Dumb Phone

[Pseu]

First time starting my own topic, how exciting!

I have finally made the first step to quitting my smartphone. Even with the people's internet making me happier and giving me something more meaningful online, the attention economy is still so strong. Especially when I am not on the computer and just going through my life with the black hole in my pocket. So I ordered a flip phone to try to resist those unsavory habits that draw my attention. You would be surprised how much thought went into what phone I should get. I wanted a device that had capability to text, call, and take bad pictures obviously; but I had a couple extra requirements that made it more difficult.

1) I really didn't want to give up having navigation.
I get that it is a modern luxury that people haven't always had, but I make a fairly long commute everyday and really appreciate Waze telling me where the crashes and police are.

2) The beauty of a mobile hotspot.
I may be trying to get away from social media and push notifications, but I still love the internet. The side of the internet where I get to interact with you guys! The thing is I need a laptop or my cyberdeck for that and an internet connection... so yeah.

Behold the beautiful Sunbeam F1 Horizon Bluebird

This beauty has texting, calling, a camera, mp3 player, weather app, Waze, and a Wi-Fi hotspot but no web browser or additional apps. I look forward to this new challenge and documenting the new things I find myself carrying and using more regularly without a do-it-all device (notebook, gameboy, books, etc)

Is this something you would try to do? What device would you switch to? Excited to see y'alls input!

[Onio]

It looks great! All the right tools without the hooks that reel you out of the present and into the digital black hole. That's definitely something I'd be interested interesting in trying myself, please let us know how it goes. I've considered getting rid of my phone entirely, but I'm not entirely sure it's possible anymore to navigate the world without a phone number for certain accounts. If I'm stuck with one, something like this would be right up my alley.

Feature wise, I'm curious about the DAC in that thing, if it had some iPod-level sound quality, that would really be a strong selling point for me. Also nice point about the mobile hotspot, I've been using mine more often for my smaller laptops when I want to get outside but don't want to bother posting up at a cafe.

Kind of has my mind wondering again about how to continue down this route of further balancing life and online activity. There are parts of the Internet I really don't want to lose (indie web and you guys), but I also don't want to spend my entire life online either! Continuing to cut my time spent on apps and content that I know are just fillers is likely going to be a big screen time reduction and a phone like this is a great way of doing that.

[SummerO]

This is really cool.

I wanted to do this myself, but then I got rid of Meta apps and now I am happy with my phone as it currently stands. But, how cool would it be to be with someone and their phone starts to ring and it's a flip phone like Pseu's new one?!

I would have so many questions, I think.

Let me us know how you find the change/shift to a dumb phone?

[kuroi]

The only thing stopping me from getting a dumbphone is navigation and whatsapp. I already leave bank accounts on an older phone that never leaves my house so that wouldnt be a problem already. But whatsapp is the main mode of communication here in Brazil, it would be hard to let it go entirely. At the same time it would be awesome to not be available to everyone at all times y'know xD

BUT i'd sell my soul if i could have a somewhat modernized version of this cutie:


If it could have just wifi and whatsapp and the rest being exactly as it was back then, i'd be happy already and would be able to throw my smartphone off the window lmao. This was my favorite phone of all the ones i ever had and i'm so sad that mine was stolen and i didn't get to keep it

As my wishes won't be coming to reality anytime soon, i'm working on reducing my screen time as well. I've removed meta apps from my phone years ago and it was so freeing! My worst enemy now is youtube, and now the indie web chats. Don't get me wrong, they're super cool but i've been catching myself just scrolling on chats reading conversations i'm not really interested in, just waiting for something cool to happen xD kinda like opening your fridge every 10 minutes hoping something delicious will materialize in it lol

I kinda miss when the internet was more like a "place" you had to go to. Like, I'd go to school and then come back home and only after doing my homework i was allowed to browse the internet on the family computer. It had some excitement to it. Tbh it's kinda lame that now we carry The Internet™ everywhere inside our pockets

This week i got really ashamed of my screen time (5 hours on some days ) so i'm trying to do something else when the urge to scroll comes, like reading, drawing, touch typing practice and maybe i might try interstitial journaling as well. I hope we can all overcome screen addiction for real!

[Onio]

This is really cool.

But, how cool would it be to be with someone and their phone starts to ring and it's a flip phone like Pseu's new one?!

Hahaha this is a great point! It could serve as my conversation starter for yapping about the personal web and technology.

The only thing stopping me from getting a dumbphone is navigation and whatsapp. I already leave bank accounts on an older phone that never leaves my house so that wouldnt be a problem already. But whatsapp is the main mode of communication here in Brazil, it would be hard to let it go entirely. At the same time it would be awesome to not be available to everyone at all times y'know xD

Speaking of Commodores earlier... Commodore is releasing a flip-phone (?!) with navigation available and WhatsApp installed! Check this guy out!

https://commodore.net/callback/



They market it as the half-way point between dumb phone and smart phone. According to their marketing, it has an "audiophile grade" DAC, no browser or social media, 48mp camera with a flash, built in FM radio, a custom operating system and supposedly no data selling. I don't know how this all holds up under scrutiny, but it sounds really good!



That Ericsson really is slick, though. Sony's product design was just next level during the 2000s.. so good.

[kuroi]

Speaking of Commodores earlier... Commodore is releasing a flip-phone (?!) with navigation available and WhatsApp installed! Check this guy out!

NO WAY this is incredible xD i want this so much already, i'd get the translucent blue one, so frutiger aero xDD I really like the basic beige too, pretty retro and i love that aesthetic. Oh if i could put my hands on that thing xD

[Pseu]

Speaking of Commodores earlier... Commodore is releasing a flip-phone (?!) with navigation available and WhatsApp installed! Check this guy out!

Dude that is so cool I love the design of the second one!

If it could have just wifi and whatsapp and the rest being exactly as it was back then, i'd be happy already and would be able to throw my smartphone off the window lmao.

Dumber mini might be worth looking into. They are still in the preorder stage I believe but theyre pretty cool. Theres also this $20 Dumbphone2 that is very indie web coded but I havent looked much into it to be honest. (I think it might be US and UK only though)