I bought the last version and ran it for a while. The one huge red flag is that they have access to all your contacts and messages via their servers. You can't upload your contacts directly to the phone from a USB cable or import them from a loccal file. You have to go to their website and upload your contacts and then they push them to your phone. The way MMS works is that the messages gets relayed to their servers, which then email it to you. It's an absolute security and privacy disater. Which is really sad, because almost everything else about the phone is pretty good and it's filling a need in the market.
[edit to add] as others mentioned, no TOTP auth app was the other requirement missing
It’s all about durability. For example, that phone is not going to be up to the standard of an iPhone when it comes to water resistance. What’s better constantly being able to fix your own phone or never needing to fix your phone. It is a spectrum, but I think for environmental and most consumer reasons, one wants it to be more towards the later.
Shipping Jan 2025, normally $799 retail (does not include tax or shipping).
For a phone that's almost certainly running Android under the hood, not having the ability to install Signal or Messenger or anything else just makes it dead on arrival imho.
> install Signal or Messenger or anything else just makes it dead on arrival imho.
? , that’s literally the selling point, that you cant install those things in this phone duh. Besides, they know what they are doing, they sell pretty well too. They churn out enough of these each year, that foxconn handles their manufacturing for this unit. They must be selling decent numbers in that case.
> We’ve also added a camera, but… in our own way. Taking inspiration from our favorite point-and-shoot film cameras, it has a dedicated two-step shutter button, with center focus and a fixed focal length.
I'm most curious about this feature. It sounds like there's no preview of your photo? How do you get the pictures off the phone? Is the quality any good?
I love the ideals of this this company ("stop using your phone as a way to scratch every tiny itch of boredom and frustration") but I feel like I can get there with any ol' phone and an hour of deleting all the apps I don't actually want to be using. So much work has been put into modern smart phone cameras that it'd be undesirable for me to give that up.
Also, regular smartphones have a long tail of really useful edge cases: AirBnB checkin instructions, boarding pass QR codes, unlocking scooters, paying for parking, etc.
Demetri Martin has a great joke on digital cameras: "I like digital cameras, because they enable you to reminisce immediately. Just like, look at us. We’re so young. Standing right there, wow. Where does the minute go?"
If it's not eink and it's not smaller than other small-ish phones then I don't really see the point of using this besides skinning an existing phone and just not installing apps you don't need.
Get an iphone mini, don't install any apps, turn on greyscale mode. There you have a cheaper version of this, and if you have any apps that you actually need for identification or banks or similar you can actually still use them without needing a second phone.
So many services now, including government, are requiring phones for "two step" authentication. There are technically alternatives like receiving a phone call or a secret word lookup table, but those are so impractical to use that I need my phone to be a TOTP device. I was close to putting in a preorder but I will need to see TOTP supported before I can drop my regular smart phone.
You could use something like this as a companion to the phone - a standalone TOTP device. More secure than a phone too since it can't be remotely hacked (though it might require USB for programming, so it's not completely immune to hacking)
An alternative is a really slow and old android phone. One that has a visible lag as it logs in and you have to wait for a minute or so before the apps open.
It's interesting seeing the attempts to make a phone that only does what you want it to do, and not be a huge distraction. I totally understand the desire for this too, modern phones are a rabbit hole of content, and after enough apps get installed you end up with a phone in a hard-to-use state.
But I have a lot of trouble seeing a new piece of hardware being the solution. Sure, this thing only does a handful of things, and that's it. There's no temptation to install the latest game, or a bunch of different messaging and social apps, because there's only so much you can actually do with the phone. It's basically a "dumb phone" with a few extra features to make it more palatable.
But there's a problem with this simplicity. If you have a need that the phone doesn't meet, you're screwed. The only way to get this phone up-to-spec with other phones is to have a marketplace full of apps, each providing the functionality you desire, and at that point you're just another iOS or Android platform with the same problems.
Just get a phone without much bloat, like a Pixel, Nothing, OnePlus, or Fairphone, and consider putting a custom ROM on it to further scale it down. Then just do regular app maintenance - remove apps you don't want or need anymore, and go through your notification history and shut up every app that you don't need to hear from.
You're not going to be able to have the superpowers of a smartphone without also needing to do some amount of housekeeping. With the power of having a personal computer in your pocket comes the responsibility of taking care of it.
Light Phone dudes, if your whole thing is going to be future-proofing and "planned obsolescence remains an outrage to us," maybe don't stick III at the end of your product's name.
What is the connection? You don't always have to buy the latest of anything, certainly not the latest Light Phone. And as I'm sure you read, "We have no plans to stop producing or supporting the Light Phone II."
