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Comment by crashedsnow | Hacker News Reader

Feels like a solution looking for a problem to me. Not only are phones trending away from being "phones" (rather portable internet terminals) but I'd wager the largest portion of smartphone use is content consumption, rather than content creation/collaboration. Both of which would suggest this device is a long, long way from product-market fit.

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I think it's in the zeitgeist a bit now. Some people (I'm certainly one) are looking to unhook from their phones - get away from convenience and immediacy and... the internet in general (typing this from Emacs, so it seems more forgivable!).

I know at least 5 people - a large percentage of my close network ;) - who would be interested in this device. I'm sure there's a big enough market for it if the execution is right. Though I'm personally waiting for Librem for the security/privacy aspects.

Your network isn't representative of the broader market. Only a tiny niche are actively looking to unhook. Sure plenty of people will claim they want to do so because they think they ought to. But they're not willing to pay actual money for it.

They raised like 4 million dollars in crowdfunding, so some people are clearly willing to pay for it.

But you can just buy a feature phone now? There are decent ones from Nokia.

But then people cant see you are disconnected ;) They might think you are cheap or dont like tech.

As long as you don't use the phone much, they won't see you have a cheap phone either. The Light Phone 2 seems like a rather small smartphone. Without the music feature (offline Spotify is OK) it is still not very useful to me though. I used to run around with a walkman. Then I had an iRiver H340 with 40 GB (when everyone was running around with ~4 GB iPods). I'm not going back to no music with me, pre walkman years. I had one with me since elementary school because I was so bored.

why not just put the phone down? i have a android phone but i don't check it 24/7 and sometime i even let the phone ring.

you can treat your smart phone as old boring phone by using it like a old boring phone.

You significantly overestimate people’s level of self control and also the amount of money time and effort companies put in to make these technologies addictive.

Here's the main problem: I am the target market and I can easily just make my Android phone behave in this manner. I rarely touch it except to read on the Kindle app and cast to the TVs.

I don't think you're the target market in that case. This phone would be for people who desperately want to reduce their phone usage but lack the willpower.

Not saying that's a large market, but I do think it exists. At the 350$ price point though it seems more like it would be for wealthier people looking to signal that they're part of a sort of "offline" movement.

I can see this phone being a great fit for certain markets, such as senior citizens who like to talk on the phone, but who get baffled by the complexity of modern smartphones.

I can't see any fit for any person outside of bragging rights. A senior citizen would be better served by a Nokia 3310, which actually has physical buttons.

It's pretty much bragging rights. Or, put another way, it's an aesthetically pleasing signal to those around you that you're part of a movement trying to reduce screen consumption.

The organic foods industry has these sorts of seemingly niche products which are more expensive but become quite trendy because of what they represent for the customer and their peers. Not sure how well it applies here though.

For about $50 you can (still) get a Nokia 3310.

Be careful with this. AT&T shut down its GSM network 3 years ago. The ~only unlocked LTE feature phone I could find a year or two ago for my grandma (who wouldn't be able to learn how to use a smartphone) was an Alcatel Flip 2.

There's a 3G variant of the Nokia.

It still uses 900/1800MHz, so it won't work in the US.

3G was deprecated by many networks too(hello, Verizon).

"a solution looking for a problem" my fave descriptive phrase :-)

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