7 ms·
In many ways (no pun intended :-)) I would relate to having an iPad mini and a much much dumber phone which was just text/chat and voice. I have gotten there be
by ChuckMcM 2y ago
In many ways (no pun intended :-)) I would relate to having an iPad mini and a much much dumber phone which was just text/chat and voice. I have gotten there because I'm constantly in this weird tension between wanting a bigger screen on my phone because the app I'm using and wanting a smaller phone so that it is easier to pocket and carry around. A friend of mine did the folding screen phone thing and that has its advantages but I really like a small phone (and ideally with a long battery life so no 1000 nit screens on it). Definitely first world/21st century problems :-). I do find engineering tradeoffs in product design an interesting thing though.
- osrec 2y agoWhat was the pun? Many/mini?
- zoeysmithe 2y agoFor me its a very nice bedside ebook reader, reddit machine, and video device. Its a perfect size for all those things, perhaps a bit too small for video but good enough. It can fit into a large coat pocket or a medium sized purse too. I keep trying to get into my kindle but just can't for some reason. E-ink is nice but being able to get a nice glowing black background with white text is really nice and the page changes are so much more fluid than e-ink.
- amelius 2y agoWay more distractions on an iPad, though.
- dankwizard 2y agoDo not Disturb mode on to disable notifications Self control to not get distracted I don't get this whole "Too many distractions" shtick. If you don't have the self control to swipe away from your book to sneak in a round of Angry Birds, you'll probably end up pulling your phone out every 2 minutes to check your Reddit feed
- walterbell 2y agoAssistive Access can limit user interactions to a few apps. https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/set-up-assistive-access-devcd5016d31/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/set-...
- Syonyk 2y agoMost of the modern "dumbphones" (or "feature phones") would do this just fine for you. If you want one that can survive anything life will throw at it, look at the Sonim devices - the XP3+ (flip) or XP5+ (candybar). They're Android Go, have exceptionally good (week and a half, easily) battery life, hotspot just fine, and handle actual use a lot better than the KaiOS toys out there. Maybe 3.x is better, but KaiOS 2.x couldn't handle actual use for more than a few weeks without starting to lag, requiring you to remove texts from it so the interface wasn't glacial, and mine eventually just stopped bothering to notify me about incoming calls and texts, which is your one job... The Android Go stuff seems to actually hold up to sustained moderate use.
- bradfa 2y agoDo any of these Android Go phones have semi decent cameras? That’s a big holdup for many people.
- adastra22 2y agoIn the context of this thread, that’s what the iPad mini is for.
- Syonyk 2y agohttps://www.sevarg.net/2023/12/30/more-flip-phone-sonim-xp3-plus/ https://www.sevarg.net/2023/12/30/more-flip-phone-sonim-xp3-... has some sample images from mine - it's an 8MP camera. Not amazing, but also not a 2MP potato.
- bradfa 2y agoThanks! That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for! :)
- 0x38B 2y agoI used a KaiOS device for about 6 months. My expectations weren’t high, but texting and T9 input were a mess: A) I had to manually enter captital I, apostrophe, and ‘m’ every time I wanted to write “I’m”. B) New words (like brand and place names) displace common words in the built-in wordlist - that is, T9 gets worse the more you use it. It was still an OK digital minimalist/detox device - the GMaps web app with voice search was good enough. The Android Go devices you mentioned sound far better – I’m never touching KaiOS again.
- jeffbee 2y agoI was just pitching this yesterday to my friend. My Pixel 8 Pro is a great phone, but in many situations I only want a phone that can show me my messages and answer my phone calls, and it's OK if its interface is my smartwatch and/or earbuds. I want it to be able to take over my mobile number on-demand, and relinquish it to my Pixel afterward.
- mulderc 2y agoI am moving away from my phone to just using my Apple Watch/AirPods then pulling out the mini when I need something it can't cover.
- herpdyderp 2y agoI wish I could do this but I have yet to find a good Apple Watch replacement for owning and syncing music (rather than streaming it)
- reaperducer 2y agoI wish I could do this but I have yet to find a good Apple Watch replacement for owning and syncing music (rather than streaming it) Is it not possible to sync MP3s to Apple Watches anymore? I have a really really old model, and I selected a few playlists on my iPhone, and when they change, the songs automatically sync to my Apple Watch.
- mulderc 2y agoThat was myexperience also but haven’t done that in some time.