I am in the camp that sees themselves getting rid of a smart phone in the future. Right now I've been on the "defanged iPhone" warpath, whittling down my apps to just the necessities. It's been working well, perhaps made easier by giving up social media and news years ago (feeds are harder...I've managed a 1+yr HN fasts a few times, but get sucked back in because of how intellectually stimulating it can be here).
I really want to like this phone, and applaud what they are doing. But...it's still a "phone". Aside from the obvious, how is this fundamentally different (or better) than a defanged iPhone/smartphone? When are we going to rethink this problem of how we integrate networked technology into our daily lives in a way that's healthier for us?
I've been tempted by a Light Phone for years but have never made the leap. GrapheneOS and paring my list of apps way down. A homescreen replacement from the F-Droid app store that looks extremely similar to Light Phone's home screen is a nice balance without losing Signal messenger, but I have to say I'm really tempted by this new generation.
I'd say the price is way too high, but hardware isn't easy and they don't seem to be pushing for subscription revenue or selling data.
This is looking better and better, and I really want to try it, but am unable to make the full leap.
Has anyone had experience switching between the Light Phone and their daily phone on a day-by-day basis? My daily phone is Android, I don't know if that's relevant.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work with Google Fi, but I could possibly switch carriers if it came to it.
For me, any carrier I switch to is more expensive than my current one. So, I've been waiting for them to add the ability to change APN settings for a couple years now as my light phone sits in the box...
There's a pretty active modding / hacking channel in the Light Phone discord that's out there somewhere. I haven't tried it on my own LP2, but some folks are flashing theirs with alternate versions of Android to get a few additional apps that they need
In my opinion, not having an open platform and open-source code is completely at odds with "respecting the user" and whatever nice stuff they write on their website.
It's be interesting to know what's under the hood, software and spec wise. I'd speculate it's probably fairly lightly modified Android, alike the Rabbit.
There's already a Hisense A9 Pro for e-ink phones. $500 and Android 11 are two huge turn-offs though. Trustability is also up there.
This phone looks a bit boxy but overall dimensions seem maybe a bit shorter than most? I keep thinking of the reading experience; when I read on my phone, I turn off the bottom 1/2 of my screen, since I don't need my eyes to be looking down as much. I keep thinking it'd be very neat to have a very small screen device that still has good e-reading. But you'd likely need a companion device for navigation, if you need to jump around or take notes.
I really want to make the switch, but I still need a web browser for a minimum viable replacement. I don’t want to manage 2 phones just for the occasional restaurant that makes you order from a QR code or parking meter with a busted display
The idea of a restaurant or parking meter requiring internet access is crazy to me. I'm clearly just getting old, but there's no way I'd gate my customers on the assumption that they have a smartphone with them. Dead batteries, data connection issues, shit happens.
I missed that they moved from an eink display to AMOLED.
I'm a little surprised they did that actually, I thought they got quite a few customers due to the e-ink display. There have been a few devices recently with greatly improved eink performance and resolution, I was hoping the LP3 would have managed to go with one to keep the nicer reading experience.
I know everyone and their mom is doing it now, but I still love the teenage engineering design proportions (assuming this isn't straight up designed by TE) + razer phone cues this is taking. Also, screws are cool and no one can convince me otherwise.
I would totally just buy it for the shape and hope-to-gosh I can install Lineage on it.
I've been following Light since their first model, and I do like the idea of a minimalist phone. But considering it would have to be my second phone, used outside of work, at $800 it's very hard to see how they expect to make a dent with this.
My guess is yes. I have a little MP3 player (HiFi Walker) with similar thickness and hard edges, and I had to find a little silicone sleeve for it because it rubbed a hole in my pocket from walking with it too much.
[+] [-] jrexilius|1 year ago|reply
[edit to add] as others mentioned, no TOTP auth app was the other requirement missing
[+] [-] RadiozRadioz|1 year ago|reply
Oh how I long and wish that my phone had screws. This glued-shut brittle glass box with a puffy time bomb inside makes me sad.
It's sad that the concept of a phone with screws makes me so happy.
[+] [-] domh|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] GoodJokes|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] janice1999|1 year ago|reply
For a phone that's almost certainly running Android under the hood, not having the ability to install Signal or Messenger or anything else just makes it dead on arrival imho.
[+] [-] teitoklien|1 year ago|reply
? , that’s literally the selling point, that you cant install those things in this phone duh. Besides, they know what they are doing, they sell pretty well too. They churn out enough of these each year, that foxconn handles their manufacturing for this unit. They must be selling decent numbers in that case.
[+] [-] christiangenco|1 year ago|reply
I'm most curious about this feature. It sounds like there's no preview of your photo? How do you get the pictures off the phone? Is the quality any good?
I love the ideals of this this company ("stop using your phone as a way to scratch every tiny itch of boredom and frustration") but I feel like I can get there with any ol' phone and an hour of deleting all the apps I don't actually want to be using. So much work has been put into modern smart phone cameras that it'd be undesirable for me to give that up.
