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Request HN: Can Someone Make a Dumb Phone for USA?

30 pointssephoric6y ago37 comments

Last year I shut down all our internet services for everyone in my home (me, my wife and our kids), so that all we have now are a landline and radio, no internet or television or texting or TV or anything. Our lives have become significantly happier since then. We have so much more time to do anything we want, we feel so much less overwhelmed and distracted, and we're starting to live full, active and fulfilling lives.

But we would like to text and make phone calls while on the go, without the constant temptation to be connected to emails, Facebook, and browsers all the time. So I have been searching the web for a month looking for a "dumb phone", a phone that doesn't have anything but text and phone, not even a "home screen". Something like you would see in the 90s. But it just doesn't exist.

Maybe there's no market for it, but maybe there will be one if you make it and market it well. And that's what you guys are good at.

Request HN: Can Someone Make a Dumb Phone for USA? | Better HN

37 comments

rossy6y ago

Are you sure this isn't a lifestyle you're forcing on your kids? I've known a few kids from low-tech families and in my experience, it's rarely something they'd choose for themselves, were they given the choice. Kids use the internet to chat with friends after school and to arrange events. They also tend to bond over videos and TV shows they've all watched, and in general, they don't like to be different from their peers or to miss out on opportunities to socialise or to bond socially over shared experiences.

In my experience, kids from low-tech families also tend to binge on their banned technology when they get the opportunity, like watching TV at a friend's house or spending lunchtime in the school's library/computer lab, maybe because of a lack of learned self-control.

sephoricOP6y ago

It is a lifestyle I'm forcing on my kids, and that's intentional. Kids don't always know what's good for them, and confuse wants and needs. It's a parent's job to create a safe and healthy environment where their kids can grow and thrive. We used to live the kind of life where video games and TV were "bonding experiences" and it just created all sorts of problems inside them. With this lifestyle, I see those problems vanishing one by one. And they all see it too and are happier now.

potta_coffee6y ago

Every lifestyle choice is forced on kids. That's the whole point of parenting. It's why we make our kids eat vegetables, go to the doctor, get to bed at a decent time, etc. Also, TV shows and videos are a shallow interest to bond over. It doesn't need to be that way - my kids have some really great friends and TV and other media are not really a factor there. We've spent a lot of time and effort to cultivate such relationships though.

tomcam6y ago

We raised our children low tech and never had a problem. I think the key to it was that we didn’t make a big deal about it, especially if they went to friends’ houses. They are both quite adept with technology now although they are very private and dislike social media.

hacktember6y ago

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-phone-2#/

sephoricOP6y ago

That looks over engineered and still not as simple as it could be. Think of those cell phones in the 90s that had a single line (or two) of spaces for text, and they had no features but calling and texting. That's perfect, it has literally already been invented, it just needs to be resold, and perhaps put in a pretty package again, but not like this. Not like this.

> That's perfect

Is it? I'm a LP2 backer, and agree with you that I want a phone that does not have a browser, or an App Store, or anything like that; however, I do believe that the small set of tools LP2 is planning on coming with (simple directions, ride sharing, alarm, in particular) are pretty much no-downside.

What bothers you about features like these? Or is it the pricetag?

joegahona6y ago

There is no market for this, which is why you can't find it. The vast majority of people who want a phone/text device but don't want browsers, emails, MySpace, or app stores simply ignore those features.

sephoricOP6y ago

Or they try to not use those features but get sucked back into it, like I did the many times I tried exactly that. I wonder how many people there are who wanted to live a life like this but because such a phone doesn't exist, they keep getting pulled back in and have to abandon having a phone altogether.

https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/

Sounds like it might work for you.

i feel like these have been "coming soon" for a couple years now. its a great idea, wish it had more traction.

khm6y ago

I have one. They're real.

howard9416y ago

The Alcatel flip phone at Consumer Cellular looks like it's strictly text and phone except for the bit about downloading wallpaper suggests it has some kind of web client inside. https://www.consumercellular.com/Products/813/Details

sephoricOP6y ago

I have that exact phone and it has a browser built in. It's lower quality than usual but it's good enough to waste a few hours with.

howard9416y ago

Ahhh bummer. One of the old Motorola Star-Tacs would have been perfect if it were available and compatible.

Liber-Abaci6y ago

Buy any android phone and uninstall the browser/everything else. Put custom software on it without GAPPS. Moto e⁴ plus has a 2 day battery life, probably longer if you're not using a browser. LG still makes flip feature phones but they have a primitive browser which you don't have to use by not signing up to any data plan.

No internet is too extreme though, library genesis and sci-hub I'd be lost without them as I can't afford $100+ texts or journal subscriptions. Youtube videos by mathematicians I also wish I had when I was in highschool.

tannhaeuser6y ago

There used to be dumbphones for elder people with big buttons at retail stores not too long ago (at least at my place). Maybe these aren't advertised on the web.

Edit: don't know about US, though

_trampeltier6y ago

https://www.amazon.com/cell-phone-keypad/s?k=cell+phone+keyp...

On work we have also two rugged cellphones with a keypad. They have a color screen, but you can't really use the web, I guess .. I never tryed ..

sephoricOP6y ago

I have seen those at Best Buy, the most popular is called the Jitterbug, which does come with a browser.

chris57456y ago

I used to own a Just5 Brick phone for a simpler phone experience. I don’t know if they’re going to continue selling them though, as they’ve been marked “sold out” for some time now.

http://www.just5.com/worldwide/en/brick/brick-red

This gets asked all the time. Rather than rehashing some good prior conversations, check out past discussions at:

https://www.google.com/search?q=dumb+phone+site%3Aycombinato...

3g-tom6y ago

how did you write this message if you do not have internet?

sephoricOP6y ago

I'm at my local public library which has wifi. It's also how I download new NPM modules, email my client, deliver my work to him, etc. But I do 90% of my work offline at home.

tuesday206y ago

Are you a dev? If yes, how do you refer to documentation without internet??!!

My aunt and uncle got one recently for when they are traveling, i think they picked it up at 7-11. its a prepaid, but if you dont use it much, i figure thats the best way to go anyhow.

IronWolve6y ago

Search ebay for mini cellphone, they have dumb phones thats basically credit card or lighter sized with a keypad.

sephoricOP6y ago

It looks like you mean the M5 phone, which from what I researched, used 2G towers and thus no longer works since those have all been decommissioned. It also seems to be cheaply made and commonly have a ton of problems.

Are Nokia phones still sold in the US? We have plenty in Asia that are nothing but a phone and texting.

Walk into best buy. I bought one last summer. Texting is slow.

sephoricOP6y ago

Which model did you buy? Does it have an internet browser or apps?

I do not remember which it was. I do remember asking the salesperson, 'just need a simple phone for calls and messaging, no need for data'. Like 'MAGIC' I was handed what fit my need.

No internet, some apps but I never used them.

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