Who would have thought that phones that do nothing would be back in style.
Welcome back to What’s Trending, I’m Candice Carrizales. Subscribe for more social media news every day. We went from landlines to giant cell phones to Nokia stick phones to flip phones to keyboard phones then to iPhones. And now we’re back. We’re back to phones that only make calls and texts. I guess there are people that want to live an Internet free life or maybe people that just don’t want to break the bank for a phone. It’s the Light Phone 2 and it only costs $400.
Wait. What? That’s not cheap. That’s like the price of an iPhone. An iPhone SE. So definitely not a money saver. So it’s definitely for like minimalist reasons. The phone first launched in 2014 being called the Light Phone. Not the Light Phone 2 because the Light Phone 2 is the one that just came out. Just so we’re like clear and really understand each other. the original Light Phone could only make calls and tell the time. Boring. The company themselves called the phone quite a smart dumb phone. Very clever company. It kind of reminds me of the Jitterbug. You know, that phone for elders. Or the Firefly. The phone for little kids. It has like four buttons on it.
You know, between the Jitterbug and the Firefly you know there’s not like an in-between phone, you know? And I feel like the Light 2 Phone is definitely the in-between phone for everyone between the ages of children and elders. Does that make sense?
So now people of all ages can own boring phones. So what makes the Light Phone and the Light 2 Phone so different. Oh my God. Great question. As I mentioned before, the OG Light Phone could only call and tell the time, but the Light Phone 2 can call, it can text, it can oh my god set alarms. Oh and it also has I quote “simple directions,” which makes it sound like it has a very bad or vague GPS system.
So how many of these dang Light Phones did they sell the first time around?
Oh my God another great question from you. They sold 10,000. Almost three years and 10,000 phones later to find ourselves asking how can we go light more often? I guess in the scope of a start-up, 10,000 is like pretty good, but they’re definitely trying to reach more people with the Light Phone 2.
The first Light Phone kind of existed to just leave your iPhone at home sometimes and have like an extra phone with you, but with the Light Phone 2, it’s kind of made to replace your smart phone. In an announcement for the new product, the company said: “Enjoy a morning jog, a drink with an old friend, a night on the town or a day at the park with your kids, waking up with a coffee and a good book, a trip to the beach, or simply some time away from your Instagram.”
Okay, so maybe at first I was skeptical of this phone, but when I read that quote you can spend the day, all day at the park with your kids? It got me thinking, there has to be parents that are just like on their emails constantly, looking at their phone, and just not looking at their kids at the park. Uh huh. Yeah honey. Yeah hon. That’s great. That’s so good. You’re on the swing honey. Yeah hon. You look so cute on the slide honey. Uh huh. Kind of sad, which makes me think maybe this phone should be marketed to bad parents.
Are you constantly refreshing your work emails on your phone? Looking at your ex-wife’s Facebook? And ooogling the Instagram of Nicki Minaj? All while ignoring your kids?
Then the Light Phone 2 may be the phone for you. Thank you everyone. That is my unpaid commercial for the Light Phone 2. So even though this phone doesn’t do too much, it still has 4G LTE which I guess is for the simple instructions. But then I’m like wait you’re still paying for data, so you’re paying $400 for a phone that doesn’t do much and you’re still paying for data. You’re probably ending up paying the same amount you would pay for a smart phone. The phone will start shipping out early next year, which means that’s right you’re gonna have to be addicted to your smartphone for a whole year. I’m a freak for tech and I’ll mean to be turned this phone down because actually a lot of people online liked the idea of this phone. Like celebrity Aaron Paul, from the hit TV show Breaking Bad, tweeted: “This is amazing. We deserve to take our lives back. I am always leaving my phone at home so I can actually enjoy this beautiful planet of ours without distractions. Check the link and share if you agree.”
Someone else said: “I want the Light Phone 2, its beauty is in its simplicity.” Okay, people are into it. I just have a bad opinion. And Emily Osment, star of Hannah Montana and the Young and the Hungry tweeted this: “I find it super ironic and I wouldn’t have even heard of the Light Phone 2 if I hadn’t read the article about it on my super overwrought, overused, highly addictive iPhone.” And someone else tweeted: “That #lightphone2 looks tempting though. But I keep asking myself, is technology a distraction or a necessity in 2018?” I’ve got to say this phone does seem to be coming at a very appropriate or convenient time.
Especially when nostalgia seems to be all the rave. I mean look at me I’m wearing a fucking turtleneck like I’m Monica from Friends. Also just the other day a startup company said they’re bringing back the Nokia banana phone made popular by the incredible movie The Matrix. Ever heard of it? And it’s being speculated right now that the Motorola RAZR is also coming back. And when Kim Kardashian was in Tokyo recently, she was spotted with what? A pink flip phone that looked like a Ferrari. She even posted it on her Snapchat. I don’t even know if I like the Light Phone or not at this point. I’ve completely lost my identity in this article. Since I don’t know how to feel about the Light Phone 2, how do you feel about the Light Phone 2?