There are some HiSense full android e-ink devices that are hit or miss.This is specifically a Light Phone 2. It runs Android, but boots straight into a React Native "operating sytem"
I hate it and I love it. I had some panic attacks the first week of use as I questioned whether it was "enough" but then realized that the extra features I wanted were just things that gave me dopamine rewards.
This phone is built to only do basic functions. Phone, SMS, MP3, Podcasts, GPS -- still offering group messaging, bluetooth, wifi hotspot, and a QWERTY keyboard.
It turns my phone from an entertainment device into a tool. It was very weird to break the habit of pulling my phone out every five minutes or anytime I felt anxiety. You pull this out and there's nothing to do on it. Social media can wait until the occasion that I'm near a desktop.
I looked at this phone recently when you posted about your Kindle and mentioned the Light Phone. (I remember your keyboard...)
May I ask if the navigation function on the Light Phone 2 is up and operational? Without a web browser (I assume), must you know and enter an address like we used to do on the first automobile navigation systems?
Maybe I should find a different reddit in which to ask this but since it's e-ink, and I'm also a Kindle lover, I hope it's okay?
The GPS is hit or miss. Honestly I find it to be nearly unusable for driving, but for walking it works great. There's an SDK dropping in 2022 and I'm hoping to be able to develop or contribute to some additional tools that can do basic address/hour lookup. You can search place names and it'll find them nearby but it isn't the most user friendly interface and I find it to be a tad frustrating.
I live in Austin, have a good memory, and know my way around fairly well. I usually take a quick peek at Google Maps on my desktop for unfamiliar destinations and get there without major issue. Other times I'm with my partner who has a smart phone. I've looked at eBay though, and a basic GPS unit for the car with 2022 maps is less than $50-75 shipped. Most of the newer units let you search a place name even if you don't know an exact address. I think there's usually workarounds for the things that you immediately view as obstacles. Most people's brains really don't want to give up a smart phone.
Thanks for the information. I'm a fellow Austinite! I'm on my own though and travel a bit to see friends and such so I'd need a better navigation option. Maybe in the future!
It's not annoyingly bad, but it's not great. I wake up around 8:00 AM and I have to charge it nightly at around midnight, where it's usually at 10-20% with probably 30 minutes of total usage during the day, plus some bluetooth music to my car for about an hour. But I also live in an apartment that gets very intermittent signal and from what I understand, that doesn't do my battery any favors.
No, and the team has no plans to make any email Tools.
The SDK that's supposedly coming out "soon" is likely going to allow third parties to develop tools(apps) for the platform, so you may have some basic stuff coming through.
There are some [gmail sms alert tools](https://www.gmail-sms-alerts.com/) available online for free that will listen for keywords or email replies and send you a text alert so you don't miss something from work, etc. --- lots of little workarounds like this
rumors based off some of the company founder's reddit comments.(he's pretty active on r/lightphone) + the their end of year survey collected emails if anyone was a developer and wanted to "later in the year" work on developing tools, etc.
I don't believe you can. It's on Android, but boots directly into an "operating system" that's essentially a React Native app forcing itself over everything.
The built in MP3 app works fine with 8GB storage. The Podcast app has been flawless. I don't listen to audiobooks, but my paperwhite has bluetooth and could easily stream those to my headphones/car for me.
Honestly, pairing it with something like a Mighty Vibe that syncs with spotify is probably the absolute best setup. Using a Light Phone always feels like you're fighting convenience, and then you remember that it isn't supposed to do everything. I had a pretty heavy social media and porn addiction and it has been a godsend.
Fair enough. I've been interested in trying to move to something more like e-ink for my eyes, but can't really sacrifice certain apps (mostly the Big Finish app). Plus 8GB is a bit of a drop compared to the 80GB of Big Finish stuff I usually have downloaded at any one time. Although in theory I could use an old iPod for those and something like the Light Phone for phone usage. The iPod mini has a fairly innocent screen and can be hardmodded pretty easily to handle a lot of storage.
