BBC Future talked about two cell phones released in recent months that aren't smartphones – they're just phones. They do not have internet connections or powerful cameras and are made to be essential (making and receiving calls, and little else) and therefore to be used as little as possible. The commercialization of these phones is a reaction to the more than massive use that many people make of their smartphones, with the annoyances that this entails: we are talking about looking at the screen dozens of times a day and touching the screen thousands of times a day.
Both phones are presented as “secondary devices”, to be used perhaps on holidays or weekends, instead of your smartphone. The first is called Light Phone and in one year more than 10 thousand models have been sold in over 50 countries; the second is called MP-01 and also in this case several thousand models have been sold; both companies that produce them are about to launch new models on the market, which continue to be simple and essential, but with a few more features.
Light Phones are produced and sold by Light, a company founded in 2014 in New York by Joe Hollier and Kaiwei Tang, an artist and product designer who met in a start-up incubator promoted by Google. The shape of the Light Phone, created in 2015, is inspired by that of the monoliths of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the science fiction film by Stanley Kubrick released in 1968. It has a touch screen and allows you to save up to nine telephone numbers, one for each key from 1 to 9. There is a button to lock and unlock it, and one to turn it on and off. Hollier explained that to pitch the idea to potential backers, he attached a screen image made with Photoshop to a piece of plastic. The phone works with a nano SIM and has a micro USB socket. At the moment there are no more Light Phones available, but they can still be pre-ordered: they cost 125 euros, excluding shipping costs.
The MP-01 phones are manufactured by Punkt, a company based in Switzerland but founded in 2008 by the Norwegian entrepreneur Petter Neby. The company also produces other minimal tech items: for example an alarm clock and a wireless home phone. The design of the MP-01 phones was done by the British Jasper Morrison, who is the art director of Punkt (it means “dot” in German and symbolizes the simplicity and immediacy of the products). Unlike the Light Phones, the MP-01 have real keys called “3D” and therefore a smaller screen. They can be connected via Bluetooth and also allow you to send text messages, set alarms and check your calendar. They weigh 88 grams and are 11 centimeters tall and five centimeters wide. Neby said he created the MP-01 phones “to offer a useful alternative to those who felt overwhelmed by the advanced technologies that have invaded modern life” and the motto the phones are promoted by is “all it takes. nothing you don't need “. They cost 195 euros, excluding shipping costs.
As explained by BBC Future, the two companies are not banking on their phones being easy to use nor are they targeting those not accustomed to using smartphones, such as older people. The Light Phones and MP-01s are promoted as elegant, “cool” and great design phones, deliberately designed not to distract, stress and waste time. In both cases, the quality of the materials and of the two main components: the speakers and the microphones is also highlighted.
Despite the insistence on simplicity, both Light and Punkt will launch two new phones which, while simpler than a latest generation iPhone or Android, will be far less essential than the Light Phone and the MC-01.
In April 2019, the Light Phone II will be released, which on Kickstarter – the bottom-up funding platform – has raised almost two million dollars, 600 percent of the minimum required by the company. The Light Phone II is presented as “a phone that really respects you” and will allow you to set and follow directions and listen to music playlists. It will therefore have 4G, GPS and the ability to connect to WiFi networks. At the moment the estimated cost is about 300 dollars, but it could increase.
Even the MP-02 phone (“designed to be a servant, not a master”) will work in 4G and can be connected to a smartphone or tablet to connect to the internet via hotspot: it means, writes Punkt, “that users will be able to consult websites and reading emails, but it will be a choice, not an unconditional reflex ». It is not yet known when MP-02 will be released and how much it will cost.
