I have one on order. I'm planning on using it as the main phone and have a Pinephone in the truck that can connect to its hotspot as a secondary device if needing maps or checking email on the road. Was just wondering if anyone else has any experience with one.

https://www.thelightphone.com/

The hardware is a cheaper than other smart phones, but the service plans seem similar in cost.

But you could get a used smartphone for that price and just not use the features left off the Light phone. Don't want to browse the web on your phone? Don't use the browser.

I'm not sure I get the point. Especially if you have to get a Pinephone to supplement it.

I could see it as a starter phone for younger kids. No apps, so no Facebook or anything like that.
More like the older pre-smartphone phones i had in college.

If the idea is a cheap phone with limited service, Totalwireless has flip phones for $10 and unlimited plans for $24 with 1GB of data, I'm sure there are cheaper plans out there too

I have three lines, unlimited talk, text and we share 60GB's for $81 a month. The wife is a bit snobish with her service and has Verizon for more money for one phone.

I like the simplicity and security of it and like what Joe believes in for the company. I do like the simplistic form factor of it too. The secondary device can be anything really or nothing. I just like the pine phone. My current iPhone is as minimal as possible. There are still things I wish I could disable but can’t. That’s really the driver in this change. More user control.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
But you could get a used smartphone for that price and just not use the features left off the Light phone.

I'm not sure I get the point. Especially if you have to get a Pinephone to supplement it.

This.

I don't do a ton of stuff on my (older, used) smartphone. But being able to use it to occasionally surf the web, or stream music, or snap a photo of something for later reference, or quickly buy something off Amazon before I forget (again), is worthwhile.

I just have the self-control to not be glued to it 24/7, and not to have eleventy brazillion different apps binging and bonging and demanding my attention all the time (while hoovering up my location data and usage history and photos and feeding it to their respective motherships).

The fact that the Lightphone doesn't even include a web browser means that there's little incentive to go with it over just a basic flip phone, which will be smaller, cheaper, and simpler, and will have the same functionality.

It won’t be for everybody for sure. They are working on porting Signal to it and it has a good hotspot so there are advantages to me over a flip phone. If I can get my pinephone working with Verizon it’ll all be moot though and I’ll just let my daughter use it.

quote:

Originally posted by jelrod1:
My current iPhone is as minimal as possible. There are still things I wish I could disable but can’t.

Such as? I’ve never done it, because I use my mobile devices for far more than a phone, but, having messed with it, over the years, my impression has been I could disable enough to turn my iPhone into a dumb phone, if I wanted to.

As somebody else noted: Not seeing the point.

My phone is pretty minimal. 14 total apps shown on the phone. No location services. No Camera. No Safari. While in VA recently I got a covid exposure notification that really ticked me off. The more I read I can see how it never can really be disabled. I just want more control. I'm Windows at work but Linux everywhere else and am just used to having more control. The camera is off because no matter what you do, (alphanumeric codes and face ID), anybody still has access to it from the lock screen unless it's turned off. Privacy and little things like that have pushed me away from the I devices. The ultimate hope is that I get the Pinephone satisfactorily working with Verizon.