Dumb phones: A proposal that will end smartphones?
These cell phones intentionally designed to be useless begin to attract the attention of thousands of users
While the giants of technology are fighting the market developing increasingly powerful, versatile and innovative smartphones, other companies are betting on less intelligent phones, intentionally designed to be 'useless', but very precise when performing their main function: making and receiving calls.
Leer en español: Teléfonos NO inteligentes: ¿Una propuesta que acabará con los smartphones?
This is the proposal of Light Phone 2, a phone the size of a credit card, light weight, black and white screen and minimalist style. Its limited functions include reception and departure of messages and calls, alarm, music player and a basic browser that does not include maps, only specific directions to get from one place to another.
The goal of the Light Phone is to become an essential tool without distractions and is offered to the market as "a cell phone that truly respects you," making reference not only to the user's privacy, but also to the benefits it brings back to recover the freedom and autonomy that was lost a few years ago with the arrival of smart phones.
A solution to digital addiction?
It is likely that you, me and most of society have something in common: the first and last thing that our eyes see every day is the cell phone screen. According to recent studies, we use our smartphones about five hours a day on average, a figure that corresponds to about a third of the total time we stay awake and which represents about 100 interactions with the device during the day.
The usefulness of smartphones can not be refuted, nor can we deny the absolute and sometimes unnecessary dependence that we have developed on them. To give a solution to such a phenomenon, the proposals of less intelligent cell phones such as the Light Phone were born.
The Nokia 3310 and the Unihertz Jelly are part of the trend. The first tries to take the user to the past with a phone that makes and receives calls, has keys, monochromatic icons and with difficulty allows navigation in Google. The Jelly, meanwhile, has a 6-centimeter screen, and although it supports all the applications that a normal Smartphone would have, it tries to make the use of them so unpleasant that 'voluntarily' the user will decide not to review them.
It's not a technological battle, it's a decision of 'freedom'
The companies behind these creations do not aim to conquer much of the market, nor revolutionize the history of an industry with its proposals. The creators of the mentioned phones know that their success will lie in getting a few thousand people to join what could now be considered an experiment.
Light Phone 2 has been funded through crowfunding on platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. This trend has gained more popularity in places like the USA. and Europe; However, some Latin American countries such as Argentina and Chile promote their own versions of archaic phones, promising greater security for children, more efficiency in adult work and a sense of freedom that we may have already forgotten because we always have our attention fixed. on the Smartphone. Would you buy one?
Latin American Post | Krishna Jaramillo
Translated from "Teléfonos NO inteligentes: ¿Una propuesta que acabará con los smartphones?"
