Kendrick Lamar's company just dropped a limited-edition 'dumb' phone. It's already sold out.

ZeroCool@feddit.ch to Technology@lemmy.world – 203 points – Kendrick Lamar's company just dropped a limited-edition 'dumb' phone. It's already sold out.
businessinsider.com

Kendrick Lamar enters the tech space with a collaboration on the Light Phone 2. Light phones offer minimalistic experiences without apps or color.

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They all sold out and they are all packed in one dudes garage. The actual sale of them will take place over the next year over a series of ebay auction, as is tradition for limited edition things.

It's $299, which isn't ridiculous for a phone, but this is kind of gimmicky with its Magic 8-Ball thing and, of course, its celebrity backing. I don't know, I guess it's not the worst price point, but considering you can get low-end Android phones for that with more functionality, I'm also guessing the people buying it are not really worried about the price.

Why not get a phone that can take, send, and receive pictures and video. It would also have maps, GPS, encrypted messaging, streaming music, audiobooks, e-books, home automation apps, ride hailing, food ordering, decent browser, etc.

Then, stay with me here, don't install social media apps. The lengths people go to so they can avoid social media when it is extremely avoidable is crazy to me.

What you're doing here is subtly shifting the burden of phone addiction from software companies and phone manufacturers back onto end users.

You're glossing right over the fact that these teams have the very best software engineers, mechanical engineers, marketers, ad people, psychologists, and doctors for the purpose of making these endlessly scrolling apps as addictive and hard to avoid as possible.

I read your comment and think about the people who say "why are you depressed? Just go lift some weights. It all comes down to you"

It's more like "Why are you smoking cigarettes, stop buying cigarettes." It's addictive, well marketed and cool, and totally avoidable with some self discipline.

I wouldn't joke about people with an actual illness by telling them to toughen up, but we're not talking about that.

What you're doing here is subtly shifting the burden of phone addiction from software companies and phone manufacturers back onto end users.

I thought you were being satirical at first but then I realized you genuinely believe an individual has zero personal responsibility whatsoever. Lemmy is filled with children.

This isn't the housing market or alcohol, just don't install or doom scroll social media. Jesus Christ, nanny state garbage.

Are you being serious?

Yes, saying "don't install social media apps if you don't like them" is the same as saying "lift weights to stop being depressed bro".

Your brain is too advanced and I cannot follow the steps you took to reach this conclusion.

The point is that it cannot do those things.

It's smaller, it's lighter, the battery will last way longer, and it doesn't run spyware.

kind of like telling a heroin addict to just stop doing heroin.

Facebook is baked into everything. Everything passes through Google. The only way to avoid them is to stay off the web.

That's flat out false. Other than using messenger to chat with family, I haven't had to use Facebook for anything for the 5 or so years since I stopped actively using it.

As for "everything passes through Google", that's just an optional login protocol and a shitload of blockable ads.

Also, Google isn't social media. You could argue that YouTube has social media aspects, but those aren't mandatory for internet participation either.

Well you do have to go a bit further with a degoogled rom to get rid of google

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Shit, you can buy a phone for £15 and I bet it's got snake on it

Make 100,000 of that phone and it will cost a lot closer to £15.

The bulk discounts on components and the PCB itself are pretty huge once you get up into the 10,000 qty. I've never had that pleasure. Only thing I've been involved with was a few hundred units.

Do a run in the 100k range and I imagine you're calling chip makers directly and making some insane deals.

But at only 250 units your PCB and expensive components like display and shell will still be quite expensive.

This is a Litephone 2 with a logo etched on the back. I don't know their overall numbers, but it's not just the 250 for this marketing gimmick.

I mean, you're quite clearly paying for the lack of features here.
Which makes the 8 ball even dumber.

Yeah, the 8 ball bothers me, as does the 'it's a dumb phone, but you can add a bunch of apps,' which is... a regular smartphone with no apps installed for the most part. The e-ink screen is unusual and interesting for a phone and I can see the appeal there, but the rest is kind of odd.

I'm guessing the majority of the phones were bought by people who are big fans of Kendrick Lamar. I sort of understand. An (impossible) equivalent to me would be if Stanley Kubrick came out with some piece of tech. I'd be sorely tempted to buy it just because I love Stanley Kubrick.

but you can't add a bunch off apps.

