The Light Phone • Hacker News Board

Re: The Light Phone

#61

Post by snyp » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:03 AM UTC

Any reason why the screen is so small? If it were larger and offered one handed access to keyboard that would be a huge plus instead of having to rotate the phone to type.

How do you type numbers you have to call? Do you rotate them phone and type the numbers?

What about music? The thing that people use the phones most for other than calls and messages would be music, considering the fact that there aren’t that many dedicated music players around a phone without a music player makes a lot less sense

Re: The Light Phone

#62

Post by taneq » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:08 AM UTC

snyp wrote: post #61

Any reason why the screen is so small? If it were larger and offered one handed access to keyboard that would be a huge plus instead of having to rotate the phone to type. How do you type numbers you have to call? Do you rotate them phone and type the numbers? What about music? The thing that people use the phones most for other than calls and messages would be music, considering the fact that there aren’t that many…

Why would it need a bigger screen? It seems explicitly designed not to do any of the things that would be improved by a bigger screen.

Re: The Light Phone

#63

Post by sailfast » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:09 AM UTC

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 know this is crazy but one can also just not install social apps on one’s phone, and continue to use all the functions that still provide a great deal of utility without compromises.

Re: The Light Phone

#64

Post by taneq » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:11 AM UTC

germinalphrase wrote: post #17

martin-adams wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that’s intentional, so you focus on short messages rather than sprawling conversations.

Why force that choice on me?

Why choose a phone that doesn't do what you want?

Re: The Light Phone

#65

Post by ge96 » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:23 AM UTC

chonk, e-ink displays are I think a hard sell compared to snappy responsive regular phone displays

Re: The Light Phone

#66

Post by lpghatguy » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:25 AM UTC

snyp wrote: post #61

Any reason why the screen is so small? If it were larger and offered one handed access to keyboard that would be a huge plus instead of having to rotate the phone to type. How do you type numbers you have to call? Do you rotate them phone and type the numbers? What about music? The thing that people use the phones most for other than calls and messages would be music, considering the fact that there aren’t that many…

Based on one of the pictures of the phone on the homepage, it appears that there is a numeric keyboard in portrait mode. It is shown setting the time for an alarm, but I imagine it is also used to type phone numbers.

Re: The Light Phone

#67

Post by stazz1 » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:26 AM UTC

ge96 wrote: post #65

chonk, e-ink displays are I think a hard sell compared to snappy responsive regular phone displays

eliminate all transitions and it's likely faster than bottom-of-the-barrel phones today

Re: The Light Phone

#68

Post by crashedsnow » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:26 AM UTC

Feels like a solution looking for a problem to me. Not only are phones trending away from being "phones" (rather portable internet terminals) but I'd wager the largest portion of smartphone use is content consumption, rather than content creation/collaboration. Both of which would suggest this device is a long, long way from product-market fit.

Re: The Light Phone

#69

Post by ekianjo » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:30 AM UTC

You can do exactly that kind of things with your regular smartphone by not installing tons of apps that disturb you all the time. As far as I know the user is pretty much in control of what apps they choose to add.

Re: The Light Phone

#70

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 04, 2020, 2:31 AM UTC

huangc10 wrote: post #37

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.

[deleted]