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The Light Phone

thelightphone.com

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Re: The Light Phone

#171

Post by joshvm »

Are there any good websites with turn by turn directions that are accessible on dumb phones?

I had a Nokia candy bar phone with 4G(!) which was reasonable if you wanted to win an argument using Wikipedia, but Maps was unusable because the ancient Opera browser couldn't cope. All I wanted was the ability to get the text directions between two places without having to load all the intervening javascript. Hacker News worked well, as did BBC news.

There are several modern "dumb" phones which are actually quite capable and have absurd battery life (I'd get a week plus out of that thing, with 4G on), but there are so few websites that provide no-frills output.

Re: The Light Phone

#172

Post by ShamelessC »

Hamuko wrote: post #164
troymc wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see this phone being a great fit for certain markets, such as senior citizens who like to talk on the phone, but who get baffled by the complexity of modern smartphones.

I can't see any fit for any person outside of bragging rights. A senior citizen would be better served by a Nokia 3310, which actually has physical buttons.

It's pretty much bragging rights. Or, put another way, it's an aesthetically pleasing signal to those around you that you're part of a movement trying to reduce screen consumption.

The organic foods industry has these sorts of seemingly niche products which are more expensive but become quite trendy because of what they represent for the customer and their peers. Not sure how well it applies here though.

Re: The Light Phone

#173

Post by vinc »

jtl999 wrote: post #166

I can understand the sentiment of being "fed up" with the state of current phone technology, but rather then bringing back dumbphones (see also Nokia's current product range), why not make phones that have headphone jacks, removable batteries, microSD card slots, IPS displays, et cetera. The features that were "removed" to presumably promote consumerism.

What you describe looks like a Fairphone, and by choosing carefully what to install on it I think it'd be a good solution.

Re: The Light Phone

#174

Post by Hamuko »

joshvm wrote: post #171

Are there any good websites with turn by turn directions that are accessible on dumb phones? I had a Nokia candy bar phone with 4G(!) which was reasonable if you wanted to win an argument using Wikipedia, but Maps was unusable because the ancient Opera browser couldn't cope. All I wanted was the ability to get the text directions between two places without having to load all the intervening javascript. Hacker News wo…

Nokia 800 Tough apparently can do 4G and Google Maps.

>I can pair my Huawei FreeBuds 3 with the Nokia 800 Tough, install a bunch of music on it, and jump on my bike. Google Maps navigation provides turn-by-turn instructions at a glance while I’m listening to some good riding music. I’ve got no concerns about the battery running out or the phone falling out of my pocket. I can ask the Google Assistant questions to avoid typing queries into the browser. And if I need to, I can stay in touch with everyone via WhatsApp voice messages. The list of benefits goes on and on.

https://www.androidauthority.com/nokia-800-tough-review-1063...

As an added benefit, you can probably bludgeon someone to death with it after losing an argument.

Re: The Light Phone

#175

Post by b5 »

ksec wrote: post #118

I just wish Apple make a modern thinner All Screen iPhone 4. ( Even smaller than iPhone SE ) The screen should be about 4.7" @ 19.5 : 9. The smaller screen absolutely destroy all gaming and even Internet browsing experience. The UX is so bad you dont want to use it, but still give you the choice should there be a need. While retaining all the essential such as Email, WhatsApp, Calling, Uber, And Music etc.

That's hyperbolic nonsense. There's a huge number of people, myself included, that continue to use an iPhone SE with a 4" screen without the issues you describe. A 4.7" screen is nearly 20% larger than that; it doesn't "destroy" gaming or internet browsing.

A lot of these same people Apple to release an updated version of the iPhone SE form-factor. Many of these people are on Hacker News; search for earlier threads about the iPhone SE being discontinued to see just how many.

* Sent from my iPhone SE

Re: The Light Phone

#178

Post by arc4random »

Hamuko wrote: post #156

Do the makers think that there's a sizeable portion of people that hate their iPhones or Galaxies and want to spend $350 on a phone that doesn't do things? Doesn't do social media, doesn't do email, doesn't do news. Most consumers would at this point ask "What's the fucking point?" Smartphones are popular because people want to do the things that they enable. You probably need to live in some sort of a niche social c…

You’re glossing away a lot of important details here with “phone that doesn’t do things”.

So, I’m very much in the market for what the Light Phone 2 is going for: not a phone that doesn’t do anything but make calls and text, but a phone with “the essentials”. The problem is that not everyone who wants such a phone has the same set of essentials.

The single biggest issue that I have with feature phones is that they lack a qwerty keyboard. I’ve tried a couple in the past few years, and I just can’t go back to texting on a numeric keypad. Texting today is very different from what it was in the 90s and early 2000s. So many conversations you would have today, you cannot meaningfully participate in with a numeric keypad. You find yourself immediately going back to the terseness that gave birth to the various forms of texting shorthand, because text input is so slow.

The second biggest issue is that I need a transit map. I live in NYC, and I’m not going to memorize all the different subway lines and stops and schedules. You can actually get Google Maps on a KaiOS phone, and it’s slow but it more or less works. Problem is, you’re still stuck with the numeric keypad. (You can use voice dictation via Google, but I don’t like using Google.)

Third, while I don’t need it often, I do sometimes need to use a ride-hailing app.

On top of all this, I don’t want a browser or social media apps or games or movies or music.

That’s just me, though. Someone else may want music, or a note taking app, or a calendar.

A lot of this stuff is on the roadmap for the Light Phone 2, but until it actually hits my set of essentials, it doesn’t work for me.

Re: The Light Phone

#179

Post by doovd »

arc4random wrote: post #178
Hamuko wrote: post #156

Do the makers think that there's a sizeable portion of people that hate their iPhones or Galaxies and want to spend $350 on a phone that doesn't do things? Doesn't do social media, doesn't do email, doesn't do news. Most consumers would at this point ask "What's the fucking point?" Smartphones are popular because people want to do the things that they enable. You probably need to live in some sort of a niche social c…

You’re glossing away a lot of important details here with “phone that doesn’t do things”. So, I’m very much in the market for what the Light Phone 2 is going for: not a phone that doesn’t do anything but make calls and text, but a phone with “the essentials”. The problem is that not everyone who wants such a phone has the same set of essentials. The single biggest issue that I have with feature phones is that they la…

You're missing the point - having these "essentials" shouldn't cost 350

Re: The Light Phone

#180

Post by keymone »

The price is $50 for what I’ve seen there. And that would still include a pretty sweet margin.

Can’t imagine who’s buying it for $350. Either fuck you money or virtue signaling?

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