People want 'dumbphones'. Will companies make them?
bbc.com
bbc.com
Here's an example specifically with phones. Consumers in surveys and on social media would constantly say that they wanted small phones. They were insistent that Apple listened and made a fantastic mini version of the iPhone 11. It was universally praised by reviewers as a perfect small phone. And ... it underperformed heavily. Somehow Apple, a company that prides itself on its supply chain and ability to predict demand for its products overestimated the demand. Consumers didn't actually buy the phone like they said they would.
No matter, maybe it was a one-off. Maybe enough people hadn't heard of it. Maybe they weren't in the right point of the upgrade cycle. People still say they want it! So Apple tried again. iPhone 12 mini. Universally praised. Again, heavily underperformed.
Apple never made a mini phone after that. You know what they did do? Added a larger Plus version.
So when he article says "People want dumbphones", take that with a pinch of salt. Instead it should say "People say they want dumbphones."
I had the iPhone 13 mini. It was a great phone, but interfaces aren't being designed for that small of a canvas any more. It increasingly got cramped over time, I gave up in futility and joined the big phone club.
That said, Apple is not necessarily the best example. A phone that does $1B in revenue might be a big failure (and a distraction) for them and a huge success for a smaller company.
It's the same in the android space. Asus Zenphone was the Small flagship that many people praised: no more.
MKBHD covers this pretty well on his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR9zBsKELVs
Here's the thing about smartphones - you can make them as dumb as you want. You can determine the set of minimal features that works for you, providing everything you need while minimizing distractions. I know, I know - crazy concept!
Oh, how I wish that were true, but it isn't. I can certainly decide which capabilities are presented in the UI (for the most part), but the reason I want a dumbphone is to avoid the security problems smartphones have. If the advanced functionality is there, whether or not I see it, so are the additional security problems that come with it.
I want my phone to be, as much as possible, limited enough in terms of hardware (processing power, memory, etc.) so as to make it incapable of advanced functionality.
Personally, I want the ability to make and receive phone calls and texts, and the ability to tether. Everything else I can do on a separate pocket device that isn't on the cell network and that I can actually have complete control of.
Tracking, mostly.
I don't much buy the "slippery slope" argument for not offering a basic voice only phone, because there is a large demand for it according to article which I take as the premise for the discussion.
The reality is that one cannot make a smartphone "as dumb as you want". Well, technically I can, but I don't know many other people who have a x100 bench microscope and SMD soldering gear to rework chips. Hardware capability is the key demand here because one fundamentally cannot trust software as it is today. Also, even if disabled in the OS, many potentially insecure and power-hungry subsystems remain active.
Modular phones will need to mature somewhat to meet these new needs. It's high time that physical standards for modules were solid, but in Europe we will see interoperability and environmental regulations make that a reality.
Expect to see adding cameras, Bluetooth, GSM and memory be as easy as flipping in a SIM. The environment and all cellphone users will thank us for that.
[0] https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/modular-phones-roundup/
Will they have the battery life of a dumb phone?
I'm fairly confident if I turn off wifi, gps, and bluetooth on my phone, my phone would last several days on a charge easily. Things that kill my battery are almost always overly greedy bluetooth connections. Or back when I used my phone as my gps recorder for bike rides.
You don't get a huge screen and fast processor for free.
...actually, I can't, at least on iOS, because many of the built-in apps cannot be uninstalled:
1. Health, Find My, and Wallet. These are clearly superfluous to the basic functionality of a phone. Why can't you remove them?
2. Safari. Given how central the web is to modern life, I kind of understand why Apple doesn't let you remove this. However, if you don't think it's healthy to have a web browser in your pocket, well, tough luck.
3. Messages. This makes sense, as texting is basic cell phone functionality. However, the iOS Messages app comes with its own integrated store that can't be disabled. Wat.
4. Clock. Setting timers is arguably basic cell phone functionality—but setting my bed time clearly is not, and this is built into the app!
Sure, you could just not use this stuff! But if the central idea is "I don't want a full computer in my pocket that will distract me, I just want a very basic appliance to make calls and texts and maybe a few other extras which I will select", the iPhone is not a device for you! Apple won't let you cut it down past a relatively high baseline. Screen time doesn't really solve anything as it's very easy (and psychologically tempting) to bypass.
I am not familiar with the current state of Android, but I would be surprised if the situation was significantly better. Let me know if I'm wrong!
