--- title: The Featurephone Experiment date: 2024-02-05 tags: - featurephone --- Jr and I have spent the last year paring down our smartphone usage. This last December, we found we were using the phones about 30 minutes a day. When I realized last month that Jr's phone would stop getting security patches in August of this year, I was not looking forward to dropping another $500-$800 on a phone that we're trying our best to not use. So I moved to a featurephone. I have a few basic needs: * Need to be able to play one album to wired speakers: I run sound for the dance school * Group texting: surprisingly, this is still an uncommon feature in 2024 * Rudimentary maps app I can use for walking * Calendar with alarms that syncs to some online service * Allows tethering my laptop * Battery lasts a full day ## Nokia 2780 Initially, I tried the Nokia 2780. This is a flip phone, running KaiOS, a browser-based mobile operating system. Checklist: * [ ] Play one album to wired speakers * [x] Group texting * [x] Maps for walking * [x] Calendar with alarms * [x] Allows tethering my laptop * [x] Battery lasts a full day Other neat features: * $70 * Camera with flash and geotagged photos (remembers where you were when you took it) * Displays photos sent over SMS * Email client, synced to Google Mail * Possible to write JavaScript apps for things like playing ebooks * Battery lasts a full day * Alarm clock Bummers: * USB C charging port is still directional and won't charge in one orientation of the cable * Dings for dumb reasons like "battery is full", with no clear way to turn that off * Music player won't play to wired speakers (but wired headphones are okay: I don't understand how they did this) * JavaScript apps cannot use "native" controls: you have to scroll a cursor around with the d-pad * Larger than flip phones used to be (but still smaller than a smartphone) * Predictive text input makes you send "G will be there" instead of "I will be there", unless you're vigilant * Some built-in apps, and all store-installed apps, have ads * Google is all over the shortcuts, even when it doesn't make sense * OS will probably never be updated Jr wound up taking this device, and seems to be fairly happy with it. For me, it was pretty good, but I felt like it could be better. ## Light Phone 2 This is actually running Android with a custom front-end for displaying on a small e-ink screen. You can hack it to run any Android app, apparently. I'm going to try hard not to do this. Checklist: * [x] Play one album to wired speakers * [x] Group texting * [x] Maps for walking * [x] Calendar with alarms * [x] Allows tethering my laptop * [x] Battery lasts a full day Other neat features: * Will auto-forward MMS attachments to your email * Small: fits in my jeans watch pocket * E-ink display looks cool * Lots of the setup you do is actually on a web page you access with your computer * Alarm clock * Podcasts built into the core OS * Gets regular updates: seems like about 2 updates per month! Bummers: * $300 * USB Micro charging adapter * Music is organized as a flat list of every song you added * Percent button on calculator makes no sense to me * Sends notification tone when it pairs to Bluetooth or regains signal * Does not sync messages over bluetooth to the car * Does not sync contacts over bluetooth to the car * You have to turn it on to see if you have any notifications * No camera * No ability to display images ## Where Things Stand Jr has the Nokia 2780 and so far likes it. I suspected this would happen: it feels more "fun" somehow, and the camera is a big deal. I'm enjoying the Light Phone 2. It checks all my boxes, and... that's about all there is. $300 feels like a lot, but if I can keep it for 2 years, I'll be spending the same amount per year as I did on smartphones. If I can keep it for 5 years, it will be much cheaper. --- More interesting to me is that *I still need a smartphone*. Or at least, I still need something that can run Android apps. Specifically, for: * Depositing checks * Authention app for work (!) That's actually all: everything else I need, I can run in a web browser. But they won't let me deposit checks with a browser. I can run Android apps on a Chromebook, so that's what I'm doing. I'm switching over to my kid's Chromebook, which has a better camera than the 8-year-old one I've been using: this will help with video calls. It's also smaller, lighter, and has a newer battery, so it's a bit of an upgrade. It can still run Linux, too. While I was messing around, I set up the Plex app, so I have some stuff to watch on my next train trip. Will this stick? I guess only time will tell!