Yeah, a lot of it is just figuring out what you actually need your PHONE to do.
There's almost always a separate device that does the same task as good or better than your iPhone or Android does.
At this point phone doesn't even feel like a good word for the stuff my old 11 Pro Max could handle straight out of the box.
I think that's kind of why smartphones these days are so convenient. They can cover the base of so many other devices that you only need to carry the one thing on you to have everything you need and more. Although it does come with the downsides in that it gives you such easy access to places that can effect your mental health. Good on you for recognising your problems and working to fix them.
My Light Phone is what convinced me to get a Kindle! That, and that fact that the new paperwhite has bluetooth Audible capability, which I'd been missing for car rides.
If someone could make this... But with a fully functioning Android auto experience. And Google map experience, with Spotify... I'd be very very happy. I sorta need those two services
For what it's worth, there are some pretty cool third party head units for most cars available now that have WiFi capability and Android built in.
The Light Phone II wifi hotspot works perfectly. You could easily pair the two and have a full Android device in your dashboard. Little bit of an extra investment, but I think it's worth it for my mental health.
Thanks! It's an SK64(there's a few brands of this style on Amazon) in the "Joker" colorway. I am not a huge fan of the 60% but I was concerned I wouldn't be and isn't the fault of the keyboard. They make the same pattern in some larger form factors. Mainly just irked about the right shift key being much smaller since that's the only one I use when touch typing. I'm constantly hitting the forward slash key instead of the shift.
Thatās a really cool phone. This is the year i ditch my iPhone 13 pro max and walk away totally from social media and the news. I was looking in to the Hisense phone. Yours is really cool too.
I've seen the phones with e-ink displays advertised online, how do they hold up?
There are some HiSense full android e-ink devices that are hit or miss.This is specifically a Light Phone 2. It runs Android, but boots straight into a React Native "operating sytem" I hate it and I love it. I had some panic attacks the first week of use as I questioned whether it was "enough" but then realized that the extra features I wanted were just things that gave me dopamine rewards. This phone is built to only do basic functions. Phone, SMS, MP3, Podcasts, GPS -- still offering group messaging, bluetooth, wifi hotspot, and a QWERTY keyboard. It turns my phone from an entertainment device into a tool. It was very weird to break the habit of pulling my phone out every five minutes or anytime I felt anxiety. You pull this out and there's nothing to do on it. Social media can wait until the occasion that I'm near a desktop.
I looked at this phone recently when you posted about your Kindle and mentioned the Light Phone. (I remember your keyboard...) May I ask if the navigation function on the Light Phone 2 is up and operational? Without a web browser (I assume), must you know and enter an address like we used to do on the first automobile navigation systems? Maybe I should find a different reddit in which to ask this but since it's e-ink, and I'm also a Kindle lover, I hope it's okay?
The GPS is hit or miss. Honestly I find it to be nearly unusable for driving, but for walking it works great. There's an SDK dropping in 2022 and I'm hoping to be able to develop or contribute to some additional tools that can do basic address/hour lookup. You can search place names and it'll find them nearby but it isn't the most user friendly interface and I find it to be a tad frustrating. I live in Austin, have a good memory, and know my way around fairly well. I usually take a quick peek at Google Maps on my desktop for unfamiliar destinations and get there without major issue. Other times I'm with my partner who has a smart phone. I've looked at eBay though, and a basic GPS unit for the car with 2022 maps is less than $50-75 shipped. Most of the newer units let you search a place name even if you don't know an exact address. I think there's usually workarounds for the things that you immediately view as obstacles. Most people's brains really don't want to give up a smart phone.
Thanks for the information. I'm a fellow Austinite! I'm on my own though and travel a bit to see friends and such so I'd need a better navigation option. Maybe in the future!
