Can a New 'Dumbphone' With an E Ink Display Help Rewire Your Brain? (zdnet.com) 63
ZDNet's reviewer says "I tested this affordable E Ink phone for two weeks, and it rewired my brain (for the better)."
It's Mudita's new Kompakt smartphone with a two-color E Ink display — which ZDNet calls "an affordable choice" for those "considering investing in a so-called 'dumbphone'..."
Compared to modern smartphones, the Mudita Kompakt is a bit chunky at half an inch thick and five inches long. It's still rather light, though, weighing just 164 grams and covered in soft touch material, so it feels good in the hand. The bezels around the 4.3-inch display are rather large, with three touch-sensitive buttons for back, home, and quick settings, so navigating to key elements is intuitive, whether you're coming from Android or iOS.
The phone features a fingerprint sensor to lock and unlock, and it's housed on the power button in the middle of the right side. I'm a huge fan of consolidating these two purposes to the same button, and it works flawlessly.... You can charge via the USB-C, but surprisingly, it also supports wireless charging. All in all, the battery is quite good. Mudita says it can last for up to six days on standby, with around two days of standard use. In my testing, I found this to be about accurate.
On the left side of the device is a button that houses one of its key features: offline mode. Switching to this mode disables all wireless connectivity and support for the camera, so it truly becomes distraction-free.. [T]here is undoubtedly some lag in certain apps — such as the camera — due to the E Ink display technology and processor/RAM specifications. You will also likely notice some lag in text messaging if you tap quickly on the keyboard, often resulting in getting ahead of the spell-checking feature. As far as apps go, in addition to phone calls and text messages, the Kompakt includes an alarm, calculator, chess game, maps, meditation, weather, and a voice recorder.
Phone calls "sounded great on both ends," according to the review. (And text messaging "works well if you don't tap too quickly on the keyboard.") But the 8MP camera produced photos "that look like they were taken over ten years ago." (And accessing the internal storage "requires connecting to a Windows PC and launching File Explorer," although "you can also just share photos via text messaging, as it's much faster than using a computer.") But ZDNet calls it an "attractive — if very simplified — E Ink display."
Mudita is asking $369 now for preorder customers, according to the article, while the phone will be available in May for $439.
The phone features a fingerprint sensor to lock and unlock, and it's housed on the power button in the middle of the right side. I'm a huge fan of consolidating these two purposes to the same button, and it works flawlessly.... You can charge via the USB-C, but surprisingly, it also supports wireless charging. All in all, the battery is quite good. Mudita says it can last for up to six days on standby, with around two days of standard use. In my testing, I found this to be about accurate.
On the left side of the device is a button that houses one of its key features: offline mode. Switching to this mode disables all wireless connectivity and support for the camera, so it truly becomes distraction-free.. [T]here is undoubtedly some lag in certain apps — such as the camera — due to the E Ink display technology and processor/RAM specifications. You will also likely notice some lag in text messaging if you tap quickly on the keyboard, often resulting in getting ahead of the spell-checking feature. As far as apps go, in addition to phone calls and text messages, the Kompakt includes an alarm, calculator, chess game, maps, meditation, weather, and a voice recorder.
Phone calls "sounded great on both ends," according to the review. (And text messaging "works well if you don't tap too quickly on the keyboard.") But the 8MP camera produced photos "that look like they were taken over ten years ago." (And accessing the internal storage "requires connecting to a Windows PC and launching File Explorer," although "you can also just share photos via text messaging, as it's much faster than using a computer.") But ZDNet calls it an "attractive — if very simplified — E Ink display."
Mudita is asking $369 now for preorder customers, according to the article, while the phone will be available in May for $439.
So let me get this straight... (Score:2)
OK, so this is a device with a tiny e-ink screen that functions like a phone but costs 4x as much as the lowest-priced Kindle, and as much as 10x as much as a basic dumbphone.
On the left side of the device is a button that houses one of its key features: offline mode. Switching to this mode disables all wireless connectivity and support for the camera, so it truly becomes distraction-free..