- pmcjones 2y agoYou can sync your own MP3s using iTunes Match -- it's about $25/year. https://support.apple.com/en-us/108935 https://support.apple.com/en-us/108935
- infecto 2y agoIncredible. I never heard of this paid feature before.
- mulderc 2y agoI use streaming now but historically I had no issues syncing music and playlists to my watch.
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- jay_kyburz 2y agoI find it incredible that I can't make calls on my iPad. I would just carry an iPad in my back pack if people could call me on it.
- walterbell 2y agoVOIP clients work on iPad.
- xattt 2y agoApple keeps a lot of owners addicted to their phones by making Watch support exclusive to iPhone. I’d love to go dumbphone and a Watch synced to an iPad at home, but this is not an option.
- thorncorona 2y agoWhat keeps them addicted to their watch? I've never found a compelling use case where I'd willingly buy another Apple watch.
- eightysixfour 2y agoKeeps them addicted to their phone by not allowing them to just go watch only.
- Aeolun 2y agoMy best use case for the apple watch is I can keep it on everywhere. If I constantly have to think of the thing it’ll get annoying enough I want to get rid of it.
- xattt 2y agoExercise tracking is a biggie for me. Integration with Fitness on Apple TV is extremely slick for HIIT and yoga. Also, the third-party Intervals Pro app has been my go-to running app. I started with Apple+Nike since 2010 and a Fitbit Charge in 2015, but nothing let me customize my workouts as much as the Intervals app.
- doublepg23 2y agoIf I was approaching the dumb phone thing I’d try something similar to this video - “dumbify” Home Screen app for iOS, setting as gray scale, screen time limits, etc. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7jVb1lLniEw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7jVb1lLniEw
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- bamboozled 2y agoYou want an Apple Watch imo, I often leave my phone behind now, I’m contactable without distractions.
- mouse_ 2y agoBack in the day when Android was KitKat and full of possibilities, I ran a Nexus 7 2nd gen and a cheap phone from my carrier. I'm not sure if it was enlightenment but it was closer to it than today, where I carry around a smartphone that's too big to use comfortably but still too small to use frequently for media.
- pyromaker 2y agoI didn't get the pun......
- j_bum 2y agoMaybe they pronounce “many” as “mini”?
- devilbunny 2y agomany/mini are very similar if not identical in casual US English pronunciation.
- ein0p 2y agoA lot of people (myself included) want that, which is exactly why it’s not going to happen - Apple would much rather see you pay twice as much for an iPhone Pro Max
- qnleigh 2y agoA pro of foldables is that you mostly use the outer screen, but the battery is big enough to handle the inner screen. So you get excellent battery life for daily use. If you only use the inner screen for reading in dark mode the battery life is also excellent. Also at least for the Galaxy Fold, when folded the phone is narrow enough to use one-handed and hold securely.
- lnenad 2y agoI've gotten myself a Honor Magic V3 and I am blown away by how good this phone is. Screen quality, battery life, camera. For me this is the holy trinity. Unfortunately now I can never go back to normal phones. I am waiting for the Huawei Mate XT second gen and making the switch.
- blackoil 2y agoAn alternate setup is LTE smartwatch, tws and foldable phones. You can do almost all dumbphone tasks and some more from the watch. It can be relatively distraction free, and you can leave phone at home for swimming/jogging/workouts. Foldable will give you decent camera and tablet when you need it and can be kept in bag or far enough.
- evrenesat 2y agoI use the Unihertz Jelly Star alongside my iPhone 14 pro. It's a 3" android 14 phone running on a powerful soc with 8gb ram and 256gb storage. I have the same sim on both phones but I no longer carry the iPhone with me, I use it at home as an iPad micro. The fingerprint reader isn't accurate enough so I use pattern lock for NFC payments. Texting on a 3" screen isn't much fun either, but I don't like texting anyway. At least it manages to run FUTO voice keyboard (whisper based) fast enough.
- c120 2y agoThe combination of an Iphone Mini and an Ipad Mini really works well - alas apple decided that they no longer will make reasonably sized phones...
- threetonesun 2y agoI often feel this way as well, but given the phone has replaced GPS in my car and my camera, I end up wanting newer stuff to keep those up to date. I've given up on Apple producing a magic device just for me, and accept that what we've got is pretty amazing considering the alternative is a backpack of devices to carry around.