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The Quest for a Dumber Phone

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Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#171

Post by selfhoster11 »

extr0pian wrote: post #32

I had researched dumb phones recently only to learn that the two most important functions of a smartphone (for me) is the GPS and having a decent camera, and these things are either crippled or missing entirely from dumb phones. It's simply easier to dumb down your existing smartphone, especially if you have an Android phone. In my case, I have a 2017 Pixel 2 XL running LineageOS, with a text only home screen launche…

> It's simply easier to dumb down your existing smartphone, especially if you have an Android phone.

That claim is a bit nuanced, IMO. Before I finally chose to move to iPhones, I tried my best to remove distractions from my Android phone, and I failed. iOS is less customisable, but comes with a configuration/ecosystem baseline that's far easier to tolerate, and insofar as it is flexible, the changes are far less painful than bringing an Android to that level.

Again, that's just my experience. YMMV.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#172

Post by selfhoster11 »

4ggr0 wrote: post #154
pigsty wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN attracts people who have interest in tech or simply came across a news aggregator that isn’t full of political spam and endless dread.

Yeah sure, but I'd say that 95%+ of things posted and discussed here require some form of understanding you only get when working in IT yourself or doing it as a hobby. I don't want to sound condescending but I doubt that HN would be interesting for the average brush cutter or just for anyone not being familiar with IT, that's why I asked :D

Why do you assume that a brush cutter is not familiar with IT or technological topics? People's backstory can be more complicated than most people expect.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#173

Post by mat_epice »

trekkie1024 wrote: post #63
MSFT_Edging wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in a similar boat. GPS, Camera, but also Telegram and a basic browser for reference. Dumbing down a smart phone doesn't fix the size and delicateness of the device either. I essentially want a tiny durable smartphone, ie size of an iPhone 3g. My biggest thing is I hate how important this device is while also being unwieldy and easy to break. The only entertainment I use on my phone is twitter and even then I find…

Try a smartwatch with cellular connectivity?

I had thought that smartwatches didn't have cameras, but it looks like some do, at least. I can't imagine they're very good, since iPhones have a hard enough time fitting good cameras.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#174

Post by chefkoch »

cyxxon wrote: post #140
throwaway2037 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5 EUR per month for service? That is crazy cheap in a highly developed country. Which provider?

You don't get that consistently. You can go to check24.de and get their sim.de offer for 5gb data and sms/telephone flat, but that's a limited time deal. So technically yes, but in general you are more in the 8-10€ ballpark for this kind of offering.

winsim.de gets you this all the time. They just call it temporary like these permanent going out of business sales.

I get 15gb for 10€ from them.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#175

Post by 4ggr0 »

selfhoster11 wrote: post #172
4ggr0 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah sure, but I'd say that 95%+ of things posted and discussed here require some form of understanding you only get when working in IT yourself or doing it as a hobby. I don't want to sound condescending but I doubt that HN would be interesting for the average brush cutter or just for anyone not being familiar with IT, that's why I asked :D

Why do you assume that a brush cutter is not familiar with IT or technological topics? People's backstory can be more complicated than most people expect.

> Why do you assume that a brush cutter is not familiar with IT or technological topics?

It's definitely not usual and it made me curious. Most of the people I meet who talk and understand IT also work in IT, or at least did once in their life.

I've never met a blue-collar worker who seems to understand IT. That doesn't mean that I'm saying that blue-collar workers are dumb or can't ever understand IT, the venn diagram is just very slim in my experience.

Sorry for asking I guess, I'm a bit confused by the fact that now two people have questioned my question, I didn't mean to be rude.

> People's backstory can be more complicated than most people expect.

That's why I asked...

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#176

Post by hcal »

andrew-dc wrote: post #39
hcal wrote: post #22

I've been using my Samsung smartwatch with LTE as a smartphone that's hard to abuse. Thursday through Sunday I only carry it and leave my "real" phone at home. It's pretty nice because I still have Bluetooth calls in my car and navigation in a pinch. I can still stream music and ask Google to look things up for me. Actual calls on the watch are fine, but I do keep a pair of bluetooth headphones on me so I don't have…

Oh man, I have been wondering about this experience myself - though if it would all work with no smartphone at all (I have been rolling with the LightPhone II for a few years now). It had seemed like stand-alone watches were nearly there, but not quite the last time I dug into it. But it works for you?

It depends on what you mean by stand-alone. It works for me as a stand-alone device for days at a time, but you still need a phone to set up the watch and my phone plan is like an addon to the phone so you need that to set up the account. I don't think you can set up a line for these watches in the US without the "host" phone.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#177

Post by NoboruWataya »

4ggr0 wrote: post #154
pigsty wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN attracts people who have interest in tech or simply came across a news aggregator that isn’t full of political spam and endless dread.

Yeah sure, but I'd say that 95%+ of things posted and discussed here require some form of understanding you only get when working in IT yourself or doing it as a hobby. I don't want to sound condescending but I doubt that HN would be interesting for the average brush cutter or just for anyone not being familiar with IT, that's why I asked :D

I'm a corporate lawyer (and not one that works for tech clients) and I have long had an interest in programming and tech. I'm not the only such person in my field, either. Software development has never been more accessible or high profile so I think these days you get people from all fields who may have an interest in it.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#179

Post by t0bia_s »

Hopefully one day we will have cellphone with eink display and simple apps for sync email, calendar, notes, contacts... That is all I actually need with me. In size of dumbphone with battery for week.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#180

Post by andrew-dc »

parker_mountain wrote: post #92
andrew-dc wrote: post #69

Having not used a smart phone for ~5 years now, I can say that it is totally a workable solution - however, there are, of course trade-offs, and several persistent annoyances. Rather than get into a list, I will present the one thing that I find the most frustrating: Our society expects you to have and use a smart phone for nearly everything. This might be less annoying if it meant only new functions or supplemented…

> luxury item (and an expensive monthly service bill) Before applying any subsidies for low income people, you can get a perfectly usable smartphone for under $40 and unlimited data cell service (slow but usable for basic tasks) for $10/month. An iPhone, with service, can be had for a total of under $50/month. These aren't luxury items anymore.

I was kinda using 'luxury item' rhetorically more than specifically, but it seems to have derailed the main point. (Whoops. Live and learn.)

With that said, expecting anyone to shell out x dollars/month, so they can pay to park, or scan a QR code - rather than tapping a plastic card, or handing them a piece of paper - doesn't really feel like technological advancement.

For clarity, I believe there are many other things that Smartphones do, which definitively make life simpler. (I believe technology should make life easier, or better - or at least be useful.) And, I even think it makes sense to have certain utilities combined that don't really provide an advantage alone, such as: If you can pay with a phone and not need to carry another payment method, sure - why not just pay with a phone?

Again, the point I was trying to make originally was if you choose not to use a smartphone, you will run into situations where a stupidly simple process has been not supplemented (or improved), but totally replaced with 'you need a phone and data plan'.

This is a real frustration point that anyone considering living without a smartphone will run into.

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