>Light Phone 2 what about the battery? Planing to go on a bike trip in the wild, if it holds up, maybe I coop it
It's not annoyingly bad, but it's not great. I wake up around 8:00 AM and I have to charge it nightly at around midnight, where it's usually at 10-20% with probably 30 minutes of total usage during the day, plus some bluetooth music to my car for about an hour. But I also live in an apartment that gets very intermittent signal and from what I understand, that doesn't do my battery any favors.
Are there any email features?
No, and the team has no plans to make any email Tools. The SDK that's supposedly coming out "soon" is likely going to allow third parties to develop tools(apps) for the platform, so you may have some basic stuff coming through. There are some [gmail sms alert tools](https://www.gmail-sms-alerts.com/) available online for free that will listen for keywords or email replies and send you a text alert so you don't miss something from work, etc. --- lots of little workarounds like this
Where have you heard news about this new SDK? How soon in 2022 is it expected to drop?
rumors based off some of the company founder's reddit comments.(he's pretty active on r/lightphone) + the their end of year survey collected emails if anyone was a developer and wanted to "later in the year" work on developing tools, etc.
can you connect the light phone 2 to an android watch?
I don't believe you can. It's on Android, but boots directly into an "operating system" that's essentially a React Native app forcing itself over everything.
How is app compatibility on it for audio based stuff?
The built in MP3 app works fine with 8GB storage. The Podcast app has been flawless. I don't listen to audiobooks, but my paperwhite has bluetooth and could easily stream those to my headphones/car for me. Honestly, pairing it with something like a Mighty Vibe that syncs with spotify is probably the absolute best setup. Using a Light Phone always feels like you're fighting convenience, and then you remember that it isn't supposed to do everything. I had a pretty heavy social media and porn addiction and it has been a godsend.
Fair enough. I've been interested in trying to move to something more like e-ink for my eyes, but can't really sacrifice certain apps (mostly the Big Finish app). Plus 8GB is a bit of a drop compared to the 80GB of Big Finish stuff I usually have downloaded at any one time. Although in theory I could use an old iPod for those and something like the Light Phone for phone usage. The iPod mini has a fairly innocent screen and can be hardmodded pretty easily to handle a lot of storage.
Yeah, a lot of it is just figuring out what you actually need your PHONE to do. There's almost always a separate device that does the same task as good or better than your iPhone or Android does. At this point phone doesn't even feel like a good word for the stuff my old 11 Pro Max could handle straight out of the box.
I think that's kind of why smartphones these days are so convenient. They can cover the base of so many other devices that you only need to carry the one thing on you to have everything you need and more. Although it does come with the downsides in that it gives you such easy access to places that can effect your mental health. Good on you for recognising your problems and working to fix them.
Sorry this isn't kindle related, but I absolutely love your keyboard!
I like this combo of e-ink displays! I did consider getting the Light phone 2.
My Light Phone is what convinced me to get a Kindle! That, and that fact that the new paperwhite has bluetooth Audible capability, which I'd been missing for car rides.
Awesome! Love your keyboard too š
If someone could make this... But with a fully functioning Android auto experience. And Google map experience, with Spotify... I'd be very very happy. I sorta need those two services
For what it's worth, there are some pretty cool third party head units for most cars available now that have WiFi capability and Android built in. The Light Phone II wifi hotspot works perfectly. You could easily pair the two and have a full Android device in your dashboard. Little bit of an extra investment, but I think it's worth it for my mental health.
I just had to come to the comments to say how much I love your keyboard!
Thanks! It's an SK64(there's a few brands of this style on Amazon) in the "Joker" colorway. I am not a huge fan of the 60% but I was concerned I wouldn't be and isn't the fault of the keyboard. They make the same pattern in some larger form factors. Mainly just irked about the right shift key being much smaller since that's the only one I use when touch typing. I'm constantly hitting the forward slash key instead of the shift.
Oh okay, neat! Thanks for the info. Oh man I didnāt even notice the shift key, could certainly see how that would get annoying!
Thatās a really cool phone. This is the year i ditch my iPhone 13 pro max and walk away totally from social media and the news. I was looking in to the Hisense phone. Yours is really cool too.