Phones: Smart Or Dumb?
I like the old ones with a dial
It won’t surprise you that I hate smartphones. It’s a logical follow-on from my Big Tech posts. I associate smartphones with big US tech companies and spying. Apple claims to care about user privacy, yet research a few years ago found 5,400 hidden trackers in iPhone apps, within a single week. Even back in 2017 70% of smartphone apps shared your data with third-party services.
I favour either no phone, or an old-school one which just does phone calls and texts (with inbuilt music player and torch).
But if you want to have a smartphone, whilst avoiding Google (Android) and Apple, more options are starting to appear. Here are a few.
For people wanting to avoid Google/Apple AND have a minimalist phone with e-ink screen, where the battery lasts much longer and you aren’t plagued with distractions:
Lightphone 2 (or forthcoming 3, with camera)
Or the forthcoming Mudita Kompact
Do any of those appeal to you?
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I'm a landline user and, becuase I'm mobility impaired, have one in each room
Definitely dumb for me. I've had a succession of the same model of Sony Ericsson, all second-hand, over the years. My current one is on its last legs and as it's getting harder to find yet another replacement I'm finally going to have to get something new. All I need it for is calls, texts, and photos. So, out of interest (ok, laziness on my part!) what's the dumbphone you have / recommend? I'm not bothered about the music player but a torch would be handy.