Kendrick Lamar enters the tech space with a collaboration on the Light Phone 2. Light phones offer minimalistic experiences without apps or color.
They all sold out and they are all packed in one dudes garage. The actual sale of them will take place over the next year over a series of ebay auction, as is tradition for limited edition things.
It’s $299, which isn’t ridiculous for a phone, but this is kind of gimmicky with its Magic 8-Ball thing and, of course, its celebrity backing. I don’t know, I guess it’s not the worst price point, but considering you can get low-end Android phones for that with more functionality, I’m also guessing the people buying it are not really worried about the price.
Why not get a phone that can take, send, and receive pictures and video. It would also have maps, GPS, encrypted messaging, streaming music, audiobooks, e-books, home automation apps, ride hailing, food ordering, decent browser, etc.
Then, stay with me here, don’t install social media apps. The lengths people go to so they can avoid social media when it is extremely avoidable is crazy to me.
What you’re doing here is subtly shifting the burden of phone addiction from software companies and phone manufacturers back onto end users.
You’re glossing right over the fact that these teams have the very best software engineers, mechanical engineers, marketers, ad people, psychologists, and doctors for the purpose of making these endlessly scrolling apps as addictive and hard to avoid as possible.
I read your comment and think about the people who say “why are you depressed? Just go lift some weights. It all comes down to you”
It’s more like “Why are you smoking cigarettes, stop buying cigarettes.” It’s addictive, well marketed and cool, and totally avoidable with some self discipline.
I wouldn’t joke about people with an actual illness by telling them to toughen up, but we’re not talking about that.
What you’re doing here is subtly shifting the burden of phone addiction from software companies and phone manufacturers back onto end users.
I thought you were being satirical at first but then I realized you genuinely believe an individual has zero personal responsibility whatsoever. Lemmy is filled with children.
This isn’t the housing market or alcohol, just don’t install or doom scroll social media. Jesus Christ, nanny state garbage.
Of course the burden is on both
Are you being serious?
Yes, saying “don’t install social media apps if you don’t like them” is the same as saying “lift weights to stop being depressed bro”.
Your brain is too advanced and I cannot follow the steps you took to reach this conclusion.
But what am I going to do while I’m pooping!? Read the news!?
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and it doesn’t run spyware.
Probably the biggest draw that the OC was missing.
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Original Commenter
kind of like telling a heroin addict to just stop doing heroin.
Facebook is baked into everything. Everything passes through Google. The only way to avoid them is to stay off the web.
That’s flat out false. Other than using messenger to chat with family, I haven’t had to use Facebook for anything for the 5 or so years since I stopped actively using it.
As for “everything passes through Google”, that’s just an optional login protocol and a shitload of blockable ads.
Also, Google isn’t social media. You could argue that YouTube has social media aspects, but those aren’t mandatory for internet participation either.
Well you do have to go a bit further with a degoogled rom to get rid of google
Shit, you can buy a phone for £15 and I bet it’s got snake on it
Make 100,000 of that phone and it will cost a lot closer to £15.
The bulk discounts on components and the PCB itself are pretty huge once you get up into the 10,000 qty. I’ve never had that pleasure. Only thing I’ve been involved with was a few hundred units.
Do a run in the 100k range and I imagine you’re calling chip makers directly and making some insane deals.
But at only 250 units your PCB and expensive components like display and shell will still be quite expensive.
This is a Litephone 2 with a logo etched on the back. I don’t know their overall numbers, but it’s not just the 250 for this marketing gimmick.
Ok, didn’t realize that. Knowing this, now, it sounds super stupid lol
I mean, you’re quite clearly paying for the lack of features here.
Which makes the 8 ball even dumber.Yeah, the 8 ball bothers me, as does the ‘it’s a dumb phone, but you can add a bunch of apps,’ which is… a regular smartphone with no apps installed for the most part. The e-ink screen is unusual and interesting for a phone and I can see the appeal there, but the rest is kind of odd.
I’m guessing the majority of the phones were bought by people who are big fans of Kendrick Lamar. I sort of understand. An (impossible) equivalent to me would be if Stanley Kubrick came out with some piece of tech. I’d be sorely tempted to buy it just because I love Stanley Kubrick.
but you can’t add a bunch off apps.
