Thanks so much for this review!! I *love* the idea behind the light phone, and I so so want this device to work for me, but my general impression (reaffirmed here) was that it’s just not quite there yet- especially not at the premium price point. With the functionality where it is now, it doesn’t seem to give much value over a basic Nokia brick, which has the added benefit that you can more or less throw off a building and have it keep working.
I appreciate the time taken to make this review. And I agree that 50 seconds to start up is too slow and indicates poor OS power optimisation given on an OS that should be stripped back. But I'm afraid that's where I deviate from the opinions. You mentioned that you would like the side button to activate the tools options when the phone is asleep. This goes against the design intention. As the phone jingles about in one's pocket, the chances of activating it by accident increase. The need to press the top power/standby button first ensures that user input is purposeful and intentional. In other areas, you appear to want to the sophistication and slickness of a smart phone. For example, you expect a fully-featured integrated calendar and an alarm with separate modes for weekends. Showing more information on the 'now playing' feature and the calculator are other examples. I've never met anyone that wanted a backspace button on a smartphone calculator. Organising notes into folders is another example of where you want the sophistication of a smart phone. I have more sympathy with searching for notes or podcast episodes, because once the list of items exceeds 4, scrolling on the e-ink screen would become cumbersome. But when it comes to battery, 3 days of standby time with cellular and wifi enabled is absolutely fine - it's in line with the battery-to-phone-size ratio. Overall, you seem to want the sophistication of a smart phone on something that isn't a smart phone.
I have to agree here. This seems on the same level as many other reviews I have seen wherein the negative opinion is basically: "I don't like that it doesn't [feature that a smartphone has because it is a mobile computer]" It's not a smart phone. It is purposely limited. For example a 1,300 episode podcast... would not have been very easy-listening on a device that came before smartphones either. Haha. The only thing I can agree with fully is the price point. It is a "premium" device made by a startup company, basically. It's not meant to be enjoyable to use. You're paying mostly for the look and idea of a minimalist phone, made by a smaller company that can't afford to mass-produce supercomputers like Apple. Im not defending that, but it's literally what they are advertising.
Too bad I did not find your review a few hours earlier, as I just ordered a Light Phone 2. Had I have seen your review, I would have held off on buying it. Great review!
Thanks very much for the in-depth review. I've been researching this phone for more than a week now and you address a lot of points I was still curious about. I hope Lightphone's design team watches this video, because it seems to me they could make many of the improvements you recommend without compromising their intended minimalist aesthetic, which appeals to me greatly. I'm admittedly a bit more sympathetic because the company is a tiny shop that began with a Kickstarter, and they also claim to offer tools developed in-house that do not compromise your privacy -- an option that is harder to come by here in the USA than in Europe, where you are based. All that said, after several years and two hardware iterations I agree they should have a more polished OS implementation. I think I will wait a few months to see what they do with respect to fine-tuning their currently available tools, not just releasing planned ones.
One of the absolute best reviews of this phone. I'll be holding off for the Light Phone 3 to see what improvements they make. Do you think software updates can improve many of the con's you've pointed out?
Thank you very much :) Yes, software improvements can fix everything except the uneven front light (but that can also be remedies by making it shine with lower intensity) and the screen clarity (but that also can be somewhat improved by introducing contrast control).
Excellent review. Can't wait until your Kindle Scribe one soon. Would love to see you test some sample pdfs with graphics on it. I'm less interested in the pen aspects.
Thank you. There are a lot of features that could be better, especially the one battery. And there is an option to find specific podcasts fast is clicking on the scroll bar on the right side of the screen.
And also it started out as a kickstarter and the size of the developer team is so so tiny just the fact they keep adding tools and OS updates is good its not like they have apple google or samsung level of developers on staff its run on a shoestring budget this company
I am glad that you are happy with your Light Phone II, but the things that are wrong with it don't require or depend on a team of a large size, they need competency and clarity of vision for a product. Also, if someone asks $300 for a dumb phone of any kind, there are no excuses that apply. That being said, if it suits your needs, then that's all good :)
@@MyDeepGuide yes I agree its not for everybody but foe me and my needs its exactly what I was looking for small phone size equals small battery inside hence now as good battery but when im asleep I can plug it in as I won't be using it then I wasn't expecting a huge battery in a small device sadly the price is the economy of scale they aren't selling and making a ton of them to get better prices per part
Light phone is a great idea, but not convincing to me because of implementation and limitations it has. I'm thinking on buying a Hisense A5 or A9, both have e-ink screens, and tinker a bit to make it a minimalist phone. Voya, you should check those out and make a review, please!
Quality of hisense is questionable. I bought a5 and it is already failing at hardware level. Lines on screen, buttons randomly working and speaker also stop working few days ago. Gps doesn't work. There is no software updates.
@@ahuachapan2 that's sad to hear. I saw some favorable reviews on yt but I believe you. Their quality control surely is not on the level of the bigger manufacturers
I wonder if the Hisense Eink phones with Android would work better. Sure you have more apps and potential distraction available but an eink screen is not the best for social media anyways. Thanks for the great review though, I was always curious about the LightPhone but looks like they need to improve a bit to be considered.
I like the idea of an e-ink screen, though it needs to be high quality with excellent resolution. A smaller form factor is certainly nice. Other than that, why would I need a "light" phone? Mostly I don't carry my cell phone with me, only when I know I'll need it, and then I usually need particular apps, not just a small collection of built-in utilities. I have a Nexus 4a. It does all that I want and nothing that I don't. A version near half the size would be better if all else was equal. It's hard to see how the Lightphone 2 could be my only phone.
Yeah, but nothing can really fix the awful front light and the display resolution that is simply way too low. The beauty of E-Ink display is that a good one truly can look and feel like ink on paper, and not like a digital display. This, unfortunately, isn't the case on this device.
Hello! Are you from Norway? I'm a Norwegian and wounder if I should buy the Light Phone 2. How is the usage in Norway? Which carrier do you use? Some functions that doesn't work?
These phones are a long term waste of money because, the average person will just go back to using their smart phones within a few weeks. I know alot of people that tried to going back to the basics and all have gone back to their smart phones. It's just a fact. Smart phones are so important these days. Everything in moderation people. Smart phones used to be amazing when they never had app stores and social media! I'm old enough to remember those days!
I understand that, but then surely, its functionality and the UI would need to be designed with that in mind as well and minimize the steps needed for interacting with the phone and not require 7 steps to toggle BT or WiFi connectivity. Or do you disagree?
That's why the timestamps are there in the description, for those who are interested in specific topics or who want to skip over the parts they are not interested in ;)
