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The Light Phone

thelightphone.com

241–250 of 291 posts

Re: The Light Phone

#241
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 must not have a Samsung.

Actually I have almost always used Samsung.

Re: The Light Phone

#242
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My current device, the moto e5 play, retailed for $120. It still works just fine for me for use cases like web browsing, 720p video, remote desktop, etc. Prior to that I had the e4 which worked great until I dropped it down 5 flights of stairs. Regarding the battery health issue, I have found the biggest factor to be not recharging soon enough. Don't let your battery drop too low and you will have substantially bette…

Looks dirt cheap, maybe good for poor students. Also: Updates? No. Unlocked bootloader? No,it's Lenovo. Security in chinese phone? LOL, I even not started talking about company who sold laptops with crapware in BIOS.

Everything is made in China these days. Even stuff "designed in California".

> Updates?

Motorola usually provides 2 Android updates beyond the year each model was released. Not always a rule but you can see for yourself here: https://www.getdroidtips.com/list-of-android-10-q-supported-...

Re: The Light Phone

#243
post #182
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…

> ...Nokia 3310... 2G 900/1800MHz bands and therefore doesn't work in the US. Got a suggestion that actually works here?

>Got a suggestion that actually works here?

Literally the Nokia 3310

Source: me using the Nokia 3310 in the US on Ting

Re: The Light Phone

#244
That is a nice take on digital minimalism, but in my opinion you could also just delete most of the attention-sink-apps and enable black-and-white-screen on the smart phone you're currently using, instead of buying yet another device.

Re: The Light Phone

#245
This entire endeavor smells like an exercise of reaping good design. When I received the first iteration, I was excited only from the moment of unboxing to the moment of my first call.

I truly enjoy the sentiment and message behind this product. IMO though, at the rate they're going and in the direction they're headed, a consumer is better off with existing products that have been offering what Light II does for decades.

https://www.amazon.com/Snapfon-Senior-Unlocked-Hearing-Compa...

Re: The Light Phone

#246
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…

I looked seriously at the first Light Phone. The main problem I found was that it's explicitly designed to be a second phone. You still needed to have a primary smartphone, and it would pair with that (and use the same number, somehow). It was just a phone for "I'm going out to dinner and I don't want to potentially be distracted by the internet, but I still want to be reachable". That seems to me like the intersection of two Venn circles that barely touch.

I might pay $350 for a phone that does only what I need, but I'm definitely not going to pay $350 extra for a second phone that only does what I need on top of a modern smartphone to leave at home that does lots of crap I don't.

The second Light Phone looks like it started moving towards being feasible as an only phone, but also piling on a strange set of features, for a phone designed to limit distractions. There's still SMS messaging but no encrypted messaging or email (and they brag it will never have these), but there is now music and ride hailing and so on.

So close, and yet so far! Any telco entrepreneurs out there: make me a little box that's only about communication with individuals I know (talk, text, popular encrypted chat, email), with modern interfaces (LTE, Wifi, USB-C), and I'll buy one. I bet my parents would, too.

$350 is not the problem -- service will still be the biggest cost in the long run. It's just not a useful device even for people looking to slim down and avoid distractions.

Re: The Light Phone

#247
I would love to have a phone like this, but with Whatsapp. People I communicate with don’t use their phone/sms functions anymore. It has all moved to Whatsapp. When my iPhone broke down, and I had to wait for it to be repaired, that was the only functionality I really needed (and maybe Google Maps) but it more or less stopped there.

Re: The Light Phone

#248

The light phone. Here is a 100mb webpage plus useless background video introducing our minimalistic concept.

It's a light phone, not a light site.

But having a garbage site makes me think it's a garbage phone. These things matter.

Re: The Light Phone

#249
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…

Mark my words, "I don't even have Facebook" is going to be the new "I don't even have a TV" in 2020.

That was my resolution a couple of months back. Signed off from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Reddit (never was on any other platform making crazy things with your snaps). Retaining accounts on HN and GitHub.

I miss nothing, actually feel good staying away from all the toxic comments on Twitter.

I did not need Light Phone or burn a hole in my pocket to achieve this. Plain simple determination.

Re: The Light Phone

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And cut its expected lifespan, already only 2-4 years, by 2 years.

No more software updates isn't such a big deal on dumbphones with limited capabilities, but, on a smartphone, I really do want to be getting those security patches.

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