Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/02/28/the-light-phone-2-is-designed.html
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The only time I use the phone application on my pocket supercomputer is to communicate with all of the outdated industries that rely on telephony. The rest of the time I use the device as a GPS based moving map, web browser, and occasionally as a messaging client.
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Interesting, but it won’t have wifi connectivity? That could save on cell data fees.
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Yeah, me too. But I was one of those nerds who had a Palm Pilot in the 1990s.
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You can pick up a basic cellphone for $20. Knowing that probably excludes me from the target market for this.
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Mine is stuffed with video games. The Light Phone 2 is not for me.
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I was thinking the same thing. I have a cheap Chinese brand smartphone that I use for the things I need it for. I have to run some apps for work so regular phones aren’t an option, but I get truly overwhelmed from having too much going on with a phone I’d prefer just to use for a few things when needed. Couldn’t be happier. Didn’t cost much, still is running, and will probably continue to be my phone until it breaks. Honestly though I hate phone calls so I mostly just check email/text and use the work related apps… and of course GPS. My phone is pretty much my dedicated “how to find my way out of a wet paper bag” machine at all times. I think I’d go with a cheaper phone than this if I really only needed to make calls.
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I like it.
[sent from my iPhone]
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Is it called the “Light Phone”, because you need a light to be able to use it in the dark?
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I have one of the first ones. Overly complicated, glitchy, reception issues, etc… if you want the experience of pretending you’re back in 2005 in Croatia, buying your first phone that kinda works, well maybe this phone is for you. I had high hopes that I would take it out on the beach or whatever, but any time I did there was always an issue.
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No. It’s a darksucker. It works by sucking darkness in, which is why we perceive “light.”
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It makes me nostalgic for my old Motofone F3 but I’m not sure I could continue to function without a smartphone glued to my hand.
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Seeing as my iphone regularly goes five or six days between charges, I am not the target market for this thing.
I stuck with my dumbphone for a very long time, but finally the need to have something that took decent pictures caused me to get a cheap used iphone. Now I use it whenever I am away from home, as a camera, note taker, memory aid, and texting device. I use it as a telephone less than once a week. It has been immensely beneficial to me, and there is no way in hell I will ever go back to a dumbphone.
My secret to not letting the phone take over my life is simple: no social apps whatsoever, no games, and without exception, no apps other than Imessage are permitted to send notifications. It pings me when I get a text from someone in my address book, and it rings when someone tries to call me, and that is all.
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I’m still rocking a flip phone. I get soooo much shit about it. But whatever.
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My own approach to smartphone usage: the vast majority of the apps I use are tools of one sort or another (calendar, lightning monitor, weather radar, metronome, network analyzers, mapping, etc.), and social networking is out of the question even if I didn’t hate Facebook with a passion. Sometimes I’ll use it as a Wi-Fi hotspot for my laptop.
I do have Firefox installed, but other than quick news skims now and then, or looking something up when I need to, I don’t use it for general browsing.
ETA: Nonetheless, I like the overall idea of this phone, even if I’m not its intended user. In particular, something like this would be much better for my mother (in her 70s) than the smartphone that she has trouble with.
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It brings a few essential tools to the Light Phone, like messaging, an alarm clock, or a ride home
So it has an archaic telephony app (whatever grandpa), text messages (defeats the purpose!), an alarm clock (i.e., a time-fascist), and… I’m guessing “a ride home” means an Uber app? Which has obvious ideological issues.
Yeah, I’m going to call that a minimalism fail.
You want a truly simple phone? Load it up with the actual bare necessities. Candy Crush, a good fart-noise app, and an ad-supported screen-based flashlight. Now THERE’S an elegant tool for the modern world!
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You forgot porn capabilities.
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Um, well, between candy crush and a basic variety of fart sounds I think I have the mainstream bases covered. If you’re into weird niche stuff, that’s your problem.
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Now there’s something I can rant about with a vengeance: apps that have pointless-to-malicious crap added. I’m lucky I found Motorola Mobility’s DroidLight when it was still available; no ads, it does what it says on the tin, and even though it’s no longer maintained, it works on my relatively recent LG. It shows up in my app list, but if I do a search for it on my desktop, it No Longer Exists. 
Another one I’d highly recommend if you need a metronome: Ethan Brown’s Simple Metronome. It doesn’t want your GPS or your contact list, it just does what it’s supposed to do.
