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The Light Phone

thelightphone.com

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Re: The Light Phone

#221

Post by joshvm »

Fnoord wrote: post #212
joshvm wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm mostly interested in the CAT as my job (research) involves a lot thermal imaging, so there's a nerd factor (the lepton on its own is about £3-400 with a capture setup). I know there's also the FLIR One, but eh, for field work the CAT looks handy with the extra sensors. The light phone looks good, but I do actually want some of the smartphone features. I was very unhappy when Amazon nerfed 3G on Kindle, I used to…

I got a stand-alone FLIR for that purpose. Though there's also some which you can connect under a camera via USB-C/microUSB/lightning. Everything on the same physical device has its own pros/cons.

Yes, at work we've got a variety of standalone FLIR cameras (Taus, Bosons, Duos, the One and Leptons) - pretty much the entire camera core range. I work in ecology and occasionally for outreach or when working with non tech people, they're interested in seeing what thermal footage looks like. And for field work it's handy to have environmental measurements in case we want to correct for atmospheric conditions (rarely tbh).

The FLIR One comes in a USB C model, I've played with that on my Pixel. Works great although I think you have to use the sdk to get any kind of useful information out of the camera (eg if you want raw data).

My group specialises in drone imaging and often it's useful to have ground footage so you can compare simultaneously, for example during biodiversity surveys. The problem with the plug in solution is the risk of it getting lost in the field, and it's not rugged enough. We recently did some surveys on a lake, so an IP rated phone with everything integrated would be ideal.

Re: The Light Phone

#222

Post by Joeri »

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 can get a cheap smartphone, put just the basics on it, and have someone else activate parental controls and keep the password from you so you are restricted to those basics.

Re: The Light Phone

#223

Post by war1025 »

Hamuko wrote: post #158
war1025 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you aren't the target market. If I hadn't just last week finally deactivated my dumb phone from 2011 and bought a cheap Motorola, I'd seriously consider this. Literally all I want from a phone is the ability to call / text for coordinating near-term meetups with people, and the ability to receive / send calls in emergency situations. Unfortunately, they don't make phones like that anymore. I have my new p…

Sounds like you aren't the target market either, since you want a phone that only does phone calls, text messages and Facebook Messenger, the latter of which the Light Phone does not do ("it'll never have social media!"). Furthermore, it's not even gonna have a better battery life than your jerryrigged phone since it apparently only does about a week on standby due to its tiny battery. And they expect you to pay $350…

> Also, I have no fucking idea when you say that "they don't make phones like that anymore", since Nokia still makes the 3310.

As others have mentioned, most of the phones that do fit the criteria of a modern dumb phone don't work on Verizon. I had plans to buy the 3310 if they ever released a 4g version.

> Sounds like you aren't the target market either, since you want a phone that only does phone calls, text messages and Facebook Messenger, the latter of which the Light Phone does not do

I would happily go without Facebook Messenger, but since my phone supports it, it's a convenient thing to have access to. But you are right, I am probably not the target market for this phone.

Re: The Light Phone

#224

Post by bigjimmyk3 »

I own one of these, and someday when it finally works with my wireless carrier I might find out if it's as nice as they say. Standby time appears to be ~3 days with no use, but I have not measured it rigorously. It does have wifi and bluetooth sonic suppose they could add hotspot capability.

Re: The Light Phone

#225

Post by tecleandor »

bigjimmyk3 wrote: post #224

I own one of these, and someday when it finally works with my wireless carrier I might find out if it's as nice as they say. Standby time appears to be ~3 days with no use, but I have not measured it rigorously. It does have wifi and bluetooth sonic suppose they could add hotspot capability.

That's not great, specially if you're not connecting it to the cell network.

We had a Nexus 4, IIRC, for our on call sysadmins, that would be always connected to the network but mostly sleeping, as it only was waiting for push notifications. It lasted around 4 or 5 days without charging! No software installed except for Pushover, of course.

Re: The Light Phone

#226

Post by shantly »

mumblemumble wrote: post #97
ekianjo wrote: post #69

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.

