People want 'dumbphones'. Will companies make them?

I don't want a dumb phone. I want a circa 2014 smart phone that is not expected to replace my laptop and serve as a constant data stream for corporations. I want to be able to visit a website on my phone and not have it try to get me to download an app, be ads on 70% of the screen, or just be unreadable formatting. Let me call, text, do a basic online search, play a stupid flash game, and take my money. Stop being greedy and trying to make everything I do monetizable

People want phones that don't cost $1000+, lack basic features and constantly prey on their personal data. That's what they want. Some express that by saying they want "dumb phones", but the first part is the larger driver here.

Uh, they DO still make dumb phones. And people still buy them.

Step 1: Reformat your Android phone

Step 2: Turn on ultra power saving mode (this disables everything in the system except a few apps such as phone and messaging)

Step 3: Never connect to the internet

Et voila. You have a dumb phone.

I want a dumb TV!

I don't think people really want dumbphones, I think they just want apps that better support their self-control. Digital Wellbeing on Android is a start, but it's way too easy to bypass.

Not as far as "dumb" per se but I would accept "less smart" in exchange for physical buttons and a removable battery.

Dumb phones don’t have all the gooey “track everything we do” goodness in the middle so I doubt it.

Dumbphone maybe not. But a Linux phone that is fully functional and eschews the corporate app eco system? Yes please

I admit I would miss tap to pay tho

I mostly just want a phone that doesn't want to sell me on new ways to use my phone that I don't already do. I don't want a phone that's constantly trying to get me to use voice search, or try out some AI feature, or a search engine, etc. I have a newer Samsung tablet, and by default holding the power button turned on voice search instead of the power off menu? I fucking hate that shit, it was thankfully changeable but it was annoying that I had to change it back. I literally never use voice search. I fucking hate talking to computers, I'm not talking to a machine unless it's actually capable of feeling offended if I don't

I don't want a dumb phone but I would 100% take a phone with a back that isn't glass, high repairability, and full control over the OS. Make it THICC and put a big battery too.

I just want a repairable phone with a headphone jack.

People want these to avoid watching ads and being a guinea pig for their own money.

If something like Maemo was a thing today, would be different.

People don't want dumb phones. They're already available and no one buys them.

Dumb phones exist though?

The issue isn't that people want dumb phones, like a Nokia 3310.

They want a smartphone that prevents all the the things they don't like, while still letting them do all the things they do still need their smart phone to do. And in 2024, that's quite a lot. Some places you can't even park your car without a phone.

Apparently they just don't have the willpower to not install the things they don't like.

I'm pretty sure that dumb phones, aka feature phones, are still a thing.

It's just that nobody talks about that stuff.

Sometimes they're marketed as a "senior phone".... Because you know old people. I guess?

I want a phone that has an eink display but an ecosystem for apps. I want my battery to last weeks, I want my communications conduits to be dead simple, and I want to be able to run an OTP authenticator on it.

If the thing I'm expected to have becomes highly useful for the things I'm expected to have it for while also interrupting my bad habit tendencies, I think it would be a good fit for me.

Most dumb phones aren’t.

Dumb, that is. Virtually all of them have some version of Android or KaiOS or some other full-fat OS cosplaying as something “simple”. Litmus test: does your “dumb phone” come with a map app? A Facebook app? Can you install apps from an external source? If so, you don’t have a dumb phone.

The hallmark of a dumb phone is the lack of an OS that boots. You turn it on, and everything should be instantly and immediately available, loaded from ROM. No boot sequence, no waiting for anything to load.

The only truly “dumb phone” out there - as something “new” and not actually vintage - is the Rotary Un-Phone.

The problem with dumb phones is that the entire world pushes people towards smartphones. For a lot of adults, it's really hard to move to a dumb phone.

Have a security system for your house? Need an app. Router? App. Bank? App. Payments? App. Doctor appointment check in? App. Texting? WhatsApp. Fucking menus? App. Refrigerator? Believe it or not, also App.

