I had a dumb phone until around 2011 and I really miss not staring at my phone all of the time. The only thing that gives me pause is my family sending links via text. I’ve tried other ways to limit screen time but if it’s there I’m gonna use it.

  •  Storksforlegs   ( @storksforlegs@beehaw.org ) English
    6•1 year ago

    I bought a new Nokia 3310 a few years ago for this reason…

    However, it didn’t work properly (because of where I live, despite the seller assuring me it would work.) Then it just died altogether after two days and I was unable to get a refund. It now lives in my drawer.

    In that brief time of using it, however, I realized that I was really missing the camera and music player more than anything and this phone didn’t cut it in those departments. It had a headphone jack, and I have a huge MP3 library but the sound quality was extremely bad. And I have a kid, so I take tons of photos - but the photo quality of the 3310 was worse than a 90s webcam.

    Since then I’ve considered getting another one for privacy and to be on it less, but I haven’t found a dumb phone that’s the right combination of things I tend to use.

    •  Tin   ( @Tin@beehaw.org ) English
      5•1 year ago

      Oof, yeah. The 3310s are basically bricks now with so many carriers discontinuing 3G service. Nokia makes a couple of 4G feature phones, the 225, the 6300, and the 2780 Flip. The 225 runs S30, the 6300 and 2780 run KaiOS so they have some app support like a web browser, but functionality is very limited. And you won’t get good photos out of any of them.

      If you’re looking for privacy, look into the Fairphone. If you’re looking for a feature-rich phone that will force you to use it a lot less, look into Sunbeam. They run a stripped-down variant of Android with only the most basic functions.

      I got a Unihertz Titan Pocket earlier this year, I highly recommend those too, though they run Android 11 so if you are serious about privacy you’ll probably want to do some degoogling. Its camera is… okay.