I'll say it's "distraction-free." It doesn't do anything. I guess you can play chess with it? Or use it like a pocket calculator?
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"functions like a phone but costs 4x as much as the lowest-priced Kindle" ...which actually also has a web-browser.
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Oh, good you mentioned it. ... /SARCASM
Somehow I missed that this phone has no web browser
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I'd buy it.
If it's actually well-designed and works for its stated purpose (cutting out distractions while still being good for phone calls and texting), the cost isn't unreasonable. (I'm assuming, for the sake of argument, that the phone is well made and will get daily use for a few years before replacement).
Your comparison to a Kindle is besides the point, since you can't make phone calls from a Kindle. The better comparison (suggested by another poster) is to a cheap flip-phone. But the problem with
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You want to cut out distractions? Mute the damn thing.
Go to volume controls and mute all sounds, place the phone face-down somewhere.
You are welcome.
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You want to cut out distractions? Mute the damn thing.
Go to volume controls and mute all sounds, place the phone face-down somewhere.
You are welcome.
I don't disagree with anything you've said. Self-discipline is important.
The thing is, though, that self-discipline is f**king hard, and because of that, I think you're entitled to use whatever "hacks" you can come up with (technological or otherwise) to help you achieve it. Does an alcoholic "need" to go to AA or spend three months in a sober-living facility? Can't they just put the beer down? Sure, some of them can. But some of them have a hard time doing that.
There are all sorts of obvious psycholog
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Just switch on "flight mode".
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This short story expresses what I'm feeling better than I could have done:
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
"it rewired my brain (for the better)" (Score:5, Insightful)
It did not rewire your brain
That is ridiculous pseudo-scientific nonsense.
Shame on you, and any editor, Slashdot and otherwise, who lets this bullshit through.
Quick question (Score:4, Interesting)
No.
It did not rewire your brain
That is ridiculous pseudo-scientific nonsense.
Shame on you, and any editor, Slashdot and otherwise, who lets this bullshit through.
We did an experiment in psych class where a student volunteer agreed to wear glasses w/prisms that turned his vision upside down. He reported that it was very confusing at first, but after 3 days his brain figured things out and flipped his vision around so that he "saw" it as normal.
Then at the next class he stopped wearing the glasses and once again everything seemed upside down until his brain figured things out and flipped his vision around once more.
A similar experiment uses prisms that angle everything in by 10 degrees. After several days the professor tells the student to close his eyes, take off the glasses, then open his eyes and try to hit his (the professor's) outstretched hand, and hilarity ensues. The student's vision goes back to normal a few days later.
This is explained by the visual cortex learning and rewiring itself to accommodate the changes in vision. People with spot defects in their vision can train their system to ignore the defects, and an experimental set of glasses from NASA mapped the complete vision input around the spot of a macular degeneration patient. The entire visual input was presented to the patient, but the input had to be "stretched" around the hole in his vision. After several days, the patient reported seeing the stretched/mapped input as normal.
So I'm curious: why do you think the brain can't be rewired, and why is any mention of this is bullshit?
(And yes, there are rewiring techniques for other conditions, such as certain forms of depression and phobias. Heck, brainwashing is a form of brain rewiring, and we know how that works and how to use it.)
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No.
It is quite adequately explained by the brain using existing pathways differently.
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I love your assertion that the GP is lying because *checks notes*, he witnessed a by your own admission a common and well known experiment.
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>(And yes, there are rewiring techniques for other conditions, such as certain forms of depression and phobias.
I've heard of a resort where you can get your brain rewired. I think it's called "Las Vegas".
Re: (Score:2)
It did not rewire your brain
That is ridiculous pseudo-scientific nonsense.
Shame on you, and any editor, Slashdot and otherwise, who lets this bullshit through.
I'm not in love with that headline either. It sounds too much like marketing-speak.
With that said, it's not really "pseudo-scientific". "Rewiring your brain" is obviously, explicitly a metaphor (since we don't have wires in our brain). What the author means is that switching to this phone will, over time, have significant effects on the way your brain works.
