Minimalist Phones

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Smartphones are getting bigger, more expensive and packed with more high-tech features. But if you want a simpler digital lifestyle, they might be too much. You could try a feature phone. Today’s feature phones can do a lot of things, but not very well. They’re mainly just for calling people. But maybe you want something in-between. Something like the Light Phone II. The original Light Phone, released in 2017, was as basic as it gets: You could use it for phone calls, but that was it. It was the size of a credit card, with glowing white numbers on a smooth plastic case. The updated Light Phone II can do a lot more. It can tell you how to get someplace. It can play music or podcasts. It has simple apps like an alarm and a calculator. It comes in black. But it’s still a minimalist phone. There’s no camera or web browser. No social media. The screen is e-ink. That means it’s gentle on your eyes, and that’s good. But the screen is slow when you’re texting, and that’s bad. Still, at the end of the day, you’ll spend more time calling people rather than texting. And that’s very good. In the end, the Light Phone II is great if you want to take a break from your smartphone. You can enjoy the world outside the internet and still feel safe knowing that people can call you if they need to. At around ¥58,000, though, it’s a lot to pay just to lighten your digital load. If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, there are plenty of tiny feature-light phones. They can be as cheap as a few thousand yen up to around ¥30,000. These stripped-down phones may not do much besides make calls, but they may be perfect for minimalists — or as a child’s first phone. (T) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.