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The Quest for a Dumber Phone

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Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#61

Post by kitsunesoba »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #42
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…

Literally tried to upgrade my Pixel 2 XL to Lineage and it failed repeatedly. Reddit says, no joke, it's the cable that's the problem. Sigh. Same computer didn't have issues flashing old Galaxy and Nexus phones. Bought a dumb phone but found it lacking for your exact reasons -- no GPS, crappy camera, and texting using the number pad was tedious as all hell. Gave up, got a Pixel 7, might think about flashing it.

> Reddit says, no joke, it's the cable that's the problem.

Not surprising. My experience across a few different Android devices over the years is just about all USB-related functionality is a flaky mess, and that includes things like ADB and installing new ROMs. How it's flaky varies from device to device which makes it extra fun.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#62

Post by [deleted] »

em500 wrote: post #20

Focusing on the phone seems like missing the mark. The addictive thing is not the phone, but the internet. Even with a dumbphone you can easily waste as much time on your laptop's web-browser (and people did: FB and Youtube were already big before the iPhone was a thing). Conversely, if you turn off data, there are not many possibilities to spend huge amounts of time on your phone. (And yes, there are still plenty of…

[deleted]

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#63

Post by trekkie1024 »

MSFT_Edging wrote: post #57
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…

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?

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#64

Post by trekkie1024 »

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…

Likewise, with an Apple Watch. Works great but only issue is the battery life < a day when it’s being used that way.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#65

Post by 310260 »

cpsns wrote: post #49
bovermyer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My house still has phone wiring and my ISP still offers landline services, and I'm not in a primitive area.

Yes, but it’s probably not a landline in the way most people think. Almost all those services use voip backends now with only the last mile being copper.

Exactly! And especially if it's provided by a cable ISP. It's just VoIP. Maybe with some QoS on their network and battery backup.

It's not a real circuit-switched network with its own power supply like traditional POTS service.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#66

Post by _23sd »

stonogo wrote: post #59
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…

I'm sorry, but I don't understand your first sentence. You researched dumbphones and discovered they're not smartphones? I'm struggling to understand what you thought you were going to find.

Feature phones in the later '00s usually had cameras, it's not a feature that started with smartphones.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#67

Post by jareklupinski »

BirAdam wrote: post #51

I bought a Mudita Pure. I don't use it. I just wanted to support the creation of a dumb phone that aligned with my principles. Unfortunately for me, having a smart phone is essentially a requirement for both my work and my family. I am unwilling to give up either of these and therefore the smartphone is present. In general, I agree with many commenters here. Separate devices with dedicated purposes tend to do a bette…

the interface you mentioned reminds me of how people in the movie "Her" interact with their futuristic devices

they still use a smaller display they keep in their pocket for visual content, but it exists as an accessory to view things queued up by the voice interface

I love the idea and the approach, I wish there was a way I can use this on a real subway (in the movie there seemed to be a lot more distance between people/users)

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#68

Post by BirAdam »

jareklupinski wrote: post #67
BirAdam wrote: post #51

I bought a Mudita Pure. I don't use it. I just wanted to support the creation of a dumb phone that aligned with my principles. Unfortunately for me, having a smart phone is essentially a requirement for both my work and my family. I am unwilling to give up either of these and therefore the smartphone is present. In general, I agree with many commenters here. Separate devices with dedicated purposes tend to do a bette…

the interface you mentioned reminds me of how people in the movie "Her" interact with their futuristic devices they still use a smaller display they keep in their pocket for visual content, but it exists as an accessory to view things queued up by the voice interface I love the idea and the approach, I wish there was a way I can use this on a real subway (in the movie there seemed to be a lot more distance between pe…

I never saw “Her”, but I suppose I will give it a watch.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#69

Post by andrew-dc »

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 old things, but in my experience it's the opposite. It's often the most simple low-fi things we have been doing for ages, that have been overhauled to require a smartphone, app, and data plan. It's hard to be looked at as 'the person complicating things', when everybody else expects you to carry a luxury item (and an expensive monthly service bill), just to perform a basic task, like paying a bill, or reading a menu.

I'm not one to wander around expecting society to cater to my own needs, but I openly admit that I find this Twilight Zone-like first-world problem (What do you mean, you can't use our app?) the most infuriating.

With that said, you can still get by in most situations, but I don't see the above getting better on into the future, unless there is some cultural revolution about how view and use technology.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#70

Post by wheelerof4te »

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.

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