Does daily smartphone use have profound effects on the way your brain works? Yes, yes it does, I believe. I think the impact is probably comparable
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No. (Score:2)
/Betteridge
Close (Score:2)
This is very close to what I would be interested in. The price however is way out of line for a dumb phone. Get the price down and it's something I would consider. I currently use a first gen iPhone SE because it was free (a spare laying around) and my previous dumb phone was forced out because of 3G. I only use it for voice and texting, something this eInk phone could easily replace.
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The iPhone really is the best dumbphone replacement. You can literally delete every single distraction from it, but it still has the advantage that when you run into a "this requires an app" situation, the phone can still handle it. It's the digital equivalent of living in an Amish community with a Tesla parked by the barn that anybody can use in an emergency.
The only downside is that lately, their cheapest phone isn't all that cheap anymore.
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You are correct in the sense that I have deleted that all from my phone as well. However, I don't like being tied to Apple but I guess it's better than being tied to Google. Believe it or not the phone still gets OS updates but many times they break things or change settings I know I set in the past. I just got an update the other day, 15.8.4, that suddenly fixed my battery being drained too quickly that I assume the previous update caused. So this was a good update I suppose. Normally this is caused by Blu
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Then google Hisense A7 or A9 eInk phone. /SARCASM
As this is a cheap american rip off of an Chinese phone, that has twice the features.
Yeah, right, the pesky Americans steal a trade idea from a Chinese manufacturer, and sell the cheap clone for 8x the price.
And on top of that, unlike the Chinese one, that lasts two weeks - AND - doubles as a power bank, this one looks pretty limited.
However, with the current tariffs and shipping costs and the anti Chinese hate: the price might be competitive :)
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We've got microplastic and our balls
I feel like "We've got microplastic in our balls" strongly deserves an AI generated song.
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There you go: https://www.riffusion.com/song... [riffusion.com]
balls (Score:2)
We've got microplastic and our balls
I feel like "We've got microplastic in our balls" strongly deserves an AI generated song.
I went to the Microplastics Ball one year
but the brain conditioning had a hard time keeping up
and it was too sticky so after 45 minutes
I had to bounce
Plastic Man (Score:2)
Your brain does not need to be rewired. You need to stop filling it with plastic.
The Devil Made Me Do It,
If it's not roids it's Ambien,
If it's not Twinkies
it's microplastics!
Actually this is nothing new.
There are many decades of research
into brain plasticity.
If it was $36 (Score:2)
I'd buy it,
You want a dumb phone? (Score:5, Interesting)
There is the Cingular Flip IV which you could get for $50 at Walmart [walmart.com]. It looks like it's no longer in stock or something similar, but whatever the next Flip phone will be should be about the same price.
In fact, Walmart has a whole selection of flip phones [walmart.com] depending on your carrier, some as low as $20.
Ask yourself, was this article really necessary?
Editior Fail. (Score:2)
Is "Kompakt" in the second sentence supposed to actually link somewhere? Or are we just making it green underline for shits and grins?
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Ugh, this again (Score:2)
Not using a smartphone means missing out on all the discounts you can get from electronic coupons and loyalty rewards programs. It means driving around aimlessly from store to store looking for things that are out-of-stock because you can't simply just check inventory and place a pick-up order before you arrive. If you drive an ICE vehicle, it means paying more for gasoline because you can't check which gas station has the best prices. If you drive an EV, don't even get me started on the various apps req
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Wait what? You've never placed a pickup-order at a shop? Why not? It's a way to guarantee the item will be there when you go to a shop. Let me guess, the only shop you know is Amazon?
That said I don't know why you would need an app for that. 100% of pickup orders I've done I've done through a website.
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It really depends on your routines. I only ever go to the commercial center, that's where I buy food, cleaning products, clothes. If the thing I wanted to eat isn't in the shelves, I just won't eat it that week. Everything else I get delivered home.
you'll constantly be bothering your friend/significant other/partner with questions of "Hey, can you look this up for me
Not everyone experiences constant need for looking things any moment.
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Discounts can be linked to the loyalty card from a PC at home while making up the grocery list. At the auto parts store and hardware store they are linked to your phone number.