Also, regular smartphones have a long tail of really useful edge cases: AirBnB checkin instructions, boarding pass QR codes, unlocking scooters, paying for parking, etc.
[+] [-] ilikegreen|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] SahAssar|1 year ago|reply
Get an iphone mini, don't install any apps, turn on greyscale mode. There you have a cheaper version of this, and if you have any apps that you actually need for identification or banks or similar you can actually still use them without needing a second phone.
[+] [-] 1oooqooq|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] sockbot|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] Johnny555|1 year ago|reply
https://www.token2.com/shop/product/molto-2-v2-multi-profile...
[+] [-] sjducb|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] islewis|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] 1oooqooq|1 year ago|reply
nobody is accepting TOTP anymore.
some govts (br, sg, ru) even allows govt apps to authenticate via bank apps.
[+] [-] RIMR|1 year ago|reply
But I have a lot of trouble seeing a new piece of hardware being the solution. Sure, this thing only does a handful of things, and that's it. There's no temptation to install the latest game, or a bunch of different messaging and social apps, because there's only so much you can actually do with the phone. It's basically a "dumb phone" with a few extra features to make it more palatable.
But there's a problem with this simplicity. If you have a need that the phone doesn't meet, you're screwed. The only way to get this phone up-to-spec with other phones is to have a marketplace full of apps, each providing the functionality you desire, and at that point you're just another iOS or Android platform with the same problems.
Just get a phone without much bloat, like a Pixel, Nothing, OnePlus, or Fairphone, and consider putting a custom ROM on it to further scale it down. Then just do regular app maintenance - remove apps you don't want or need anymore, and go through your notification history and shut up every app that you don't need to hear from.
You're not going to be able to have the superpowers of a smartphone without also needing to do some amount of housekeeping. With the power of having a personal computer in your pocket comes the responsibility of taking care of it.
[+] [-] CobrastanJorji|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] hackmiester|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] jrsdav|1 year ago|reply
I really want to like this phone, and applaud what they are doing. But...it's still a "phone". Aside from the obvious, how is this fundamentally different (or better) than a defanged iPhone/smartphone? When are we going to rethink this problem of how we integrate networked technology into our daily lives in a way that's healthier for us?
[+] [-] husam212|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] _heimdall|1 year ago|reply
I'd say the price is way too high, but hardware isn't easy and they don't seem to be pushing for subscription revenue or selling data.
[+] [-] SamBam|1 year ago|reply
Has anyone had experience switching between the Light Phone and their daily phone on a day-by-day basis? My daily phone is Android, I don't know if that's relevant.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work with Google Fi, but I could possibly switch carriers if it came to it.
[+] [-] kk6mrp|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] harryvederci|1 year ago|reply
If I recall correctly v1 and 2 were completely closed, not sure though.
[+] [-] cameron4|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] felurx|1 year ago|reply
Open up or shut up.
[+] [-] therein|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] jauntywundrkind|1 year ago|reply
There's already a Hisense A9 Pro for e-ink phones. $500 and Android 11 are two huge turn-offs though. Trustability is also up there.
This phone looks a bit boxy but overall dimensions seem maybe a bit shorter than most? I keep thinking of the reading experience; when I read on my phone, I turn off the bottom 1/2 of my screen, since I don't need my eyes to be looking down as much. I keep thinking it'd be very neat to have a very small screen device that still has good e-reading. But you'd likely need a companion device for navigation, if you need to jump around or take notes.
[+] [-] Rumudiez|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] _heimdall|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|1 year ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] _heimdall|1 year ago|reply
I've been interested in the Light Phone for years but never could commit myself to dealing with so many tradeoffs of the second version.
This is very tempting. Signal would be the one app I miss, other than that basic navigation and a podcast player is really all I use anyway.
[+] [-] _heimdall|1 year ago|reply
I'm a little surprised they did that actually, I thought they got quite a few customers due to the e-ink display. There have been a few devices recently with greatly improved eink performance and resolution, I was hoping the LP3 would have managed to go with one to keep the nicer reading experience.
[+] [-] soganess|1 year ago|reply
I would totally just buy it for the shape and hope-to-gosh I can install Lineage on it.
[+] [-] insane_dreamer|1 year ago|reply
Edit: They should have added Signal.
[+] [-] cynosure_north|1 year ago|reply
It's a shame they got rid of the eink display, that was one of the key selling points of the previous model for me.
[+] [-] discardedrefuse|1 year ago|reply
[+] [-] neilv|1 year ago|reply
(The only pocket photo is the phone half-inserted into what looks like the non-tight front of a paint-splattered heavy denim work apron, pulled away.)
[+] [-] RIMR|1 year ago|reply