Switching to a dumb phone (sort of)

Update from early 2024

This experiment failed!
I'm back to a smartphone with limited personal usage.

Recently I started using a feature phone - Nokia 2780 flip instead of a regular smartphone. I'm not that great at self-control and would inadvertently end up spending too much time on my phone. I'm trying an experiment by adding more friction and getting some time and focus back.

Device comparison

iPhone 15 vs Nokia 2780 Flip

Cost

$800

$100

Colors

Washed out pastels

Vibrant plastic colors. The nokia phone is marketed as blue but is definitely green!

Materials

Aluminum and glass

Likely recycled plastics

Primary display

Fancy bright display viewable from 170 degrees

Privacy dim display viewable from 4 degrees

Secondary display

Dynamic island

Closed flip display for notifications and time

Camera

48 mp

5 mp

Cable

USB-C

USB-C

Battery life

Almost a day

2 weeks

Apps

Yes, immensely addictive

Yes, immensely repulsive

Critical features

Phone, messaging, GPS, internet

Phone, messaging, GPS, internet

Arguably both are very comparable.

Trade Offs

The nokia phone is barely usable. It is slow and there are a few apps with minimal versions like google maps, and a browser. However youtube, whatsapp, facebook etc and other social apps seem to be missing. Unlikely that you will get addicted to this phone.

Unfortunately smartphones have become a necessity in modern life. I still have an iPhone setup with apps which I need to keep around and we have other devices in the family like other smartphones, ipads, etc. When traveling I'll need to use maps. For local trips, if I am traveling with my wife we can use her phone with data. Otherwise I can use my phone with offline maps. There are some apps that are necessities like the iRobot app, library apps like libby, many home control apps, and authenticator apps. I have many work apps as well which are optional but make work accessible like slack, confluence and more.

The nokia phone has two major shortcomings, no support for a personal hotspot and no whatsapp. With hotspot, I could have used my smartphone on a few occasions that I needed more functionality. Whatsapp is the messaging platform that I'm connected with most people. Whatsapp is supported on an older version of the operating system but not this current one, which is over a year old. For those interested, the operating system is KaiOS which is a firefox based OS and now owned primarily by a Chinese company. India's Reliance JIO is also a primary user though they seem to be shifting to another Android based OS. Apple is moving to eSIM which will make switching phones challenging in the future. They are incentivized to keep making smartphones completely indispensable with payment features and passkeys for logins.

The Plan

I hope to leave my smartphone with my computer and use it more as a tool when needed. I’ve found myself mindlessly scrolling through youtube more often than I’d like to admit. I’ve been successful at a simple change, replacing my smartwatch with an analog quartz watch. The smart watch was not adding that much value and charging it everyday was a pain. Others also seem to be on this journey towards lesser distractions and mindfulness.