I’m on vacation as I write this, happily mostly offline. Which is probably the worst possible state of mind to be in when Light announces a new phone, because now I want it.
Some context Link to heading
Longtime readers know the drill. I reviewed the Lightphone II and then didn’t actually use it (my daughter did, and loved it). I dumbed down my iPhone with Apple Configurator instead, and lately I’ve been fighting for my brain, heart and sleep with a pencil and a notebook. The Lightphone idea has always been right. It just kept losing to real life.
What’s a Light Flip? Link to heading
A flip phone. A proper clamshell, T9 keypad and all. Here’s the gist:
- 2.8" OLED (color this time, not e-ink like the II)
- A 50MP camera
- 5G, USB-C, and – bless them – a headphone jack
- LightOS with the usual short list of tools: alarm, calculator, calendar, directions, music, notes, podcasts, weather, hotspot, and a 2FA authenticator
- No browser, no feed, no app store
- $299, six colors, shipping April 2027
So why the itch? Link to heading
A few of those specs poke right at my old dealbreakers.
- The camera is there now. That was the one honest thing I said I’d miss last time.
- 5G might finally get along with my Norwegian carrier better than the II did (I’m not holding my breath, but I’m curious).
- The flip form factor is doing something to me that the slab never did. Closing it feels like actually hanging up.
And why I probably shouldn’t Link to heading
Same reasons as always, really. It won’t run Vipps. It won’t pay for parking. My Android friends on Messenger will still have to text me like it’s 2009. And I already wrote a whole post about how those inconveniences are the point – and another about how Apple Configurator basically solved this for me. My iPhone is already grayscale, browser-less and mostly asleep. I don’t need this thing.
But there’s a difference between an iPhone I’ve bullied into behaving and a phone that just can’t misbehave in the first place. After a week offline, the second one sounds pretty good.
April 2027 is a long way off, which is probably good news for my wallet. Plenty of time to talk myself out of it. We’ll see if I manage :)
We’ll see.