (partially) unplugging. It will also signal that the wearer is not an ordinary worker bee (who need to keep a phone around to respond to emails) but instead a member of upper management (who can skim important messages that come in, but needs not respond at length).

> (who can skim important messages that come in, but needs not respond at length).

iWatch + Airpods + dictation, my friend. It is amazing.

If only the apple watch could play audiobooks (on Audible) and music (on Spotify) without a phone nearby, it would be the perfect minimalist phone. Alas until that happens I have to continue to lug my phone around when sportsing.

You can download books to the Audible watch app but I've never gotten it to work. The connection just isn't stable enough.

The new WatchOS supposedly enables the API that Apple Music has been using to stream via LTE (from what I've heard), but it smells like Spotify has decided it's no longer worth the bother.

Re: The Light Phone

#39

Post by hadrien01 » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 1:00 AM UTC

jxcl wrote: post #32

ITT: People complaining that a purposefully minimalist phone doesn't have the very specific feature that they want. If the point is to be reachable by a loved one in an emergency and nothing else, this seems like a reasonable option.

I think this phone is the perfect device for someone like my grandmother that can't even answer the phone on her smartphone because she can't slide the answer button. Smartphones nowadays are very complicated machines with hundreds of UX concepts that are not understandable by a increasingly higher proportion of the population. And you can never disable every function ("apps" in iMessage, really?!).

My grandmother uses an Android phone I've very heavily customised (deleted apps with adb, put a Windows Phone-like launcher with flashing icons for notifications, compiled custom versions of OSS apps for SMS and calls, etc.). This Light Phone seems perfect for her.

Re: The Light Phone

#40

Post by lozaning » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 1:02 AM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #35

martin-adams wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds exactly like a portable Wi-Fi hotspot which creates a hotspot from a 4G sim.

Doesn't do anything for my watch though, and can you make calls on those? I thought they were data only?

A little google voice magic, or any number of other SIP providers and apps will have you making calls to POTS numbers over just a data connection very easily.