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New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
- vaidhy 5y agoWhy is this $399? IIRC, Nokia 3310 was around $80..
- superkuh 5y agoMy Nokia 6030 does this and is still going strong with a week between charges. I'm going to be sad when the 2G/3G base stations shut down in the next few years though. It'd be nice if there were more 4G/5G dumb phones with mechanical buttons, a minimal screen and physical size, no firmware or software update need or capability, and voice+text support.
- jeffbee 5y agoYeah but the Nokia 3310 had a Facebook app. On some carriers this phone came with Facebook.
- rangerdan 5y agoHey, marketing ads in the Wall Street Journal aren't going to pay for themselves!
- josephcsible 5y agoAll the functionality of a feature phone for the price of a smartphone! Wait a minute...
- throwawayboise 5y agoThere's a veblen value component to these....
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- neonate 5y agohttps://archive.is/jVIE0 https://archive.is/jVIE0
- throwawayboise 5y agoI'd buy one if it could do WiFi calling (I have very poor mobile signal at my house) and hotspot capability so I could use a cheap tablet for maps in the car.
- neom 5y agoAccording to their promo video, it can "act as a data modem" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58bJLakzVPo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58bJLakzVPo (but yeah, no wifi I guess)
- beezischillin 5y agoYou could call your phone provider and ask them if they offer a signal booster or something like that. I’m in Eastern Europe and if you nag Orange enough about the signal issues at your house they will actually send you a little device you plug into your router and power that provides 4G to nearby phones.
- ajay-b 5y agoWasn’t there a comic The Joy of Tech where Johnny Ive’s is showing a new iPhone to Steve, that just made calls?
- spansoa 5y agoI enjoy mindlessly scrolling social media when waiting for the bus. It takes my mind off the banality of doing that. It also makes time go by quicker, which is what you want when waiting for anything. I don't agree with this current wave of demonisation of smartphones. If you want you can flash a Pixel with LineageOS and install a bunch of FOSS apps from F-Droid if you're concerned about privacy.
- avindroth 5y agoIt’s because people demonise “wasting time”. People take themselves too seriously.
- bdamm 5y agoWhen it ends up consuming days or weeks on end then yes, something is wrong.
- pilsetnieks 5y agoDoes it end thus for you? In that case, indeed, something is wrong; help needs to be sought. I'd wager it is an extreme case, however. Most people don't seem to be consumed by consuming social media days or weeks on end without remit.
- MrJagil 5y agoI only bring my apple watch when i go out and leave my phone. I want to look around, collect my thoughts, let my mind wander.
- pilsetnieks 5y agoMax Weber had things to say about this Puritan ethic [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_S... Also: "No person, householder or other, shall spend his time idly or unprofitably, under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict" -- Bay Colony General Court, 1633.
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- ergot_vacation 5y agoNew? Can't you buy this for $80 at any CVS or Walgreens? "Companies including Nokia Corp. still manufacture “feature phones,” devices that look, feel and operate like the cellphones of the ’00s. But most feature phones still follow a design philosophy of abundance, cramming all the features they can into a limited operating system, said Petter Neby..." Bullshit. They can't get on the Internet, that's what matters. You can call, you can text (awkwardly) and that's pretty much it. Is it really worth $250+ to strip out the shitty version of Snake or whatever the Feature phone comes with? The whole issue is distraction, and I'm pretty sure a tiny monochrome display with no Internet poses little threat in that regard. Pure wankery, especially when you consider they could probably sell THIS phone for $80 too, if they wanted to. Buy a feature phone if this is what you want (and more power to you). Don't reward this nonsense.
- tyingq 5y agoIf you're in the US, $5 from Tracfone, though it's locked to them. $15/month for unlimited talk/text. https://shop.tracfone.com/shop/en/tracfonestore/phones/alcatel-myflip-trade%3B-%28a405dl%29---reconditioned-tfala405dcr-p https://shop.tracfone.com/shop/en/tracfonestore/phones/alcat...
- spicybright 5y agoYou can even get plans where you pay a small amount per year and get X amount of minutes and Y amount of texts per month if you don't use a phone that often. Great for an emergency phone to keep in your car.
- belltaco 5y agoIf you only need a way of calling 911, you don't need a plan or even a SIM to do so.
- selfhoster11 5y agoIn some countries, a SIM card is needed due to past abuse of the emergency numbers.
- danirod 5y agoLooking at the official website trying to understand what's the value of this mobile phone over any cheap feature phone from Nokia: https://mudita.com/products/pure/ https://mudita.com/products/pure/. The device has an e-ink display and claims to have a very good speaker. The operating system has a meditation app and an "inspirational quotes" app. I'm still curious about which kind of person would purchase a device like this instead of a feature phone, given that they are way cheaper.
