An App Platform for Dumb Phones • Hacker News Board

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#31

Post by allisonburtch » Thu, May 23, 2013, 4:34 AM UTC

JosephRedfern wrote: post #2

Cool idea - but how is it being paid for? By the looks of things, it's using Twilio - but that'll get expensive if this becomes popular.

I'm doing my best to find change on the ground and in fountains and mailing them to Twilio.

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#32

Post by allisonburtch » Thu, May 23, 2013, 4:35 AM UTC

frankdenbow wrote: post #20

Saw this at the ITP show, will be adding some Twilio apps

thanks!

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#33

Post by allisonburtch » Thu, May 23, 2013, 4:36 AM UTC

Groxx wrote: post #29

Neat idea. I might recommend allowing at least the first letter (of the app) to be case-insensitive though, since lots of things auto-capitalize. Also I'm not having much luck with 'dir', and some error messages or something would help, but meh - the concept is great!

it's a little buggy, but we're getting there. dir is hard because it needs a city,st for each location. thanks for the rec!

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#34

Post by ramseynasser » Thu, May 23, 2013, 4:37 AM UTC

Groxx wrote: post #29

Neat idea. I might recommend allowing at least the first letter (of the app) to be case-insensitive though, since lots of things auto-capitalize. Also I'm not having much luck with 'dir', and some error messages or something would help, but meh - the concept is great!

dir can be buggy, depending on how you format your location names. Can you give me an example of what's not working?

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#35

Post by ramseynasser » Thu, May 23, 2013, 4:44 AM UTC

Don't forget that anyone can write a dumb app! Just fork the repository, add your app, and take out a pull request!

https://github.com/dumbstore/dumbstore/

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#36

Post by devd » Thu, May 23, 2013, 5:39 AM UTC

beggi wrote: post #5

bryogenic wrote: post #4

Slightly off topic, are there actually any good (i.e. recommendable) dumb phones? It has been an interesting market to try to navigate and research.

I believe Nokia Asha line of phones is leading the charge in dumb phones in developing countries, Nokia Asha 501 being the newest. It has pretty freaking awesome (especially in countries where access to electricity is a luxury) 48 day standby time (beat that iPhone!). In addition, Asha 501 actually has some kind of support for 3rd party apps.

I can't wait to get my hands on the 501 - I am pretty excited about this phone.

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#37

Post by huertanix » Thu, May 23, 2013, 5:45 AM UTC

Just wrote up an app called Rick Roulette. It's like Russian Roulette, but with Rick Astley instead of bullets: https://github.com/dumbstore/dumbstore/pull/13

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#38

Post by hayksaakian » Thu, May 23, 2013, 6:34 AM UTC

I did an app for rolling dice

https://github.com/dumbstore/dumbstore/pull/15

ex:

    roll 1d20+4

    =21 | rolled 17 plus 4 for a total of 21.

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#39

Post by shrikant » Thu, May 23, 2013, 6:46 AM UTC

bryogenic wrote: post #4

Slightly off topic, are there actually any good (i.e. recommendable) dumb phones? It has been an interesting market to try to navigate and research.

I actively use a Nokia 100 (as my "family calling" phone - calling and minimal texting -only-). A brand new one cost £18.99, it has a monster battery life, is super light and yet an absolute rock in build quality.

I'm sure it has some additional bling like FM radio, a media player or whatever and some games, but I use literally use that phone for nothing other than calling and texting.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0068ZAPB0/

Re: An App Platform for Dumb Phones

#40

Post by devindotcom » Thu, May 23, 2013, 6:56 AM UTC

kevinconroy wrote: post #13

rapind wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually spent some time looking into dumb phones a couple years ago. My favorite would be the motofone. It's got an e-ink display, which is great for battery and sunlight, and 2 antennas which is also great if you heaven forbid make actual calls with it. Also, pretty sturdy, small, and light. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Fone Beware though, if you txt a lot, you won't like it. Not enough real estate for t…

I had a Motofone (also called F3) for the last 7 years. It started with a two week working battery life. It's a pain to text message on since it only shows 4 or 5 characters on, but it just worked as a reliable phone. Finally switched to an iPhone 5 after it became vital for me to have full Internet access 24/7 for work. If it weren't for that, I'd still have my F3. I love it as much as I love my iPhone 5. You can st…

F3 to iPhone 5 has to be the biggest jump I've heard of lately. I've been meaning to pick up a dumbphone myself, maybe I'll grab an F3 - I remember when they came out, I was dying for one. It's a bit like buying the... junker of your childhood dreams.