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I leave my phone behind and take my Apple Watch Series 3 with me sometimes. The watch is much less distracting than a smart phone while keeping basic connectiv

by lev99 8y ago

I leave my phone behind and take my Apple Watch Series 3 with me sometimes. The watch is much less distracting than a smart phone while keeping basic connectivity. The Apple Watch Series 3 has almost all of the features of the Light Phone 2 (missing battery life), and is equally as non-distracting. The Light Phone 2 is missing several features of Apple Watch Series 3 like Health Kit and Apple Pay. Configuring call forwarding and message forwarding is much simpler with Apple Watch than it is for Light Phone. Preordering a Light Phone 2 costs $300 and and will ship next April. Buying an Apple Watch Series 3 costs $320 and you can pick you up today. If you have an iPhone I would recommend an Apple Watch to someone wanting to leave the phone behind from time to time instead of this. This might be more useful to spending days away from a charging station, someone without an iPhone, or someone that doesn't like wearing watches. I assume there is an Android Watch product with most of the big features of the Apple Watch too.

tomxor 8y ago
Whats the advantage of either vs a basic "nokia" phone for £50~ ? they aren't very big these days, and the most distracting they can be is actually receiving a call or text. I "downgraded" to one of these 6 years ago. Bonus features include up to 2 weeks battery, practically indestructible compared to smartphones (which means even less distracting)... it's the phone that literally makes me forget it exists until I actually get called, that has to be the least distracting possible while still having a phone.
- tomxor 8y ago
  The only thing I like about this is the size... that makes it even easier to forget about. Yet this is still all about aesthetics for $300. Cheap basic credit card sized phones already exist [1], sure it doesn't last as long, but it's only £10 and doesn't require another smart phone to function properly. [1] http://www.imei.info/phonedatabase/87580-aiek-m5/ http://www.imei.info/phonedatabase/87580-aiek-m5/
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- lev99 8y ago
  Using a feature phone instead of a smart phone for a daily driver is a different decision than having a second device with less distractions that is used sometimes instead of carrying a smartphone. These have setups for call forwarding and the Apple Watch has SMS forwarding. They are designed to be a second device.
  - tomxor 8y ago
    Their second generation device that this article is talking about is advertised as being independent. In which case a cheap feature phone is a valid comparison.
tallanvor 8y ago
An Apple Watch is only useful if you have an iPhone. Apple Pay isn't a big deal for a lot of owners since it's only available in about 28 countries anyway. That said I wouldn't spend $300 on a feature phone when I can get a basic one for $50 or less which can do everything that this one can. The Light Phone appears to be for people looking for a specific aesthetic rather than actually coming close to being in a middle ground between being unplugged and carrying a smartphone.
- jakobegger 8y ago
  Last year I tried ditching my iPhone and used a feature phone for a couple of weeks. The biggest annoyance was typing SMS / text messages with the numeric keypad. I absolutely hated it. Also, all feature phones are hideous. I think there's a market for a feature phone that has nice messaging and looks good. And since it's based on Android, it might be possible to write apps for it (messaging apps would absolutely make sense).
  - jlebrech 8y ago
    I personally want a phone with a qwerty keyboard, eink and an api.
  - Fnoord 8y ago
    The biggest annoyance -which Light Phone 2 also has- is that I do not use SMS anymore. I use WhatsApp. Say they implement WhatsApp support. Well, someone else uses Telegram. Yet someone else WeChat. And someone else solely e-mail. There's also some features on Android which I'm too much used to (such as tethering). If your feature phone has Bluetooth you can use a Bluetooth keyboard together with it. You can even use a laptop's keyboard (I know it is possible on Linux and Maemo), perhaps even a game controller [1], and perhaps even a remote (mine has a keyboard). Finally, if you got dictation it doesn't matter. I do agree T9 is horrible though. But if you do use it regularly, you get used to it. [1] https://www.gearbest.com/air-mouse/pp_756041.html?wid=1433363 https://www.gearbest.com/air-mouse/pp_756041.html?wid=143336...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

by lev99 8y ago

tomxor 8y ago

Whats the advantage of either vs a basic "nokia" phone for £50~ ? they aren't very big these days, and the most distracting they can be is actually receiving a call or text. I "downgraded" to one of these 6 years ago. Bonus features include up to 2 weeks battery, practically indestructible compared to smartphones (which means even less distracting)... it's the phone that literally makes me forget it exists until I actually get called, that has to be the least distracting possible while still having a phone.

tomxor 8y ago
The only thing I like about this is the size... that makes it even easier to forget about. Yet this is still all about aesthetics for $300. Cheap basic credit card sized phones already exist [1], sure it doesn't last as long, but it's only £10 and doesn't require another smart phone to function properly. [1] http://www.imei.info/phonedatabase/87580-aiek-m5/ http://www.imei.info/phonedatabase/87580-aiek-m5/
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
lev99 8y ago
Using a feature phone instead of a smart phone for a daily driver is a different decision than having a second device with less distractions that is used sometimes instead of carrying a smartphone. These have setups for call forwarding and the Apple Watch has SMS forwarding. They are designed to be a second device.
- tomxor 8y ago
  Their second generation device that this article is talking about is advertised as being independent. In which case a cheap feature phone is a valid comparison.

tallanvor 8y ago

An Apple Watch is only useful if you have an iPhone. Apple Pay isn't a big deal for a lot of owners since it's only available in about 28 countries anyway. That said I wouldn't spend $300 on a feature phone when I can get a basic one for $50 or less which can do everything that this one can. The Light Phone appears to be for people looking for a specific aesthetic rather than actually coming close to being in a middle ground between being unplugged and carrying a smartphone.

jakobegger 8y ago
Last year I tried ditching my iPhone and used a feature phone for a couple of weeks. The biggest annoyance was typing SMS / text messages with the numeric keypad. I absolutely hated it. Also, all feature phones are hideous. I think there's a market for a feature phone that has nice messaging and looks good. And since it's based on Android, it might be possible to write apps for it (messaging apps would absolutely make sense).
- jlebrech 8y ago
  I personally want a phone with a qwerty keyboard, eink and an api.
- Fnoord 8y ago
  The biggest annoyance -which Light Phone 2 also has- is that I do not use SMS anymore. I use WhatsApp. Say they implement WhatsApp support. Well, someone else uses Telegram. Yet someone else WeChat. And someone else solely e-mail. There's also some features on Android which I'm too much used to (such as tethering). If your feature phone has Bluetooth you can use a Bluetooth keyboard together with it. You can even use a laptop's keyboard (I know it is possible on Linux and Maemo), perhaps even a game controller [1], and perhaps even a remote (mine has a keyboard). Finally, if you got dictation it doesn't matter. I do agree T9 is horrible though. But if you do use it regularly, you get used to it. [1] https://www.gearbest.com/air-mouse/pp_756041.html?wid=1433363 https://www.gearbest.com/air-mouse/pp_756041.html?wid=143336...
deleted 8y ago
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