Smartphones have become such a part of human identity that consumers find it hard to “unplug” from their gadgets. The company Light, for whom the smartphone is named, now has its second-generation Light Phone 2 available for purchase.
Light Phone 2 provides “light” phone activity, has slim size
The Light Phone 2 is designed with the same understanding as the first-generation model: it is to be distraction-free, having a few “light” features such as calls, texts, and a phone alarm to wake you up at sunrise or from a nap during the day. Light offers a $30 monthly phone service for those who want Light to provide their calling service for the Light Phone 2.
The smartphone itself comes in at 8.75mm thick, which makes it as light as the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite (named for its thin size as well), Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro, Alcatel 3X, Lava Iris 460, and others.
Where the Light Phone 2 looks really “light” is in its height and weight, in comparison to its size. The Light Phone 2’s height is 95.85mm tall and 55.85mm wide, making the phone shorter and smaller than most on the market.
With a light size and light features, this phone is appropriately named.
E-ink, monochrome display
The Light Phone 2 has an electronic ink (or E-Ink), monochrome display, “monochrome” referring to one color. E-ink screens are known for conserving battery life, but they are cheaper to use than say, AMOLED panels for a device.
No social media apps or ads
Light says that it will never offer ads to users, customized or otherwise, and that social media apps will not come to the device. That means you won’t need to worry about Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and other apps pulling you away from the world around you to the world within your smartphone screen.
Heavy on price, light on all else
The Light Phone 2 may be light on features, which is good for smartphone users who want to disconnect from the world of their smartphone screens, but it’s heavy on the price. Phone manufacturer Light is charging $350 for the Light Phone 2, a price that really doesn’t seem to be a better buy when compared to other phones.
The Samsung Galaxy A50, in contrast, is a smartphone that offers an AMOLED display rather than an E-Ink as the Light Phone 2 does. The A50 does more than the Light Phone 2 does, with a number of activities. Heck, even the A50 has a flashlight that one can use in the dark to find one’s car at night. The Light Phone 2 may have this and other added capabilities someday, but there’s no way to tell when additional features will arrive on Light devices. And the A50’s cameras may seem to be a distraction, but cameras are bringing friends and families together to take pictures and make lasting memories nowadays. Not everything about contemporary smartphones should be shunned.
The phone’s desire to keep users distraction-free and to keep the phone experience simple without all the unnecessary “fluff” seems to have too high a price tag to be taken seriously. If smartphone users are really concerned about budget-friendliness, they’d try to get more for their money, not less. Of course, there are some who adopt a “less is more” philosophy, such as with vanilla Android, for example, but many consumers will try to get more features for their money (or even save some, if they can).
The Light Phone 2 is a reminder that sometimes, simple is expensive
The Light Phone 2 is a reminder that sometimes, simple and “streamlined” can be expensive. And if a consumer chooses between simple and expensive or complex and cost-friendly, consumers will often choose the complex and cost-friendly option because it is always better to have more for your money than less.
Ultimately, Light Phone 2 buyers are paying for Light, the phone manufacturer, to keep them distraction-free by giving them a phone with basic features so that they don’t get caught up in their smartphone screens. But it pays to find the power within yourself to just say no to smartphone addiction.
Set a timer to remind you to do something if you think that game of Candy Crush is dragging you deeper into it and out of reality for the day. Employ Kids Mode on your Samsung Galaxy smartphone to limit what apps you can and can’t use throughout the day so as to prevent distraction. Go for a walk. Call up a friend and go out. You can even chat with a friend on your smartphone, as chatting is a great way to focus on others and get out of selfishness. And last but never least, you can always choose to not install or “un-install” social media apps and use the Web application to access your social media accounts when you’re ready. You can take a “social media sabbatical” and simply break free, giving yourself a few days to recover from your social hangover.
There are a number of things you can do to pull yourself out of smartphone addiction, but you need not pay $350 to be distraction-free. And even if you do fork over $350, you still can’t put a price on self-discipline and self-control — for they, unlike the Light Phone 2, are priceless.