The minimalistic phone has no web browser and its screen is paper-like similar to that of some e-readers. In its simplest form, you can call, text, set an alarm, and use it as a hotspot, but there are add-on tools that include a music player, notes, a calculator, directions, and more.

Sure sounds like you can to me.

many dumphones have these functions.

calculator and GPS is not what most people think of from the phrase "a bunch of apps"

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Considered this phone but couldn't commit to something like that, nor can I justify such a price tag for that. Instead I'm attempting to dumb down my phone. Moving to GrapheneOS and starting from the basics is definitely a good starting point.

I hate minimalism! This is a dumb phone that got rid of everything that made dumb phones charming.

I love minimalism, but dumbphones are not functionally minimal. They do less and seem "simple", but you're offsetting necessary utility elsewhere. Mostly they require making compromises that don't need to be made if not for a little self-control.

A simple black rectangle is perfectly minimal. How you set them up is everything.

I have owned the Light Phone 1 and the Light Phone 2 -- both were built with the intent to stay connected in a handful of ways without needing to have a full-spec'd, app-heavy, typically-sized smart phone.

If the intent and the vibe make sense to you, then it is a wonderful approach for a more 'minimalist' device: you can go outdoors, travel, hike, camp, etc., without having a smart phone to pick up and play with. I dig it.

If the intent and vibe don't make sense to you, the Light Phone may not be a good fit.

I really like the device, and use it often enough as a daily driver on weekends. Always glad to see some public attention on it.

Ridiculous price for a dumb phone

Not for a run of only 250.

Edit: I should have explained that I was referring only to economies of scale in manufacturing of electronics. Making only 250 of some electronic device means a much higher per unit cost than if one made 10,000 of the same thing. You can look at quantity discounts of microcontrollers or sensors or things like that ok Digi-Key or Mouser and see what I mean.

Yeah it is. A rare stupid thing is as worthless as a common stupid thing if you're not an idiot about it.

I'm talking about economies of scale ffs. Not rarity.

Prices of electronic components goes way down beyond, say, 1000, 5000, 10000, etc.

I expect something really special for special editions not a blandly designed phone endorsed by a celebrity

Yeah it's a pretty meh phone. I couldn't possibly give less of a fuck about a celeb name attached to it, personally. It might make sense to make 100,000 units of a minimalist phone with no celeb b.s. so it would be super cheap. This, however, just seems ridiculous.

The price is the same for the non special edition one. These have been out for years. Only thing special about it is it says the pglang or whatever on the back. Identical otherwise. Absolutely stupid.

Let's be honest, he could sell poop in a ziploc bag and his fans would buy it.

I hardly text and your call is going to voice mail. Phone things are not the reason I have a smartphone. I'd be happy with an updated Palm Pilot with connectivity.

Oh, how I miss my Treo. If only they made a next Gen, with a new OS that had backwards compatibility for Palm apps, which were tiny and used little power.

Since when is Light Phone "Kendrick Lamar's company"?

That explains why they're so damn expensive.

You could buy equally or more functional phones in the early 2000s for $100-200.

Missing lte band 71. Hope the buyers don’t have T-Mobile in an area that’s b71 only.

Yeah the Light Phone 2 has been out for a while now. I saw it and thought "oh this is kind of interesting." Then I found out it has a shit radio and a shit battery. You'd think that it would last days and says on one charge but nope. Also it has USB-Micro for charging lol.

If they fixed a few things like that, I would be all over it.

Not so dumb if it has voice recognition...

Possibly for accessibility reasons? No point in shafting blind people just for a gag.

The Nokia 3310 had voice recognition...

I can only imagine what kind of profit this company is making by selling a phone literally purpose built to be as lightweight as possible both physically and on features for $299.

I'd be willing to bet they could sell that for half the price and still make a reasonably-sized profit - so I might just take out my popcorn and see if somebody does.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Light Phone 2 is getting some particularly strong star power courtesy of rapper Kendrick Lamar's creative agency pgLang.

His company, which he runs alongside childhood friend Dave Free, has released a limited edition version of the "dumb" phone.

The minimalistic phone has no web browser and its screen is paper-like similar to that of some e-readers.

In its simplest form, you can call, text, set an alarm, and use it as a hotspot, but there are add-on tools that include a music player, notes, a calculator, directions, and more.

Users are invited to ask the phone a question and shake it to find out an answer.

It's not clear if Lamar himself is an avid user of the pared-down device, but more people are turning to "dumb" phones to cut down distractions and screen time.

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