An anti-smartphone funded through Kickstarter called Light Phone was scheduled to be shipped last May but it was not released due to a number of setbacks. The company announced this week that it hopes Light Phone will start shipping late this month.
Light Phone is a Kickstarter project with the intention of making it opposite to smart phone. It only includes a 2G SIM card that will allow users to make and take calls. The Light Phone has a battery life of more than three weeks, all from a single charge. With these basic features, the phone won't have a connection to the internet, hence the label "anti-smartphone".
Limitations to initial user's goals are suggested by the company due to restrictions made by iOS. Perhaps, it is the main reason why Light Phone was shipped late. On the other hand, criticisms are also received by Kickstarter on how it handled its campaign.
It was claimed that there are no updates given to the public by the company since August last year. Instead, it is only exclusive to its campaign backers. According to Tech Crunch, it is not a big problem for campaign backers, but it is a bit iffy to people who have funded the project, but are not updated about the progress.
The company, on the other hand, explained that it came under fire when the telephony side of the Light Phone is only 2G and suggested that it may have been a poor solution. It should be noted that some countries like Australia will not be using the 2G network in the near future.
The shutdown of 2G networks is given 9 months and the first round will be from Dec. 1, 2016 in Australia. Since the phones will no longer be usable, the company needs to refund backers in countries where there will be no 2G network available for the Light Phone to work.
The introduction of Light Phone seemed to be an interesting idea when it was first announced about 18 months ago according to Phone Arena. The anti-smartphone device will cost a mere $100. But, this phone will let people learn to live a life without social media notifications, and is aimed towards those who only want to use a basic phone for calls and text messaging.