2. Turn off your Wi-Fi. Using Safari over LTE is not fun!
3. Remove all social media applications
4. Don't store social media passwords in your keychain (can't be tempted to use the browser to hit the sites)
5. Use a strong password generator for your social media logins so it's impossible for you to remember them. Make sure each password is unique for each site so you definitely can't remember them.
You will have gone a long way to making your phone less distracting. When you need to get work done (assuming you're in an office environment), put your phone in a desk drawer. Research has shown the physical presence of the phone on your desk or in your pocket can be distracting. Hidden away in a drawer and it's not distracting.
And while you can't completely remove the Health, Find My, and Wallet applications, you can certainly make them practically inaccessible. You have a lot of controls available to make your phone less distracting.
1. Get to keep iMessage
2. Get to keep a good camera with easy photo syncing
3. Browser when really needed
4. App store for emergencies
5. I eventually added Bitwarden (for passwords) and iCloud Files, for when I need email attachments (PDFs) without access to email.
I also enabled lockdown (didn't contribute much to the dumb experience) and black & white color filter. It's fine, and I do use it a lot less when out and about, but I've had many inconvenient moments in the first couple months
1. Rented a Uhaul, which basically required a smartphone to complete the checkout process. Got away with not having it because Uhaul seems to have lots of issues even with smartphones and let me slide
2. I should probably add Maps back, for obvious reasons.
3. Having to ask everyone I communicate with through an app (via website these days) for their number before leaving the house, otherwise there's no way to get in touch. Burned me a couple times meeting up for bike rides etc. (no Strava on phone)
4. Having to tell someone I'll pay them back (Venmo etc) "when I get home" is awkward at best.
5. Haven't needed an Uber yet, but will probably have to install that at some point.
6. Will have to go back to paper boarding passes and such, I suppose
Overall I use the phone less... recently had a Dr appointment and was flabbergasted to be the only person in the waiting room who didn't look at their phone once, let alone stare at it the entire time. But that said, I had already removed all social media from my phone for many many years. So the improvement was marginal and the inconveniences have definitely been there.
Ultimately, I think removing any app that causes you to scroll mindlessly (social media obviously, but also any news, video, etc.) and setting screen time limits for need to haves like Browser will be as far as most people should go.
I did the same with Android. I even removed the browser. All the installed apps fit on a single screen and three of them are basically authenticator apps.
I haven't cared about tracking since removing all ads, either paying for no ads or simply doing without. Life is good now.
- an alcoholic having beer in the fridge but exercising self-control?
- an overweight person having sugar cookies in the pantry but exercising self-control?
- a drug addict having heroin in the glove compartment but exercising self-control?
Also: I remember having GPS on a feature phone in ~2005. You don't need a smartphone for that.
this example is very different from the others haha
my name is deceptive I am a respectful denizen of this beautiful nation and I don't approve of drugs!
The key for me was that the input (T-9 keyboard) and output (tiny non-touch display) modalities were so constrained that any task that wasn't completely trivial was made so painful that I would put it off until I was in front of a computer, if I did it at all. This was a great way to filter out tasks that weren't truly important enough to work on immediately in the moment.
The downfall was my new job which required travel for work, which meant needing a phone capable of managing flights, navigation, and coordinating with my coworkers.
If my circumstances change, I fully intend to switch back to the XP3 or something similar.
I do wish there was something available that could perform those tasks I need for work, but not give me the "full throughput" to get distracted.
There's a little flip phone Bluetooth dialler thing that pops up on ali etc quite often but it's the size of a postage stamp.
Yes, they will. You just have to google "dumbphones" and you will come up with a number of options on the first page. If you go to Amazon, you will find even more, ranging from ~$25 to several hundred.
I have even seen phones geared towards very niche communities, such as ultraorthodox Jews, where uber and waze are acceptable, but instagram and facebook are not, so the phones enforce this at a relatively low level (making it hard for a somewhat savvy teen to circumvent)... just Google "kosher phones".
I have seen phones for the elderly, with oversized keys and a dedicated panic button. There's lots of existing stuff on the market, so this headline makes no sense.
People may say they want dumbphones. But their actual choices reveal something different, which is why dumbphone manufacturers don't make money.
Luckily, 2G is still used here for various car/truck fleet trackers, and fire/burglary alarms and it doesn't use the same frequency as 3G/4G/5G, so there's probably little reason to take it offline in the next 10y or so.
