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The Quest for a Dumber Phone

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Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#191

Post by superkuh »

vageli wrote: post #168
superkuh wrote: post #46

I use a Nokia 6030 phone; the old indestructible brick one. It still works where I am. But I don't use it because I want to get away from the internet. I just don't use smart phones because they're terrible computers. I use a computer for computing, a GPS for navigation, and a camera for photos. And each of these devices is better at it's job with fewer downsides than any general purpose device. Mostly the "smart pho…

The Nokia 6030 is my favorite phone ever. Practically indesctructible and with multi-day batter life, but unfortunately can no longer be used in the US due to migration off of 3g.

The Nokia 6030 is actually GSM (2G) and T-Mobile still supports GSM phones at least in my region (upper midwest) of the USA. Even while 3G is dropped already. Verizon doesn't though. I had to switch telcos to keep using my 6030 a few years back.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#192

Post by maxerickson »

superkuh wrote: post #191
vageli wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nokia 6030 is my favorite phone ever. Practically indesctructible and with multi-day batter life, but unfortunately can no longer be used in the US due to migration off of 3g.

The Nokia 6030 is actually GSM (2G) and T-Mobile still supports GSM phones at least in my region (upper midwest) of the USA. Even while 3G is dropped already. Verizon doesn't though. I had to switch telcos to keep using my 6030 a few years back.

How is the coverage?

Mine got a lot better when I got a phone that supported their newer 4.5 and 5 g frequencies, so I can't imagine it is great.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#193

Post by 4ggr0 »

pigsty wrote: post #189
4ggr0 wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a small european country with the same amount of people living here as in New York City. The city I live in has 60k people. Maybe that makes it a bit easier for y'all to understand. I really don't get why now a couple of people have told me that I'm wrong. I'm talking about my own, real-life experience, not some kind of mental, non-existing argument. I am not saying that IT can't be a diverse field and that…

The point everyone is making is this is not an IT forum. It’s tech (which includes machinery) and business. You can avoid IT entirely and still work a tech job. I’d dare say the vast majority of tech jobs are in no way similar to IT.

My point is that the commenter mentioned that they're a brush-cutter, while they have comments on their profile talking about Free-/NetBSD, Perl etc.

This made me curious about this persons background. These details just created a very interesting image in my head - brush cutter by day, Free-/NetBSD hacker during the night. If they don't want to go into it, fine, just figured I might as well ask.

Fine?

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#194

Post by jstarfish »

wheelerof4te wrote: post #70

I really wish that the world gravitated towards more hardware-related gadgety future. I was quite fond of the Japanese vision of future, where there is an item/gadget/accessory for everything. That way, people could choose to which degree they want to interact with their technology. But here we are, stuck in the IoT software-focused world.

Same here. Variety is the spice of life.

One day I noticed I have some Thought Problems, and after thinking about it I realized that most of my daily interactions take place with the same two devices.

Doing work on the same computer you game on, deal with family drama, communicate with co-workers and family, etc. takes its toll-- there's never any new stimulus, just living in the same 10'x10' cube playing with the same two toys for years on end. When you have a particularly stressful interaction with either, you're still forced to continue using it. (No wonder the kids are miserable. We replaced toys with smartphones.)

Things improved when I broke away to console gaming, set up a dedicated work computer, and did personal stuff on another. DSLR for pictures instead of phone. Moved away from taking notes on the computer and do data/object modeling with physical objects (anything from index cards to Legos). Etc. The only thing I use my phone for these days is reading news on the toilet, which is apt because it's all the same shit to flush either way.

I would actually kill myself if I had to spend any more of my time interacting with the world through a singular device. It's not a life worth living.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#195

Post by parker_mountain »

watwut wrote: post #167
parker_mountain wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

50$ a month is something that matter if your income is low

I don't think you read my post. :) I offered an alternative option prior to the iPhone option - a new phone every year starts around $14 a month.

And that's before government subsidies, which can lower monthly service cost AND device cost to $0 - depending on state/income/age.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#196

Post by sw104 »

selfhoster11 wrote: post #171
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 pai…

What did you find difficult in removing distractions on Android?

