Comment by lifeformed | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lifeformed | Hacker News Reader

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I dream of one day when someone will make a minimalist phone that meets my needs. The perfect phone for me would be this:

- Can make and receive calls and texts.

- Has a phone book (just a name/number key-value pair).

- Has a clock and timer/alarm.

- NO OTHER SOFTWARE FEATURES. Nothing extra other than calls, texts, phone book, time.

- Small e-ink display.

- Simple T9 keypad.

- Rugged construction, should be able to take a lot of abuse. Should not feel cheap.

- Small and thin.

- Tons of battery life.

- Beautiful, minimalist visual design.

- Cheap enough that you can lose it without feeling bad.

That's all I want - something optimized for calls and texts, nothing more or less. It would be a cheap phone to produce, I think. Would there be any market for this?

EDIT: the Motofone looks like it's kind of like this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Fone), but it has a segmented display (bad for texts), and it sounds like it feels a bit cheap. It could also be prettier.

one day when someone will make a minimalist phone that meets my needs

That day was circa 2000 and the phone was the Nokia 5150 (didn't have e-ink, but the display was fine).

I had one - was a good phone. I'm glad times have moved on though.

What is wrong with a classic nokia phone? The battery life is easily a week on some of them and other than the e-ink they basically have all of these features.

They're pretty nice, but I'd like something thinner and more stylish (not the most critical attribute but it's a big plus).

I have a Samsung Convoy II. It's not super-thin, but it does pretty well as just a phone (plus texts). It actually has a decent web browser for when you need to check email (about once a month something comes up). Ruggedized, waterproof, and well-made. I think I paid $70 for it on eBay (in brand-new condition). Doesn't have an e-ink display, but I'll deal with that.

I got a low-battery warning this morning, and realized that I hadn't charged it since last Sunday (a week ago). Plugged it in for an hour, and the battery was full again.

I take your list and modify these: - Can make calls and/or emails - has a phonebook with name and number/email

Ok so really I want a pure email and/or phone call device. I doubt anything of the sort will be available in the near future so I just have to make my own. We'll see how that works out.

I would be happy even without the "cheap".

I would really love it though if they made an open (in the sense of iOS/Android at least) operating system for such phones (yes, monochrome and with CPUs in single digit MHz probably) It would allow for third-party applications (or, at a pinch, I could write one myself) that no phone or watch manufacturer ever makes right. Like UI customization for texts or alarm clock that makes sense for polyphasic sleep. But this, I'm afraid is a thing that will never be made: all innovation seems to be in the segment of touch-screen slate phones nowadays.

> Simple T9 keypad.

Just doesn't make much sense. Most input you are going to do is textual, ie. names and sms messages. Thus keypad optimized for that purpose would be more reasonable. Full QWERTY is probably impractical due desired small form factor, but there could be some good compromised solution. Maybe something like in E55?

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/images/news/E55/nokia-e55-and...

If it's very thin (which it could be due to little battery drain and low-tech), the standard Blackberry format could be rather nice.

On the upside, we are now in the age when someone can build their own cell phone.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/26/2976703/mit-high-low-tech-...

So, maybe take on a project to create the phone you want.

You need what's called a senior phone or old person phone, which is a huge market in China, but somewhat limited in the US. Huge keypad, small black and white screen, long battery life, and few features.

I have seen two of these in Germany and was disappointed. They have all the obvious things - bigger keys, bigger numbers on the display - but none of the perfection that is expected from a mainstream smartphone these days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Fone

EDIT: I see you beat me to the punch.

Hm. Motorola Fone was released in 2006. No successors since?

I have one. It's pretty good. Well, it's what it says on the tin, anyway. I never use it.

As an owner of the Motorola F3 I can tell you that it suffers from severe battery drain. Doesn't make any sense, but there you have it.

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