My bank is so shitty that sometimes the website doesn't work, but their mobile app does.

You can't always opt out of using an app. I tried setting up my new ISP's router last week and it required an app. No other way to do it.

Currently, I'm thinking something like the Jelly Star might be the best compromise. Has maps and other tools, but the tiny screen prevents them from trapping you.

Not gonna lie, I do miss phones with tactile keyboard buttons. My last dumb phone had a mini qwerty keyboard and I loved that thing.

No, I rather have a smarter phone without all the current day B.S.

And I just want a small Android phone that fits in one hand.
The last one to be around iPhone 13 mini size is the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact from 2018. And if you want original iPhone SE size, then the "latest" one is the Samsung Galaxy Y S5360 from 2011.

Oh what I would do to magically make my old Samsung S4 Mini usable again...

I don’t want it to be “dumb” but I’m fine if it’s more “basic”

I think less technology would be pleasant.

I don't think major manufacturers ever will make them. We'll continue to get one-off kickstarter-esque fringe phones that'll keep the most devout Luddite happy and the rest of us will buy what we are offered whether we want a dumb phone or not.

What are the chances we get custom built/open source phones?

I wouldn't mind a dumb phone, but I'd need it to have whatsapp at the very least, otherwise I'll be "that incommunicable weirdo"

I want complete control of my technology after I buy it. I don't want my phone to assume things that I like based on my input. If something goes wrong, I want it to be my fault because I enabled the wrong setting. I also want physical buttons. I miss those so much.

They exist

https://www.thelightphone.com/

https://techless.com/pages/home

I think people say they want them by don't really want them.

As the actual headline itself says, this is a niche. The editorialized lemmy headline makes it sound like much more than that. Dumb phones still exist, but not many people choose to buy them

I want a dumb phone that acts as a hotspot for my tablet and other devices.

I want a “dumb” phone that can run signal. Just text, calls and signal. No camera, no other apps. It’s time we split the data honeypot back up in to smaller pieces.

Not very many people want dumb phones, actually. Certainly not enough for anyone to mass produce the things.

If you want to eliminate distractions try installing one of the linux phone distros: Sailfish Mobian,Ubuntu Touch,PostmarketOs,Plasma Mobile.

I got the Apple Watch Ultra 2 several months ago and to my surprise I’ve been leaving my phone home about half the time I leave the house. I can still text and answer a call, got my favorite playlists and albums downloaded to it and my Apple Pay setup. Having a dumb phone alone is probably still a step too far back for me but it’s nice having a simpler device that covers all the basics as well as this watch does. I can definitely see the appeal.

I used a nokia dumbphone and it was awful. Not awful due do a lack of features, but awful due to how poorly those features are implemented. Kaios is teal garbage.

But the form factor was lovely, and physical buttons are so much more precise and comfortable to use than a touch screen.

The phone that I really want is a small smartphone with physical buttons for typing and navigation. As far as I am aware that is something that is not made these days.

I’d like a smart phone with the latest Android, a great camera, and a color e-ink display. I’ve yet to find one.

dumb phone like flip phone it is still popular in Japan.

I rather go with something like this:

https://unplugged.com/products/up-phone

At the very least a degoogled phone.

Drop all the corporate inclusions and youll sell more

Sigh I miss my BlackBerry

✨Kai os✨

I thought I wanted a dumber phone. Not a flip phone necessarily, but not a pocket supercomputer. I looked at the majority of options out there and concluded that (ignoring the ones that are basically just running Android) they’re all missing a feature or two I really like, like the Light Phone looks great but I listen to audiobooks on Libby all the time. So then I just decided to delete a bunch of stuff from my iPhone, and then I didn’t get around to that so I still just have the same phone. 🤦‍♀️

Disclaimer: The below rant does not include things like healthcare where choice in the market is either not a thing or not possible. Lest someone think I am being absolutist. It is purely railing against the average consumer widget, not grandmas oxygen tank refills.

