Pre-2012 phones were way superior. What happened to phones?

[Swiftology]

there's nothing saying anyone can't go back to a dumb phone...and live in there own little bubble like it's 2003. i've pondered doing it myself and realize that overall breaking the addiction would probably enhance my life if i went through with it. but then there's that fear of missing out that fuels the addiction.

How everyone switched to the "smart" phone is a mystery to me.



I used to have a Sony Ericsson.




Then one day my Sony Ericsson just disappeared.



wtf.

[eddiehaskell]

Where do you buy a dumb phone?

i don't know but im guessing they will still work if you can get one.

[Swiftology]

i don't know but im guessing they will still work if you can get one.

Can you get one???

[eddiehaskell]

How everyone switched to the "smart" phone is a mystery to me.



I used to have a Sony Ericsson.




Then one day my Sony Ericsson just disappeared.



wtf.

i had a 1999ish motorola flip phone that people would sometimes laugh at until 2010. then i upgraded to a droid x since it was free. maybe a bad move. i know older people that didn't get smartphones until 2020+ but now they are like anyone else and always buried in phone.

[Swiftology]

i had a 1999ish motorola flip phone that people would sometimes laugh at until 2010. then i upgraded to a droid x since it was free. maybe a bad move. i know older people that didn't get smartphones until 2020+ but now they are like anyone else and always buried in phone.

I tried to find a dumb phone.



They don't sell them anymore

[eddiehaskell]

I tried to find a dumb phone.



They don't sell them anymore

probably no profits for them with ~$150 entry level smart phones all the way up to $1200+ phones. plus they profit from selling data plans and add ons like hotspot. i do see unlimited talk/text plans out there with little to no data for like $8/month if an old dumb phone will work nowadays.

[MetroBrah]

Remember when all cell phones looked different and had different features?

Remember when all websites had extremely different designs from one another?


Crazy how everything just homogenizes over time for the sake of efficiency and optimization. It's objectively "better", but it's boring.

[Swiftology]

probably no profits for them with ~$150 entry level smart phones all the way up to $1200+ phones. plus they profit from selling data plans and add ons like hotspot. i do see unlimited talk/text plans out there with little to no data for like $8/month if an old dumb phone will work nowadays.

wtf is data plans?


All that chit is unncessary. I just want a real phone to call and look cool

[1WayTrainRides]

I have a kyocera dura extreme with verizon. Their flip phones are cheap af or you’re stuck with the $250 model (mine) and carriers force a data plan on you even though it’s a flip phone you’re not using any net with it. Call, text and no camera.

[Swiftology]

I have a kyocera dura extreme with verizon. Their flip phones are cheap af or you’re stuck with the $250 model (mine) and carriers force a data plan on you even though it’s a flip phone you’re not using any net with it. Call, text and no camera.

cool

[SirFapsAIot]

But Pre-2012 phones looked more advanced.

dude the AURA is fukking SICK!!!


I used the RAZR from its launch to the time when these cock suckers shut down 3G, still use a flip phone though, but it's garbage compared to the RAZR.

[FrankCostanza]

Not having cell phones that was the best of times. I grew up in a rich town but we had morals no one had phones in high schoo(except for like the top 10%)l. We all talk to each other on landlines s*** was great man. Nowadays everyone just text each other and that's just so f****** ridiculous. God damn it I feel like a chick but truly talking actually communicating f****** matters


Graduation year was totally different ball game The rich people all had phones

[Swiftology]

You can still buy and use these phones.

Where??

[eddiehaskell]

wtf is data plans?


All that chit is unncessary. I just want a real phone to call and look cool

and what do you know...saw this this morning

The Light Phone débuted in 2017, before smartphone exhaustion became a mainstream ailment. The company’s co-founders, Kaiwei Tang and Joe Hollier, have sold tens of thousands of phones. The Light Phone II, released in 2019, features a monochrome touch screen that allows users to make calls, send text messages, and use a few custom apps: an alarm and timer, a calendar, directions, notes, music and podcast libraries. There are no social-media apps or streaming apps. “The point is to create useful utility that does not have the attention economy built in,” Tang said. Like Dumbwireless, Light Phone has recently been experiencing a surge in demand. From 2022 to 2023, its revenue doubled, and it is on track to double again in 2024, the founders told me. Hollier pointed to Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation,” about the adverse effects of smartphones on adolescents. Light Phone is receiving increased inquiries and bulk-order requests from churches, schools, and after-school programs. In September, 2022, the company began a partnership with a private school in Williamstown, Massachusetts, to provide Light Phones to the institution’s staff members and students; smartphones are now prohibited on campus. According to the school, the experiment has had a salutary effect both on student classroom productivity and on campus social life. Tang told me, “We’re talking to twenty to twenty-five schools now.”

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/in...e-boom-is-real

phone is supposed to be available in july. only thing i'd add is a solid camera...and a price closer to $100-150 opposed to $300.