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I'm genuinely curious what similar goal an Apple Watch achieves

An Apple watch LTE is more functional than almost any dumbphone you could possibly buy. It has the ability to call and text as well as not having to carry a big phone around.

Essentially everything you'd want from a dumbphone, small screen, no real apps, basic phone functions and maybe email.

The only thing an Apple Watch would not give me out-of-the-box that a dumbphone would is the ability to have a private-ish conversation. But ... airpods are a lot smaller than any dumbphone, so there's that.

I am actually thinking I might pick up an LTE apple watch in a couple months when the next generation comes out, exactly for the reason of leaving my iphone at home pretty often. Less distraction, less willpower required to stay off it.

No apps and features designed to suck your time up with. You still get notifications for the stuff you want, but there's no web browser, and far fewer distractions in general.

Although I don't know if it really fits the bill. You still need to pay for data access, it is far more expensive, and no private calls without some bluetooth headphones.

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