Everything else sounds like a big city problem like needing a map to find your way home from some random store.
In Philadelphia, it's worth $50 (Score:2)
I could justify $50 for a dumbphone with great call quality, but not north of $300. And calling it distration-free while putting any games on it seems like a misnomer.
Let me offer an alternative (Score:2)
You probably don't want to drop all the way down to a dumb phone. You probably really want to keep a few key features. For me, I'd want to keep my TOTP app. I still want to provide internet access to my GPS device over bluetooth tethering. I still need my bank's app for uploading checks.
You probably have a few other things that you really want to keep too. Go ahead and pause now to make your list.
Now that you have your list: Delete all of the other shit on your phone
If you were thinking about buying a
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It isn't a dumb phone, it is a de-googled Android. You could download simple apps like a TOTP. Personally the only app I have on my phone is indeed a TOTP authenticator, and even that could be replaced by https://totp.app/ [totp.app] For the banking app and government mandated things, I use a tablet that I keep at home.
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TOTP app? I'd have to look it up to see what it is.
Anywhere I might need GPS I'm also out of range of cell phones. Mountains are a bitch that way. For the one check a year I receive I can go to the bank.
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GPS is run via satellites.
Not via cell phone towers.
Every child knows that.
In other words: if your phone has battery, it has GPS.
So it's basically an Android phone (Score:4, Insightful)
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I already have zero apps on my mid-range phone (well I have a TOTP calculator). This option is attractive to me because I like e-ink displays. It is indeed a de-googled Android phone (with an e-ink display), where you can sideload APK for some basic app you need.
I also own an actual clamshell dumb phone with the 0-9#* keys, but it's annoying to write long messages, difficult to keep track of conversations, it has very little text memory and I can't export the message history to a computer.
You mention "decen
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Either your reading comprehension sucks ... or my Google Fu sucks.
Care to point out some mid range priced Android phones with eInk display?
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The e-ink display here is not a benefit or feature of what the summary is postulating. Your brain isn't being rewired because the display is in black and white, and if it were you can set that in Android as well.
Camera? (Score:3)
Using an e-ink screen as a camera viewfinder sounds horrible. This thing seems like a Slashdot veteran of the Kindle versus iPad wars of 15 years ago decided to just make a regular smartphone but put an e-ink display in it instead because obviously.
Also, my favourite feature of my recently deceased iPhone 7 was that it developed a problem with the audio chip and so it didn't answer phone calls anymore.
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Not at all comparable. The e-ink display has significant material benefits for a device like the kindle, to the point where many iPad owners also bought kindles (or alternatives) for reading books.
This on the other hand is pointless.
Just bring the Motorola Razr back ... (Score:2)
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Just bring the Motorola Razr back, the 2000's era flip phone. Phone, text, camera ... done.
OK, add GPS. But that's it. :-)
Light Phone 3 (Score:2)
I already ordered mine and hope to have it next week.
GPS, E-ink, no apps. Just a phone and SMS. Perfection.
I've been running GrapheneOS for a long long time and love it, but it still allows apps and I just want to get away from any time sucking succubus. Hell, I found that if you even just shut off the alerts you stop using most of the apps.
Take back your lives and ditch the phones that make you look at them when you're bored.
RCS? (Score:2)
SMS is being phased out as quickly as possible.
Are they supporting RCS?
It's not worth buying a new device today without RCS.
I have a 4G flip phone that can be a wifi hotspot which is pretty cool so you can have an Android without a cellular modem.
No RCS though.
The eink is better for your eyes, though.
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RCS is software. And a feature of your ISP, more precisely: phone network operator.
Has nothing to do with your device.
Slashdot year 2005 flashback (Score:2)
We had this argument back in 2005 .. where the conclusion of you idiots was that smartphones would be a terrible idea:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
Incidentally on that same thread I claimed the future would be phones that had large touchscreens:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
Rewiring needs a brain (Score:2)
If you really believe that your brain needs "rewiring" and that buying a new phone would do that for you, you might consider getting an actual brain first of all. Because what you are using to fill the void between your ears is most likely a dry bun...