That depends on how many people want them.

Companies will make, or stop making/doing, nearly anything if the money for doing it goes away. But not enough people want "dumbphones" bad enough to stop buying "smartphones".

Just like not enough people want small phones to stop buying the big ones. Or not enough people want the price of Netflix to go down to stop paying for Netflix, etc. Consumers in general need to learn the power of and build up the mental discipline to do without when the available options aren't what they want. Apple, Google, etc can't force you to buy it from them after all.

Companies prey on the inability of the consumer to go without when they find the terms of the deal distasteful to great success. Large chunks of every companies marketing department think about nothing else.

The real "sin" in all of this is there not being enough smaller players around to fill those smaller segments, because we kept buying from the company that bought up all of the competition years ago despite finding those practices distasteful.

Companies, and politicians, have figured out that the average majority is all bark and no bite. And the average majority would be wise to start to figure that out.

companies will make them, it's just capitalism. It's a question of whether or not people will buy them.

Companies are already making "dumb phones" go buy one if you want one.

This is why I want a Raspberry PI based PDA and a Tablet. Nothing fancy, even if its somewhat thick and not water proof, etc... It should be modular and repairable. Put a flavour of Linux on it and configure it to be secure. Then have a dumb phone which I can use as a modem if I want but otherwise call and text and turn off when I don't want it.

I'll fuckin do it. How hard can it be to make minimal technology with a decent interface for a demanding market who will all happily pay a little bit of extra upcharge because they don't want the shiny new biz?

https://www.amazon.com/Nokia-Dual-SIM-Factory-Unlocked-Smartphone/dp/B0B6WLHKC3

That was easy to find

If they want smartphone with less apps they could go with a gnu phone

For one soon HMD/Nokia will come out with a new Nokia 3310 as the first dumbphone with 5G

I want a dumb phone I can side load on to.

Just my essential apps and nothing else

People are probably like 3%

Only if they can hardwire all the data collection in. That is too big of a money maker for them to give up.

Go check a place like AliExpress: plenty of those there.

It's not even as if dumbphones are amazingly complicated and highly dependent on complex software to work - the actual complex mobile network stuff comes inside modules that do most of the work.

If dumbphones aren't reaching people's hands in some countries the problem is in distribution or maybe lack or awareness: we do live in a Marketing-heavy society and people are almost conditioned to go for expensive branded stuff.

Definitely wouldn't want a dumbphone. Rather the opposite, like a super-smartphone, something like Raspberry Pi inside my pocket (PinePhone may be getting there).

This post got me to try installing Jellyfin server in Termux under proot, only to realize it's fairly useless for random videos and then wipe it 5 minutes later, but anyway that's the kind of things I do/want to do with my phone.
And hell, I'd definitely want a keyboard attachment like the PinePhone has.

I've been getting my family into lora. It's nice just having Ubuntu that texts. I still use my phone for mobile connectivity as a hot spot but apps are largely going un updated, and their silly ads unviewed.

Obviously not the solution for everyone but damn its freeing if you can.

No.

Next question.

dump phone with GPS and google login :v

lol no

I want a dumb phone for day to day use, but I'll wait until my s23u is out of contract then just keep it like a tablet.

I don't want a dumb phone, I want a reliable PDA that doesn't hallucinate it's smarter than me. Older android on a current hardware could've been the best but it's not supported anymore by major devs. As a consumer, I don't understand why that's the case. I'm not interested in their new design choice or whatever they market it with while bloating the shit out of it, I want a low-powered portable PC to edit docs and browsing the web without eating through 8gb and 6000mah like it's nothing.

Guys just pay for a good app-blocking app. You don't have to get an entirely new phone to do this. They work great.

No

Why? Just download a copy of android without gapps

Nope