The minimalistic phone has no web browser and its screen is paper-like similar to that of some e-readers. In its simplest form, you can call, text, set an alarm, and use it as a hotspot, but there are add-on tools that include a music player, notes, a calculator, directions, and more.
Sure sounds like you can to me.
many dumphones have these functions.
calculator and GPS is not what most people think of from the phrase “a bunch of apps”
There’s only 250 made, that’s why it sold out.
Hence “limited edition”
Extra limited. Dang.
So limited that it isn’t even a whole phone!
It’s 30 dollars of technology.
It is. Which is why it is so stupid that a company like Nokia or Motorola doesn’t spend a little more on market research to totally own this market.
Or, maybe they did and partnered with Kendrick Lamar behind the scenes.
maybe they did and partnered with Kendrick Lamar behind the scenes.
Litephone has been around for a while.
more like 6 dollars on the BOM, would sell for 30 doll hairs to the consumer, tho
Considered this phone but couldn’t commit to something like that, nor can I justify such a price tag for that. Instead I’m attempting to dumb down my phone. Moving to GrapheneOS and starting from the basics is definitely a good starting point.
I hate minimalism! This is a dumb phone that got rid of everything that made dumb phones charming.
I love minimalism, but dumbphones are not functionally minimal. They do less and seem “simple”, but you’re offsetting necessary utility elsewhere. Mostly they require making compromises that don’t need to be made if not for a little self-control.
A simple black rectangle is perfectly minimal. How you set them up is everything.
I have owned the Light Phone 1 and the Light Phone 2 – both were built with the intent to stay connected in a handful of ways without needing to have a full-spec’d, app-heavy, typically-sized smart phone.
If the intent and the vibe make sense to you, then it is a wonderful approach for a more ‘minimalist’ device: you can go outdoors, travel, hike, camp, etc., without having a smart phone to pick up and play with. I dig it.
If the intent and vibe don’t make sense to you, the Light Phone may not be a good fit.
I really like the device, and use it often enough as a daily driver on weekends. Always glad to see some public attention on it.
Ridiculous price for a dumb phone
Not for a run of only 250.
Edit: I should have explained that I was referring only to economies of scale in manufacturing of electronics. Making only 250 of some electronic device means a much higher per unit cost than if one made 10,000 of the same thing. You can look at quantity discounts of microcontrollers or sensors or things like that ok Digi-Key or Mouser and see what I mean.
Yeah it is. A rare stupid thing is as worthless as a common stupid thing if you’re not an idiot about it.
I’m talking about economies of scale ffs. Not rarity.
Prices of electronic components goes way down beyond, say, 1000, 5000, 10000, etc.
And I’m talking about how much owning and using it is worth, regardless of the seller’s self-imposed extra expenses.
Makes sense.
I expect something really special for special editions not a blandly designed phone endorsed by a celebrity
Yeah it’s a pretty meh phone. I couldn’t possibly give less of a fuck about a celeb name attached to it, personally. It might make sense to make 100,000 units of a minimalist phone with no celeb b.s. so it would be super cheap. This, however, just seems ridiculous.
Let’s be honest, he could sell poop in a ziploc bag and his fans would buy it.
I hardly text and your call is going to voice mail. Phone things are not the reason I have a smartphone. I’d be happy with an updated Palm Pilot with connectivity.
Oh, how I miss my Treo. If only they made a next Gen, with a new OS that had backwards compatibility for Palm apps, which were tiny and used little power.
Who?
One of the greatest rappers.
Kendrik Lamar
Mike jones
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Jitterbug 2
The Electric Boogaloo
Reddit moment
You can go buy one right now. These have been out for years.
https://www.thelightphone.com/shop/products/light-phone-ii-black
It just doesn’t say phalange or whatever on the back lol. So fucking stupid.
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How/what are you going to sideload? It doesn’t run android from what I can tell, so anything you would want to install would need to be developed first
They’ve been available forever .
Why does color matter? My dumb phone in the 90s had a color screen.
Uses more battery, i’ma guess.
Maybe, but with the rest of the description, I’m guessing you’re still talking about a battery life in terms of a significant number of days. I also wouldn’t be surprised if a tiny, low-end LCD color screen was cheaper than an e-ink screen.
Yeah I think you’re right; color lcd are usually quite a bit cheaper than eink at least in small quantities without talking direct to manufacturers. They use a lot more power though since eink only uses power when changing and none otherwise.
