A 4" e-ink phone that I hadn’t heard of before. Seems like a promising low-distraction semidumb phone.

Unfortunately, it seems to be based on Android 12 (eol) with no upgrades in sight.

  • chaosCruiser@futurology.today
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    14 hours ago

    Recently, I watched a YouTube video about phones designed to minimize distractions. While they aim to solve the problem of smartphone overuse, their utility in today’s world is questionable. Essential tasks like using banking apps, navigation, communication, and parking apps often require a smartphone, making these distraction-free phones less practical.

    The video mentioned some “smart” distraction-free phones, but if you need those features, why not just adjust the settings on your regular smartphone to achieve a similar minimalist setup? Ultimately, traditional dumb phones seem too limited for modern needs, while the smarter minimalist phones are essentially just smartphones with minimalist settings. It’s hard to see who the target audience for these phones really is.

    • Nima@leminal.space
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      8 hours ago

      honestly the target audience is young 20 somethings. older folks like me grew up having to use different methods to keep stuff together. address book/cassette player/CD player/date book.

      but then the smart phone happened and suddenly even mp3 players were obsolete. so us older folks embraced the functionality of a device we once needed an entire bags worth of stuff to replicate from our youth. I’ve never looked back from the smartphone because I remember actually carrying all that stuff.

      these younger people were born when tech was getting to that point. and their formative years were spent with smart devices. so their brains seem wired to want to break “free” from it.

      or at least thats just my theory. the ‘iPad kid’ generation is starting to be adults and they’ve not had the distance between smart devices that the older generations have.

      again, just my take on it.

      • chaosCruiser@futurology.today
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        6 hours ago

        Yeah, that is a pretty good point. The attitude towards various electronics is entirely different. Probably really healthy too. If you stop having the ability to check doom and gloom news and anger inducing online debates every 3 minutes, it’s probably going to do wonders to your mental health.

    • tias@discuss.tchncs.de
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      12 hours ago

      Yeah I really like the idea of an E-ink screen for my phone, both for sparing my eyes and my battery. But the way they cripple these phones make them a no-go.

      That’s coming from someone who is typically very mindful of keeping myself undistracted - I have the alarm clock from the same company just so I can leave the phone in the kitchen when I go to bed.