You can, but, IMO, smartphones are starting to feel like a money pit, too, not just a time pit. You spend $500 - $1500 on a device that can't be expected to last more than 4 years (presumably a fair bit less if you cut too close to the $500 end of the range), and will have an annoyingly short battery life in 2 years. You have to constantly be careful with it, because if you drop it or it gets scratched by a key or so…

The camera’s the main thing keeping me on smartphones. My iPhone 7 Plus is a better camera (for me) than anything but maybe a newer iPhone, and also entirely replaces a document scanner. May drop the data plan though, go WiFi-only.

Re: The Light Phone

#227

Post by sailfast »

noahtallen wrote: post #145
sailfast wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The problem is that it’s an addiction — I was addicted, so I would still access those apps via the browser. Until I permanently deleted all of my accounts, I would still be looking at them for hours a day. Even now, I waste my time with Reddit or even HN. :) The root problem is much deeper and I think it’s difficult to address without behavior change (which is hard). Making it very difficult to do is a good compromis…

I’m with you - I had to ask my wife to change my Twitter password and not tell me. Facebook was easier. When I have to access for local community things I use Firefox Focus. It’s still addictive, but my sessions are fewer. That said, I’m still on here and a few other places (craigslist for sale stream, anyone?) as placeholders. I wouldn’t say it is hours per day, but it was more time than I wanted.

I’ve found productive addictions include things like ear training, Duolingo, etc - they replace the tactile sensation and give you that quieter time to yourself but at least you’re learning.

Re: The Light Phone

#228

Post by ekianjo »

mumblemumble wrote: post #97
ekianjo wrote: post #69

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.

You can, but, IMO, smartphones are starting to feel like a money pit, too, not just a time pit. You spend $500 - $1500 on a device that can't be expected to last more than 4 years (presumably a fair bit less if you cut too close to the $500 end of the range), and will have an annoyingly short battery life in 2 years. You have to constantly be careful with it, because if you drop it or it gets scratched by a key or so…

> ou spend $500 - $1500 on a device that can't be expected

no, you just buy a model 2 years after its on the market and you pay a fraction of the initial price.

Re: The Light Phone

#229

Post by ADHDthrowaway9 »

bbx wrote: post #214
HumanReadable wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've installed and uninstalled reddit maybe 7 times in the last year, and even when I don't have it installed I still visit it from my browser. For my Firefox desktop I have written 5 extensions that blocks websites in various ways so to help me control my bad urges, but even then I just open up safari and use it from there. Fact is just I can't control it, and I am willing to pay thousands of dollars for any solutio…

If you’re willing to spend thousands of dollars, book a 1-week trip to a slightly remote place where internet is hard or even impossible to get. Don’t bring your phone. Just money. The location doesn’t even have to be in the middle of the woods. Just a small town or village where there’s nothing much more to do than sightseeing and walking around and having a drink at the local bar/pub. A beach resort is also a nice…

Throwaway, because my professional profile is connected to my main:

You just don't get it. Neither does anyone complaining about $350 for a brick. You're not the audience. This isn't for you.

This is for the people that both; value their time ($350 is less than an hour of work and consequently it would take me more than an hour to properly lockdown my phone) and are looking for absolutely no room for distraction.

I sympathize with the GP, becaue I am exactly like him. The basis for impulsivity is physiological. There is no pre-thought "Oh I want to do this, wait maybe I shouldn't" it's just a pure feeling that moves you to do.

I have had many social media accounts, I've made and deleted them many times. I also have many browser extensions and hosts files to stop myself from visiting known runaway triggers.

It's untenuable. Amphetamines/stimulants help, but the trade-offs are too great.

A week-long retreat can "disconnect" you, but that doesn't mean anything when you come back and jump right back into it.

I've gone so far as to buy a large amount of rural property, have a cabin with basic electricity, where I run a very barebones W500 OpenBSD ThinkPad with satellite internet (2Mbps/s). It can't do any kind of media processing (YouTube, movies, etc.).

It is by far the most productive environment I have ever been in, and I paid for all of this, because that's what I value.

I'm only posting this, because I impulsively turned off mt extensions and went into the HN rabbit hole.

Re: The Light Phone

#230

Post by kaliali »

I would buy this for $200, not $350. I still use a Blackberry and look for phones like this but I won't pay $350 for it.

All I want is a phone I can call, text, and listen to audiobooks.

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