- Gualdrapo 5y ago> The operating system has a meditation app and an "inspirational quotes" app. > I'm still curious about which kind of person would purchase a device like this instead of a feature phone At uni we had a teacher that used to brag telling the story about how he bought his phone. Allegedly he went into the store and asked about the most basic phone. No, not the cheapest phone, but the basic. Because he didn't needed cameras and apps and stuff. I'm fairly positive that's the kind of people this phone is targeted at.
- crooked-v 5y agoThe E-ink display might be good for battery life... but if you're not obsessively using your battery life is going to be much better in the first place, since the majority of the battery drain on modern phones is the screen.
- jumelles 5y agoThe focus on radiation is... strange. It even shows up under the SIM card section: "Although we would have liked to only use 2G, the least harmful radio frequency, it is currently being phased out around the world. We spent a good amount of time trying to find a flexible, modern and global GSM module, which could be used for travelling anywhere in the world. With the user’s health in mind, Pure always chooses the lowest spectrum available to limit radiation."
- gpas 5y agoIt's revealing of what segment of the market they are targeting...
- Rd6n6 5y agoYou have to make minimalist things configurable sometimes so they each persons minimal set can work for them without adding bloat to somebody elses. I’ve been rewriting some logic for a writing prep app right now based on this idea. It’s delaying the launch by about a week but it’s really important. There is no such thing as the average person (Obviously, great defaults are critical too)
- yellow_lead 5y agoYeah I think this is better suited as an Android fork.
- dgarrett 5y agoI think the trick is to be configurable, but with high friction. Otherwise it's too easy to reconfigure away from the minimalism on the fly. I've thought about using Parental Controls on iOS to do something similar. Set a very long password that can't be memorized easily, write it down somewhere accessible if needed, and you get a minimal phone that can be reconfigured if needed. Just with high friction (typing in a long password from a paper in your home). Of course, this assumes your goal is "avoiding a distracting environment" rather than "avoiding a bloated environment". Everyone has different goals with minimalism.
- derefr 5y agoThe simpler way to do that (that doesn’t assume/require you to ever be home) is to make any reconfigurations that should be possible-if-necessary, but not done on a whim, take 24 hours to take effect. Teach the user this in advance, such that they know that they’ll need to plan to set their phone into a new mode at least 24hrs in advance of actually undertaking whatever adventure needs the new config. (This is the Animal Crossing approach to friction. Move your house? Sure, but it won’t happen for 24 hours.)
- p49k 5y agoPretty worthless without WhatsApp, which in many countries is the only way to actually make calls and send texts. They state in their FAQ that they have no intention to support it.
- diskzero 5y agoPossibly ignorant question: Is there no way to create an app that works in the WhatsApp ecosystem?
- hammyhavoc 5y agoNo, but you could bridge it via Matrix.
- Raed667 5y agoI need a connected phone that isn't built for addiction. For example, I need Uber for the rare cases where I'm in a jam at 3 AM and need to get back home. I need maps for when I'm looking for directions. I need a web browser to access my bank and the occasional Google search. I can live with or without Whatsapp or Signal, that depends on how much you use it I guess. However, I don't need Facebook, Twitter or TikTok or any social app. I feel these "minimalist" phones fail to be useful.
- neither_color 5y agoI simply dont have facebook, twitter or tiktok installed on my phone.
- Raed667 5y agoYou have better self-control than me.
- new_guy 5y agoThis is the ultimate problem. It's a human issue, not a technology issue.
- Raed667 5y agoIt is a technology issue in the sense that these companies are paying 6 figures to top designers and developers to optimize for eyeball-time.
- redwoolf 5y agoIsn't that still a human issue?
- robbrown451 5y agoIt's a human issue that technology can exploit to your detriment, or it can help with. Here is an example from my life. I enjoy cannabis. I love the creative mode I get into when I use it, I love how periodic use can allow me to reexamine things from a different perspective, and so on. Great stuff. (and yes, it is legal here and sold in about 4 stores within a ten minute walk) What I don't like is how, if I have it sitting around my house, I am tempted to use it when I need to get work done, and it will get in the way of that and cause me to waste time. I would become an unproductive stoner if it was always around. Enter technology. I bought a lockbox with a timer. Pull out a little bit, then lock it up for 4-5 days. Works perfectly for me. Some people could say "why not just learn some discipline?" (easier said than done) Others will say "if you have an addiction, just don't buy the stuff." I say, why can't I have the best of both? Same goes for things like phone and web addiction. Technology can help. I don't like this solution (too all-or-nothing.... it's like the "just don't buy the stuff" solution), but I do like the idea of technology helping with what is otherwise a human issue.