Within the last few months, I've bought a Nokia 2660 Flip, a fairly basic 4G phone, with big buttons for an older relative. Admittedly I was originally after a candybar style one, but the 4G variant seemed to be out of stock everywhere, and very difficult to find.
So "Will companies make them?"... they already are.
The article seems fairly badly researched in general, and based on false assumptions. It bemoans dumbphones being 2/3G, when most recent releases are 4G.
this is the same logic that told me that my smartphone will never really be mine as in "my phone will work for me first of all".
as an iphone user I know and understand that my wishes and intentions come second, Apple is the real owner of "my" device
The biggest disappointment to me was the lack of 5G. Not because I need the improvements 5G brings on a dumbphone, but because the reason I was replacing my old phone was because all the 3G towers have been shutdown. It would have been nice to have some future-proofing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20240515-the-dumbphones...
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links -dump https://www.bbc.com/$x
links -dump https://www.bbc.co.uk/$x^quick correction to the title
I'm in this camp frankly, Hisense just came out with a pretty nice e-ink smartphone-ish thing and I thought about buying it. I really like it in many respects, but would I actually use it? Or would it be in a drawer in 3 months?
Like the iPhone SE, back when they made that.
If it's a willpower issue, surely its better to try to overcome that issue and change your frame of mind regarding your phone (seeing it as a utility, rather than entertainment), just as it is for other things in your life that will demand willpower.
I use my phone about 10-15 minutes a day. It sits in my pocket until I need some utility or somebody contacts me.
Anecdotally, one of my friends switched to a dumbphone and loves to use "not having a smartphone" as a talking point, despite annoying myself and others with requests to check things on our smartphones for him. It's quite tiresome.
A phone that only makes 4g calls with a 4g baseband os that is only capable of doing calls, now that would be a dumb phone but the cost would not be low.
Why not? The browser has a ton of access to hardware these days. What is the difference, in your view?
But, this requires that someone else manages your phone.
See: https://hackaday.com/2023/08/03/open-source-cell-phone-based...
Edit: Fair critiques that I don't think it is literally all virtue signaling. I certainly think there is something to be said for people that love to discuss how they don't like phones. What I was thinking more strongly there was people confuse their declared preferences with their actual preferences.
My experience may be different from yours, but try this if you haven't: one by one uninstall each of your social media and media apps. When I do this, I feel a tangible silence when it uninstalls. With massive amounts of addiction in my gene pool, maybe I'm wired different than you, so maybe don't come at it with such negative assumptions.
[1] https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/2023/05/20/brain-drain-smartphones
Edit: And apologies, I forgot to address your challenge. Amusingly, I don't have social media installed on my phone. I do what I can to not even look at email on my phone. Fairly successful at it, all told.
Precisely because of people like you, that can't appreciate differences personal preference:
> People want to virtue signal that they are above the mindless masses that you can turn into easily with a modern phone.
Is like caring what someone's TV is setup like. It just doesn't matter.
So, let me restate a little. The type of people that bring this up are all too often not serious on it. They sometimes want to be, in a declared preference way, but they could easily act on it and have a cheaper phone. It is not a hard choice to make. Nor is it expensive.
As you again just demonstrated, silly judgmental perspectives like this is precisely why I would never bring it up. You're asking me why I wouldn't, and then telling me negative things about people who would. I don't enjoy these types of interactions. Getting a potential spotlight from someone baselessly judgmental, and then having to defend yourself, is not my idea of a good time. It's embarrassing.
Some people are weirded out when someone does something slightly different, seemingly causing some strange tribalism region of their brain to activate, putting the other person into a "them" category, filled with negativities. I find it very strange, and I try to not associate with people like that. I think categorizing is a post-fact thing, not a pre-fact thing.
There are countless choices you can make in life that nobody else cares about. What brand of shoe are you wearing? What style? What brand of shirt? What style of cuff? Collar? Buttons? Do you wear pins with your outfit?
I don't even think my points here are interesting. You shouldn't let yourself be influenced by what others care about in things that don't matter. More, I don't think my points here are counter to your declared preferences. I agree that it is strange to care about someone doing something slightly different. I'm not the one that said I'm embarrassed when I do, though?
Edit: Also wanted to say that "this" got shifted some there. The sentence I had in the last saying people that bring this up are not serious on it, is on people that bring up wanting a cheap phone. It is not necessarily a bad unseriousness. But it is unserious. Nothing is stopping you from getting a cheap phone today.