Lots of interesting responses here, thank you all.
I want to clarify that in my parent post, I was only brainstorming the ideal features of a (not necessarily cheap) sophisticated dumb phone, from my perspective.
Other people may have different basic needs – I suggested in a later post (probably nested at the bottom now) that perhaps a modular approach could be a workaround; the customer can opt to add (program in) extra features to this most basic phone, if they so wish to.
As some of you have noticed, there are contradictions in my wish list, but that’s OK – if this idea is to be taken further, then for sure there will be many iterations before the optimum design can be found. There’ll be some compromises, but I’m confident that with our current (and future) technologies, ticking off that list may not be as hard as it sounds.
The way I see it, this new kind of phone doesn’t really belong to the general trend: decades ago, we started with really dumb, clunky phones, then gradually phones get more sophisticated to the extent that most of our lives are centred around it – the trend is almost logical and linear, and you can reasonably anticipate the next generation.
But this one is more like a niche branching off it. As some of you have pointed out, why not just get a basic phone and make sure that you don’t bloat it? Completely valid point. But I’m a typical millennial: I want control and minimalism, but I also want it to be pretty. You know, a ruthlessly stripped down phone, combined with sensitively designed UX, Apple aesthetics and a swish of 2020 originality. And super-powers, like advanced voice recognition, materials, encryption and so on. Yeah it’ll be cheap …
This phone is defined JUST phone. It’s a new philosophy, where it bypasses the overwhelming mass of technology options today by just sticking to the fundamental purpose of the tool, and keeps covering your ass in emergencies. It’s an OCD-ish dream of a lifestyle, where you are in control, in the moment, while remaining chic. You can call it a new vanity if you like.