I got a Pixel 5 few years ago (seemingly the smallest form factor Android device), didn't install any apps, removed a bunch of stock apps I didn't need, and turned off notifications for everything beside incoming calls/messages. After that, I just trained myself to avoid using search/the browser unless necessary and to do something else when the itch arises to check the phone for something.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#197

Post by sw104 »

I honestly don't understand the point of people avoiding smartphones on principle. I'm not sure if it's a contrarian way of thinking, a way to stand out or what. Why not just dumb down a smartphone?

I have a Pixel 5 because it's the smallest form factor Android smartphone available. I never installed any entertainment (games, social media, video streaming) apps on it. Those that came pre-installed (ie. YouTube), I uninstalled or disabled.

After this, I disabled notifications for everything besides calls and messages (SMS, Signal, email). I cleaned my emails so only genuine stuff ever pops up, and I make it a point to not check my phone, except for set times throughout the day, unless I'm being bombarded by messages or calls (as would happen in an emergency).

The phone that is left sits in my pocket 99% of the day, but still has the tools that I may need (Maps, Uber) should my forward planning be thwarted by unexpected occurrences (lost my pre-planned route to a new place, a cancelled bus/train). My daily smartphone use is maybe 10 minutes. Some people have commented that they didn't think I had one, because I'm barely holding it.

I don't understand the need to get rid of tools which could help in an emergency or unexpected circumstances. I anecdotally had a friend who uses a dumbphone because he wanted to simplify things, and he ended up pestering the people he was around to check their maps or to look something up. In the end he went back to a smartphone.

You can do this with any smartphone, cheap or expensive. I did it with a Pixel 5 just because I liked the form factor of something that can easily slip into my running bag, pockets etc. Plus, as a bonus, the low usage of the device should keep it going for a couple of years until my next dumb smartphone.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#198

Post by bobdvb »

sw104 wrote: post #197

I honestly don't understand the point of people avoiding smartphones on principle. I'm not sure if it's a contrarian way of thinking, a way to stand out or what. Why not just dumb down a smartphone? I have a Pixel 5 because it's the smallest form factor Android smartphone available. I never installed any entertainment (games, social media, video streaming) apps on it. Those that came pre-installed (ie. YouTube), I un…

I believe some people do it to avoid the temptation. Perhaps they feel they lack the self-control?

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#199

Post by marttt »

4ggr0 wrote: post #193
pigsty wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point everyone is making is this is not an IT forum. It’s tech (which includes machinery) and business. You can avoid IT entirely and still work a tech job. I’d dare say the vast majority of tech jobs are in no way similar to IT.

My point is that the commenter mentioned that they're a brush-cutter, while they have comments on their profile talking about Free-/NetBSD, Perl etc. This made me curious about this persons background. These details just created a very interesting image in my head - brush cutter by day, Free-/NetBSD hacker during the night. If they don't want to go into it, fine, just figured I might as well ask. Fine?

Brush cutter here -- not at all insulted by the question! I'm actually a trained journalist, but at one point I needed better work-life balance. Agreed to help out my (late) dad's classmate who is a forester. Brush cutting and tree planting seem to somehow fit my personality (excellent for loners who like physical effort in nasty weather, lol), so I stayed.

As for BSD, Perl, Tiny Core Linux, Plan 9, etc -- I suppose I have a long-time intellectual interest in various "fringe" IT topics, computers as a tool for thinking, and repurposing old computers and ultra-minimal OSes in a meaningful way. I'm a horrible coder, but I love programming languages, lol. (I would have probably made a decent linguist, syntax or spoken language researcher, but oh well.)

Obviously, HN is an excellent place for folks like me -- people who are (always?) slightly lost in life. Unable to make big bucks (this is fine!), but still intellectually curious. It really is a perfect online environment, and IMO a remarkably good embodiment of free speech and democracy. Thanks HN, and thanks dang, for the excellent moderation!

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#200

Post by marttt »

ryan-duve wrote: post #127
marttt wrote: post #83

I've intentionally never owned a smartphone. Dumb phones abandoned by my family have been serving me very well for years (strategy: use them until they stop working; get next one; repeat). My daily work is in forestry, as a brush cutter -- occasionally, GPS would be necessary (unavoidable even). For 95% of the cases, though, I've found a workaround by postponing the map-related tasks (e.g. making sure I understand th…

What is the current Nokia you have that you hate?

It's a Nokia 2600 Classic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_2600_classic

Really slow UI; too much of everything. Not even close to the simplicity of the 3310.

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