- neom 5y agoCouple other design++ "dumb phones" I've had my eye on: https://www.thelightphone.com/ https://www.thelightphone.com/ https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/ https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/
- PenguinCoder 5y agoThe light phone looks great and exactly what I want. But it won't work with my provider or choice, and I really don't want to be reliant on light phone the company for my SIM service.
- narrator 5y agoI think the dividing line for features on a minimal phone should be is the message that comes into the phone intended for the recipient and not for a mass audience. Feeds, nope. Podcasts, nope. Music, nope. Any sort of "News", Nope. Slack/Instant Messages/Tinder/Email Specifically Emailed to You OK.
- taylodl 5y agoI keep all social media apps off of my phone. I do have messaging apps on my phone, such as slack. I find it helps keep me from mindlessly staring at my screen.
- dang 5y agoRecent and (somewhat) related: Dumb Phone - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28246636 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28246636 - Aug 2021 (150 comments) The Light Phone: Minimal Smartphone - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28184006 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28184006 - Aug 2021 (157 comments)
- perihelions 5y agoAlso (172 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18255904 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18255904 [2018] ("Business card-sized Japanese phone bucks the giant-phone trend") It's not in the title but that one was also a no-apps/e-ink minimal phone.
- gpas 5y agoMy Xiaomi note has a super eco mode. One home screen, up to 9 apps (I opted for Vivaldi, telegram, whatsapp, camera, newpipe, maps. Obviously phone, contacts, sms). When I found the feature I used it on when my battery was about to die, now it's my default productive mode. Battery is super happy to see the charger once or twice a week. It's a feature phone? No. But it's my camera, gps nav, notebook, mp3 player. All things I had in my backpack when feature phones were the only option. I don't get this new trend of stupidly expensive, badly designed, health-conscious phones. Modern feature phones already exist. I've bought a couple clamshells with big display and big buttons to my elderly parents, less than 20eur each. Browsing mudita website I see they are developing a minimal app launcher for Android, a more sensible way to embrace digital minimalism. Ready to pivot. edit grammar
- lethologica 5y agoThe ultra power saving mode on my old Samsung Galaxy S7 did something similar. You put it in ultra power saving mode and it turns everything to black and white and only gives you access to a few number of apps that you select. I found it a very handy feature while travelling but ended up keeping my phone in that mode for the majority of its life after I discovered it. I wish my iPhone had a similar feature.
- jpmoral 5y agoThat's amazing. And here I was impressed by my Nokia smartphone's 2-3 day battery life. How does the home screen app count restriction work to preserve charge?
- gpas 5y agoIt limits background activity on those apps, like telegram is sometimes slower to receive when closed. No multitasking, no animations, no gestures. I guess that most of the battery savings come from disabling all other apps' background activity and always on sensors.
- 908087 5y agoHow can anyone possibly market this as some kind of new innovation with a straight face? Are they just relying on their audience to mostly be made up of people who are too young to know that devices like this were the norm for decades, or that you can still find other phones with this "functionality" for a fraction of the cost today?
- 8jef 5y agoThe perfect phone, to me: * Wifi only * GPS * Square e-ink touchscreen, 3 inches across * QWERTY hardware keyboard * Thin foldable a la razor * Latest LTE tech worldwide bands for future proof network compatibility * Micro SDXC slot * USB-C with host and audio capabilities * Removable battery * De-googlized AOSP with F-Droid * Some good hardware hi-def DAC * 3.5mm audio out * Decent camera for photos, don't care about videos on a phone Like in calls, text, music, Tutanota and Organic Maps apps, some offline games, and occasional pic taking. That's it. Ready to pay about US$500 for it. I've used old BB's for a long time, it worked, until I needed newer network capabilities... Getting an AOSP os on a newish LG or Samsung does it, but I do prefer the square screen with physical keyboard form factor, and I'm a big fan of e-ink for eye strain and battery life. Is it too niche for your taste ?
- hammyhavoc 5y agoI'll take a family's worth of them.
- tedunangst 5y agoWhy would you need LTE on a wifi only phone?
- 8jef 5y agoBecause that's the actual standard for cellphone communications. 4g and 5g are LTE, for which my phone needs to be compatible with if I want to use for years to come. The fact that I chose not to use cell data is only a question of choice. The choice of connecting only when I do need a connection.
