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The Light Phone

thelightphone.com

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Re: The Light Phone

#211

Post by HumanReadable »

dangus wrote: post #120

Modern smartphones already give you the tools to stop abusing your phone’s dominance of your attention. Screen time and other similar controls let you limit your usage of distracting apps. Or just don’t install them and learn some self control. Put your phone in your bag instead of your pocket, or maybe leave it at home sometimes. A black and white phone missing basic features compared to a modern Nokia feature phone…

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 solution that solves these problems without limiting the use of technology I actually want in my life.

Re: The Light Phone

#212

Post by Fnoord »

joshvm wrote: post #205
Fnoord wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are cheaper CAT (smart|dumb)phones which get less attention and fame, and have less functionality than the S60/S61 but which are also a lot cheaper. The interesting conceptual design of the Light Phone is that it is a dedicated dumbphone with e-ink, like a Kobo reader is a dedicated e-reader with e-ink. E-ink works if the page stays static, as you read a book. A smartphone, and dumbphone to lesser extend, have…

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.

Re: The Light Phone

#213

Post by fock »

so, if this runs android: how about extracting the launcher and putting it on a 40USD Android Go device... Just kidding ;).

But really: if you buy aforementioned device, don't sign into google play, get your apps from f-droid, enable b/w-mode and disable the browser you've got yourself another light phone for 40USD+1h of your net income.

Re: The Light Phone

#214

Post by bbx »

HumanReadable wrote: post #211
dangus wrote: post #120

Modern smartphones already give you the tools to stop abusing your phone’s dominance of your attention. Screen time and other similar controls let you limit your usage of distracting apps. Or just don’t install them and learn some self control. Put your phone in your bag instead of your pocket, or maybe leave it at home sometimes. A black and white phone missing basic features compared to a modern Nokia feature phone…

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 option as you’ll have fun activities to fill your days. Of course a modern resort will have internet so the temptation will be harder to beat so maybe pick a tiny one.

In any case, the idea is to have a physical disconnection with your phone/the internet so that you can’t satisfy any urge to check Reddit. The start will be rough but over time your fear of missing out will disappear. I find that if I spend time traveling or with family (where browsing reddit or similar is not easy) I realise when coming back home that I haven’t missed anything. I used to browse Reddit a lot. Nowadays I just check /r/soccer once in a while and spend time doing a lot more of other things (music, coding, reading, nothing).

Re: The Light Phone

#215

Post by pioneerpass »

bananamerica wrote: post #198
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…

I can see how that seems useless to the average neurotypical, but devices with limited functionality are a huge plus for people that fights against strong compulsions. I still think $350 is a lot, but when you have ADHD devices with a lot of features can be very detrimental to your productivity and your well-being.

Stop trying to make neurotypical a thing.

Re: The Light Phone

#216

Post by nihakue »

fdsa_88989_ii wrote: post #200
bananamerica wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see how that seems useless to the average neurotypical, but devices with limited functionality are a huge plus for people that fights against strong compulsions. I still think $350 is a lot, but when you have ADHD devices with a lot of features can be very detrimental to your productivity and your well-being.

I don't think you can separate features and price in this case. Looking vaguely iPhone 5-ish is not a feature that should add hundreds of dollars to the price. My last dumb phone, which I bought to carry while cycling, cost me $30. Sure, it was ugly, but since the point is to not take it out of your pocket and play around with it, who cares? This phone strikes me as the veganism of dumb phones. You want people to ack…

I kind of understand why you went with the veganism example, but it seems slightly bizarre that it's your first choice. I think it's fair to say that most vegans' decision to become vegan has nothing to do with being sanctimonious. Not a vegan, though.

Re: The Light Phone

#217

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

BjoernKW wrote: post #204
i_am_proteus wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I live in NYC, and I’m not going to memorize all the different subway lines and stops and schedules. How long have you lived in the city? I lived there before smartphones and this is basically what people did.

I was going to say the same thing, not from personal long-term experience with the NYC subway system, but from regular experience with the London Underground, which is quite similar in terms of size and passenger numbers. Then I had a look at the subway map and I can see why one might refrain from memorising the various lines and relevant stops: There are few significant features for distinguishing the lines, even th…

> On seeing a pink colour on the underground for example you can immediately tell "Hammersmith & City".

I just wish they'd strictly adhere to matching the livery and the line colour, though. It's SUCH a good idea, but with trains sharing the same track on different lines, it causes no end of confusion!

Re: The Light Phone

#218

Post by _jal »

fdsa_88989_ii wrote: post #200
bananamerica wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see how that seems useless to the average neurotypical, but devices with limited functionality are a huge plus for people that fights against strong compulsions. I still think $350 is a lot, but when you have ADHD devices with a lot of features can be very detrimental to your productivity and your well-being.

I don't think you can separate features and price in this case. Looking vaguely iPhone 5-ish is not a feature that should add hundreds of dollars to the price. My last dumb phone, which I bought to carry while cycling, cost me $30. Sure, it was ugly, but since the point is to not take it out of your pocket and play around with it, who cares? This phone strikes me as the veganism of dumb phones. You want people to ack…

You make such excited, highly normative claims about a phone, complete with involved speculation about the motives of anyone who might like it, and decide to insult people's eating choices along the way.

I could speculate about personal insecurity issues, but instead will simply note that not everyone comes from the same place you do or share your particular concerns or needs. It is a big world, exploring it some might be good for you.

Re: The Light Phone

#219

Post by cmrdporcupine »

_hhff wrote: post #83

My team built the OS on a custom fork of Android ( https://www.sanctuary.computer ). I would say ask me anything but I’m in the middle of the Australian outback with virtually no mobile signal...! What I can say is that working with Eink is rudimentary - we had to build everything from a custom kernel driver all the way up to the view layouts and UX. We expected Eink would give us sophisticated SDKs, but unfortunatel…

Given it's running Android underneath, does Android Auto work with it when connected to a compatible car head unit? Having no Android Auto nav and phone integration is one reason I wouldn't pick a device like this.

Re: The Light Phone

#220

Post by scintill76 »

Animats wrote: post #149
dhruvkar wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just bought the light phone 2 and I'm reconsidering it after your comment. Can you please elaborate on what/how to do this? I'd love to spend 49 bucks for a basic phone + maps, without crapware.

What I did: - Get a phone in its no Google account state. - When it demands that you log into Google, choose "Later". - Delete Google First time app. This prevents the registration thing from coming up again. - Download F-Droid. - Use F-Droid to download Fennic, which is a version of Firestorm. - Deactivae most Google apps, Play Store, etc. Play Store Services may have to stay. - Use F-Droid to download other stuff a…

I think you mean Fennec is Firefox for Android.
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