[commonturtle]

I ask this with no malice: What makes people work on projects like this? I'm willing to bet that the phone is bound to fail and their OS will be doomed to obscurity. How do the creators not see this?

Three reasons I don't think it will work out: 1. A huge number of people use WatsApp, Facetime, Messenger, etc., for sending messages and making calls. This OS won't support any of these apps. 2. We may hate our phones at times but we use them for a variety of daily tasks, all of which are difficult on this phone: Navigation (Google Maps >>> Any other Sat Nav system), transportation (Uber, etc.), food delivery, information retrieval (Google, etc.). 3. Even if you wanted a minimalist phone, you could probably just get a cheap feature phone instead of this one.

[pedalpete]

I somewhat agree with your comment from the perspective of using e-ink as a replacement for mobile.

However, I do think an opportunity exists for us to use e-ink device in new ways.

I ordered a Boox Note Air on the weekend to replace my kindle (12 years old now) with something I can read and write on.

The Boox runs full android OS, but I really think the only things I'll need are note-taking, drawing, kindle app.

Is there an opportunity to really do something great in replacement of notebooks?

How about a new paradigm for what kids go to school with? The size of the bags kids are using to carry all their textbooks and notebooks is ridiculous. Of course, it breaks the model of the publishing industry, but screw that. The learning hardware is destroying kids backs.

How great would it be to go into an office meeting (when we're back in offices) and rather than having everyone sitting there with a laptop open, we have these thin e-ink devices where we can comfortably share data and notes between us.

Sure, there are millions of excuses for why these sorts of things can't happen, but I don't think an OS that is targeted at black and white, somewhat limited devices should be treated as not having value.

[commonturtle]

Well, I am sympathetic to your point about the appeal of e-ink devices: great battery life, easier on the eyes, and lower costs. Things like the Kindle, the Remarkable tablet, or the Boox have great potential.

I'm just skeptical about an e-ink phone on a custom OS that doesn't support modern apps. Some apps may be unnecessary, but most users IMO expect to have things like GMail, WatsApp, Zoom, etc., on their phone.

[secfirstmd]

Interesting. Thanks for highlighting the Boox, I hadn't heard about it. I've been a Remarkable fan since their Kickstarter and it's good but the box has many more features it looks like - better app integration, better battery life, bigger storage etc

[stonogo]

What if I want a minimalist phone that isn't cheap? So far my options are Light Phone and Punkt. MP-02. Not everyone is so tethered to consumption that they want all that stuff on their person at all times, but quality is still worth pursuing. I use calls, SMS, MMS, and data tethering. Sometimes an alarm clock. I don't want any of that other stuff, and I'd pay a lot for a good, high quality phone that focuses on the baseline and doesn't require me to offload everything to some megacorporation.

[nashashmi]

> minimalist phone that isn't cheap

If anyone wants a great deal for a 99$ leather case https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/lcase2-mp02-leather-case/

[webmobdev]

> I ask this with no malice: What makes people work on projects like this?

There is market for these kinds of phone. Check out the "Classic Phone" segment of Nokia - https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_in/classic-phones ... they've even recently released a 4g "dumb" phone.

Not everybody can afford a smartphone. And "dumb" phones like this provide the much needed mobility and connectivity to low-income group of our society (especially in a developing country like mine). Apart from this, the other reasons to consider these phones is the long battery life, and the less distractions they offer.

> I'm willing to bet that the phone is bound to fail and their OS will be doomed to obscurity. How do the creators not see this?

Yes, the phone will fail. But not for the exact reasons you cited.

They will fail because they are targeting a niche market - people with good income who have chosen a minimalist lifestyle. And that's why it is priced at the nonsensical price of $314 dollar ("discounted" from the "original" price of $369). The pricing makes no sense when you consider that Nokia offers 4g capable dumb phones for $40 to $48.

[BossingAround]

> What makes people work on projects like this?

I would love to dualboot a minimalist OS that is supported on my device (e.g. Galaxy S[6-10]), works for basic things like calls and sms, and doubles my battery life. Then, when I need the full-featured experience, I'd just boot into Android.

The reason this won't work is rather the device manufacturers, sadly. I agree with your conclusion that these OSes seem to be doomed to failure, but I strongly disagree with the premise.

[bartvk]

Isn't this incredibly easy to solve with tiny external rechargeable batteries?

[hamilyon2]

Sony devices supports the thing you mention. Called ultra stamina

[kristopolous]

Depends what motivates you.

The unstated part of crossing the chasm and everything that deals with new tech is there's potential social value in market failure.

Personally I'd rather spend my career at one Xerox Parc failed project after another instead of working on profitable but ultimately empty products

For some it's not about money or a career, it's about building new things

In an ideal world people like me would be academics. But that institution is also excessively career and status oriented so without many options, we run off to the private sector.

Your reaction helps solidify a heretical stance I've had recently, that money has been a corrupting influence on technology and has actually stagnated it by perversing the incentives towards strictly monetary goals without regard for the social. It's like we replaced traditional banking with casinos.

The people who went to the moon, built the atomic bomb and invented the internet did so on a modest government salary.

[bartvk]

You can still do that, though. Most countries have multiple scientific institutes aimed at defense, climate or space research. For the US, orgs like NOAA and NASA need engineers. For Europe, there's all the national institutes like DLR for Germany, and European communities like ESO and ESA. You can make a contribution to science there.