- FridayoLeary 5y ago>The phone will cost around $369 Which reality are they living in? Moreover the title is confusing, such phones have existed and continue to exist for the past 30 years.
- hammyhavoc 5y agoIf it supported Matrix, I'd have definitely had one. However, unencrypted SMS and PSTN? No thanks.
- vzaliva 5y agoI would prefer "modular" phone where I can chose what apps to include. The dialer and SMS could come standard but everything else should be optional. However I want to be able to add apps I want, like Lyft or Signal. I guess somene could try to hack something like this based on standard Android.
- fasthandle 5y agoI might be missing something here. Can I not pick up a Nokia, Sony or other phone for an order of magnitude less than this price? It might even get some kudos. Or, as stated in the article, an alarm clock for a similar order of magnitude less. This might belay a greater stagnation, and not a bad one. The laptop I'm typing this comment on, a ThinkPad manufactured in 2012, works just fine. It has an upgrade to a SSD and a new battery. It cost around $100 three years ago. The watch on my arm, if choosing to put it on, was manufactured in the 1990s. It just needs a new battery every 3-4 years. I have no idea how old my alarm clock is. It's mainly unused because body clock works well enough. I do not need a step counter as when going for a morning stroll or jog I know roughly how far I'm going and how many steps that equates to. Nor do I need a meal planner app because the amount of calories in various food stuffs fortunately stays quite constant. While mobile payments have been all the rage where I live for some time, I get by well enough with a technology that doesn't aggregate personal information for 3rd parties called cash, with two high-tech devices in my wallet being a bank card and a public transport card. When taking the bus or subway I do crazy things like bring a book with me; there's a local bar/cafe/restaurant where people bring books they're done with and pick up others new. > Such a design philosophy may be good for consumers, but not for financial projections. Encouraging customers to upgrade helps smartphone makers keep cash flow consistent, whereas minimalist phones comparatively are selling few units to begin with, despite some models now being in the market for more than five years, said Ken Hyers, director of emerging technology devices at Strategy Analytics Inc. That just means I have more money for things other than keeping up with the Jones'. Like good food, or taking part in activities or hobbies. And more time. Without Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok or whatever pushing notifications and 'important' updates, notifications that bring more baggage than utility, the world becomes a pull world. If it's urgent, call me or at least text. If needing more detail send an email, not an attachment on WhatsApp in the hope I actually care to check that, or Signal, or Telegram, or WeChat, or Messenger, or Discord, or iMessage, or whatever. Not a rant. If someone likes to blow $3000 on a laptop, or $1000 on a new phone per year, or $349 on a dumb phone, great, anyone's choice. It's nice the choice not to is also there.
- windowsrookie 5y ago"I might be missing something here. Can I not pick up a Nokia, Sony or other phone for an order of magnitude less than this price?" In the United States all networks are switching to VoLTE. They will no longer activate devices that do not have 4g. So no, the old Nokias will no longer work. Unfortunately all new "Dumb Phones" will have to have a 4g modem and be compatible with the VoLTE networks.
- raman162 5y agoHmm, like others here I seem to really be missing the point of these minimalist phones besides the straight branding behind them. I think the dumb Nokia feature phones satisfy most of these cases. Personally I've taken a few steps to minimize time on my phone 1) use a long text password to unlock my phone (I also change the password every few weeks) 2) don't use any apps with endless scrolling 3) turn off notifications and open apps with purpose These three things have worked out well for me.
- planet-and-halo 5y agoI think the general problem we're trying to correct for is the malfunction of the human mind in the presence of general purpose parallel computing as well as social technology. We're (largely) wired to attend to things sequentially, and we are highly susceptible to social signals. Our minds have parallel processing capabilities, but it's mostly the subconscious parts of our minds that work that way. With constant access to general-purpose computers, we try to start operating more and more in a consciously parallel mode, and this causes a significant amount of stress.
- IAmPointThink 5y agoI really do not know why ""minimal phones"" are a big deal when you can just get a feature phone. $349 seems a little overpriced for a phone that just makes phone calls and sends texts. I think it's just not worth the money
- matthewaveryusa 5y agoIt's touted as a minimalist phone but the very idea of a product category for minimalism is funny. If you don't want to get distracted and lead a more minimalist life, the act of resisting the distractions must come from within. Buying a minimalist phone is treating the symptom not the cause. I guess there is such a thing as a minimalist aesthetic (think japanese/danish uncluttered styles) which has very little to do with the minimalist philosophy. Minimalist philosophy is much closer to resourcefulness/ingenuity than it is to consumerism.
