I’m regretting my move to a smartphone and will probably migrate back to a simpler unit next year. I don’t need or use all the apps and I miss having a charge last me a week.
1 Like
huh
2 Likes
My wife has been using a Samsung Array since she hates onscreen keyboards. That’s CDMA though and I’m not even sure there’s a GSM equivalent.
5 Likes
3 Likes
You did the exact research I did a while back.
I settled on the iPhone4 I already had, with an uparmored case (cheap on amazon these days) and no data plan.
“I once owned the legendary e-ink phone, the Moto F3,”
i was going to suggest that. i still have mine. my best phone has been the motorola zn5 which is more like a 5 megapixel kodak camera with a phone surrounding it.
1 Like
I wonder if there’s some middle ground. A Nokia 206 in the back pocket and a Chromebook or small netbook in the bag. So full internet access is available but you have to get it out of the bag and get set up.
There’s a market here that Nokia should address. Dumb phone that’s just good enough but is tiny and has huge battery life.
Part of the trick is that in my part of the world, you need 3G. The old 2G network is turning off next year.
I’ve been looking at this for an elderly Aunt who has utterly no interest in the internet. Her ability to absorb new tech stopped about the year 2000. It ain’t easy to find a 3G stick phone that does the job.
2 Likes
Have one lying in my drawer too. Battery is probably ruined from being not charged for years. What I need is a dumb phone with an e-ink touchscreen for easy text input (I suck at T9).
…this bizarre looking contraption, which comes all the way from the Baltics.
In contrast to the other phones you mentioned, from Finland?
But anyway, I think you jammed your finger on the basic problem with trying to get back to a simpler age-- namely, that it wasn’t. Those nostalgic phones were all terrible for phone calls, texts, contacts and voicemail as well as not having internet access. If anyone ever designs a truly minimalist phone, it necessarily won’t be much like phones of the past.
3 Likes
Check out the Sony Xperia smartphone. Some of them (my z3 Compact) have a power-saving mode called Ultra Stamina that reboots the phone with only basic functions such as messaging, contacts, camera, calculator, alarms, etc will be available and it completely disables data connections to the point where you need to reboot your phone to restore it. The benefit is that it increases battery life to several days (something like 20 days in standby), while still giving you a usable Android UI with the absolute basic functions ontop of a modern 4G/3G radio. The same mode may be available on their lower end phones as well.
2 Likes
I bought a Motorola F3 off of Amazon once.
It was hard to use. Or rather, very tedious.
I gave it a full charge-discharge cycle, then took it out as an everyday carry (after having transferred as much from my Galaxy S5).
The battery performance was promising after day one. I don’t have a readout, but the notes say it was still at a “full battery” reading).
I then charged the thing overnight, and put it in the glovebox of my '98 honda accord for a week. When I retrieved it 168 hours after I put it in the glovebox, it wouldn’t boot when attempted through the sealed packaging. The self-discharge rate of it’s stock battery is unacceptable for my personal specifications. I don’t want to service extra gear every day. But every week is reasonable.
2 Likes
Nice work @beschizza. I’m taking a bold step this year by not upgrading my 5S and going off contract but i like the idea of taking it a step further and ‘going dumb’.
For your next experiment can you have kids and manage their use of phones, tablets and computers? 
I manage my daughters usage with time limits on OSX parental controls. Homework had to be done first. And sunday is a family day where computers and phones are banned. It’s taken a few months to get used to that but it’s working.
Anyone else care to share their methods?
5 Likes
And the secret to ending alcoholism is to just not drink. No problem living next to a liquor store… Just close the drapes on that side of the house!
1 Like
?
1 Like
Turn off the Wifi as well to fix the former, but you’re on your own with the latter 
A bit of related googling found this, which may be of interest.
A simplified android replacement launcher
Does it have to be a brick/candybar? How about an old flip?
What’s miniminal? :o)
1 Like
