I switched to a dumbphone three years ago. It often creates restrictions that are surmountable. It prevents me from participating in the gig economy for example it is very difficult (or impossible?) to call an uber or use a take away app.
There are however things I can't do, for example use the bike system in Lisbon, because it requires the use of an app. In this example the use of a card with RF ID would not only be more accessible but would have a better user experience.
Public bike systems should really not require an app. Unrelated but similar...
Here in my town in the US, since covid the McDonald's is still closed for indoor dining/pickup. Therefore they have allowed people to walk through the drive thru line with the cars. (When I was 15, you were not allowed to do this). Some of the people have already placed orders on the app. But the general feeling is a line of cars with two or three people standing between the cars taking their turn to order at the drive thru window, at midnight when nothing else is open. Somehow this ragged line feels more dystopian to me than almost anything else since covid.
One of the problems we're facing today is building a ton of public infrastructure around the assumption that everyone own a car. This leads to sprawling suburbs and horrible public transportation.
I wonder if we're building a future where everyone owns a smartphone which is going to lead to many problems down the line.
> Public bike systems should really not require an app.
<advocate representee="Devil">The web makes for second-rate UIs, especially on mobile platforms. With that in mind, you're going to want to develop iOS and Android apps. Given that, why bother making a mobile web UI as well?</advocate>
Why does it have to be web-based? There are public rental systems that can be unlocked with a phone call (or maybe even SMS). Not every solution to a problem needs to involve a computer on both ends. Of course it's nice to have the web or app solution in addition to that, but it really shouldn't be the only way of interacting with such a system.
Living in Estonia and using a dumb phone, I can still comfortably query my bank account balance via a voice service. I can also sign documents with my digital ID by confirming a secret and entering my PIN code. Buying intercity bus tickets also works, including season tickets for e.g. 30 days (by calling a number that includes your bus card identification string and another string for the type of ticket you want to buy). The newly created electric bike network in my hometown also sort-of works if you bind it to your bus card.
What I miss, though, is being able to work as a bike courier for Wolt or Bolt using just a dumb phone. Or maybe also use a Bolt electrical scooter. Not quite sure, but I think none this is possible.
All in all I'd say the quality of my life has massively gained from sticking to a dumb phone. No cravings to hug a smartphone in my sleep; enjoying the luxury to actually look out of the window during train commutes, etc. It seems obvious, though, that these simple, hassle-free, app-free, visual-glare-free solutions are on their way out.
Then again, seeing things like the Gemini protocol develop still gives me some hope. Maybe the next generation of nerds, facing climate and energy overconsumption issues, will start preferring really simple solutions again. Who knows.
You're not obliged to hug a smartphone if you can. I have a smartphone, but I don't use it often. I use it for important services, like navigation, bank apps. I can read a book if I don't have nothing better to do. I can check out my messages once or twice a day if I feel like that, or I can leave my phone somewhere for a weekdays and forget about it existence if there are better things to do.
IMO smartphone is a simple solution. Smartphone is an internet-connected computer. It's as simple as it gets. Phone calls, SMS are complex beasts with archaic protocols nobody heard about, without any reliability guarantees.
I guess you're right in many ways. These days smartphones are everywhere, they're common technology, something akin to a TV set. There's nothing special about them any more, maybe even for small children? Thus they're also easier and easier to use just like a tool; something that you simply forget about when you don't need it.
Which generation of the radio standards does it use? In some countries 2G is gone and in some areas 3G is gone. Are there any 5G dumphones for when 4G is gone?
I have a nokia 800 tough with 4G. I bought after an experiment of living without internet at home. At the time I was using a 3310 with 3G. The experiment lasted 6 months and ended a month or two before Covid strike.
Probably to be able to connect at all, even if only for messaging, email, and phone calls. Hey, it's a mobile network terminal, you've got to have some network access there!
They are retiring 3G like mad, and even 2G towers are getting fewer and farther between (although it's likely that 2G/GPRS/EDGE will never truly go down).