- jeeeb 5y agoI disagree with this. Removing a source of ongoing temptation is a great practical way to avoid that temptation. For example I find it much easier to avoid drinking when I don’t have alcohol in the house.
- robbrown451 5y agoI'd prefer a capable phone, but with "lockdown features" designed for addictive personalities. I use various tools for web addiction on my computer (for instance LeechBlock, that has rules that allow me to access certain sites for only certain periods). I even have a physical lockbox with a timer for certain real-world substances that I enjoy and benefit from, but I don't benefit from them always being available and tempting me. (hint: things that used to be illegal but aren't anymore, at least not in California) This sort of solution, though, takes it way too far. I mean, I might need to call an Uber. I am not addicted to the Uber app. But I want it when I want it. I want to have maps/driving directions available when I want them. There are so many things I use occasionally on my phone that I'd like to decide whether or not they are positive or problematic, rather than the manufacturer to decide that for me. In other words, they throw out the baby with the bathwater.
- Olshansky 5y agoI wish for this in a tweet last week and just got it. ``` After realizing how much anxiety having a phone nearby that is on all day long has caused, I have a feature request for a future version of iOS: Dumb & Dumber. Dumb: Voice and text mode. Dumber: Voice only mode. ``` https://twitter.com/olshansky/status/1426266177261686793 https://twitter.com/olshansky/status/1426266177261686793
- jasonbourne1901 5y agoIsn't this just a Y2K Nokia?
- Brajeshwar 5y agoI'm now used to not looking at the phone most of the time. I do not have any social media apps, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or anything for a very, very long time. I'm not too keen on phone calls either. I look at text messages only when I'm expecting something. However, I need the phone-smartness of Maps, Calendar, Health monitoring, and mostly photo/videography. It is impressive with the camera capabilities of phones these days. A phone with just phone calls and text messaging will be highly irritating. Here is a glimpse into how my phone home-screen has evolved - https://oinam.fyi/brajeshwar/phone-home-screen/ https://oinam.fyi/brajeshwar/phone-home-screen/
- tapgnid 5y agoHow about an Android OS stripped from everything that's not needed? To be used with older devices. Privacy focused with an intentional black and white display. Plenty of devices laying around. The stripped features should also improve the battery life as well. For IM I really loved BitlBee, maybe the mandatory IM could be within terminal. Notifications could be highly customized and the ux would be non-candy one.
- dgudkov 5y agoI don't like how all modern phones are designed for content consumption. If you try googling "android phone with a small screen", you will get articles about phones with a 5-6" screen, because this is what is considered a "small screen" nowadays. I would easily pay $300-400 for a de-Googled Android phone with 3-3.5" screen and no bloatware. It should be just right to use apps like Uber, Telegram, or maps, but the small screen would discourage mindless media consumption. And it would fit in pocket much better.
- milliondollar 5y agoDouble yes. I am praying Palm phone upgrades. Exactly what I want but needs more battery life.
- crossroadsguy 5y agoAll I need is smartphone that fits in my palm and has a battery that doesn’t lose 60-70% of power after 20m on internet and GPS usage and isn’t designed to shatter on fall (from both back and front). What I do not need is a fad phone.
- llimos 5y agoIn Israel, around a million ultra-Orthodox Jews have specially made "kosher phones" that only make phone calls[1]. This is for religious reasons (with, it must be said, a not-insignificant amount of social pressure.) Full disclosure: I am one of them, while managing to be CTO of a company with around 100 employees. If people need me, they have my phone number. The phones tend to be recent model feature phones with custom firmware that only allow phone calls. I have to say, I very much see the benefits for concentration, focus, and general well-being. Sure, occasionally it's a pain, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. The phones generally cost less than $100, and last way longer than smartphones do (I've had mine around 6 years, the battery lasts a week on a single charge, and upgrading won't get me any new features!) [1] https://www.idi.org.il/media/15001/the-kosher-cellphone-market-from-black-hole-to-balanced-regulation.pdf https://www.idi.org.il/media/15001/the-kosher-cellphone-mark... (Hebrew)
- andix 5y agoOr you just take any random smartphone and just set up what you need. Maybe even use a second phone solely for that purpose. Then it can sync your contacts and also run Uber or a Maps app. A maps app can be quite a life safer, also in the literal sense if you get lost in the wilderness or in a dangerous area. If you feel like you can't resist the urge to install other apps, just turn on child protection mode, and let somebody you trust set the pin.
- franga2000 5y agoThere's literally a vending machine with phones equivalent to this at the bus station here. They're like 40€ and come with a pre-loaded 3 month prepaid SIM.