I wanted to add my voice to the choir because I’m super excited for this device and love love that it’s a thing in the making!
I recently tried downgrading to a flip phone that didn’t have T9 however and it was really rough, especially for note taking which I use a lot (mostly for thoughts/reflections, poetry and lists). I’m on board to slow things down a bit but if that means going back to the tap, tap (next letter) tap, tap tap (next letter), tap (next letter) thing all day…I just don’t know man. It ended up being a dealbreaker for me and I went back to my smartphone.
I know there’s going to be a feature to type longer messages from the laptop but some things are too time sensitive to wait. So yeah, if possible please implement some kind of predictive text function so it doesn’t become a complete slog to type out some sentences while out and about. I (and I imagine many others) would be very grateful.
I really admire the philosophy and standards you guys are striving for in this mostly dog doo market, thanks for doing what you do.
This and no group text are MAJOR roadblocks for me right now. I can deal with most other concessions, but some of these things are so basic/non-addictive that I don’t really understand the exclusion.
To be honest I find group texts distracting and am cutting them out but the predictive texting I agree with. It’s a feature that would reduce the amount of time spent on the phone, not increase it. Otherwise you’re forced to carry around more clutter (notebook/pen), not to mention the added mental clutter of thinking “must remember to use laptop to put this note on my phone/send this message”
I have almost zero tolerance for group text-messages.
Receiving one feels impersonal.
Sending one feels impersonal.
Follow-up responses by others remind me of getting a “Reply to All” email message when I was one of 150 people in the To: line of the original message … and then many others on the To: line click “Reply to All” to tell the original ‘victimizer’ NOT to “Reply to All”.
Yeah, on top of being distracting because of the increased message frequency I find it perpetuates shallow relationship dynamics. You kind of maintain the illusion of closeness without actually connecting. It can be fun but not helpful in terms of staying present and focused.
Sure, I don’t have ‘meme chats’ and dumb group chats with friends like I did back in high school. But without group text I’ll be excluded from creative chats that I have with collaborators, my children/family general chat, etc.
But if anything, group chats are less invasive than one-on-one messaging. If I don’t have a group chat, now I have to send the same message to 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 (etc.) other people instead of just to a single chat…
Plus, I use text like a pager. The more impersonal the better! Isn’t the tying of your identity/person with your phone precisely the problem that devices like Mudita hopes to solve? If I’m running late for a date with multiple people attending — and I don’t know who is responsive/there yet — I’d have to send a text to a dozen people instead of a single group chat.
Bigger than group chat even is the inability to make group-calls. Like, we could do that twenty+ years ago! If I’m away on business and I want to call my kids and my wife at the same time I can’t…
The bigger point is minimalism. If I had group text/call, I could use the Mudita Pure for literally everything in life. If I don’t, now I need to keep some sort of device to do those things (for work/family) and figure out how that all will connect.
If you are on the same cellular service as everyone in your family, then you might want to look into setting up a group distribution list in your cellular service’s voicemail system. This doesn’t provide provide group calling, group text, or group chats. But, it does let you call your voicemail system, choose to send a voicemail message, specify that group distribution list (e.g., by pressing a couple of digits), and record the message to be sent to every list member’s voicemail box.
I’m somewhat puzzled by this group text feature you say is lacking. Old Nokias were able to send sms to a list of up to 20 people, but those didn’t know they were part of a list. Apart from messenger apps, which phone actually supports group chats on the basis of sms technology? Please enlighten me if I am missing something.
@textbook_quest From what I read about with Light Phone 2 is that the group messaging doesn’t always work the way it should be. There is a thread on Reddit all about it. That’s why I’m doing some research about all the options.
I saw that too. Sounds like a good opening for another rising feature phone company to step in and do a better job
For real though, I’m just here speaking as a consumer. If I’m a person buying a car and I find an interesting car from a unique brand that hopes to minimize distractions while driving, I’d be hesitant if it didn’t have power steering (or maybe a better example: no auto transmission) — even if there was a logical technical explanation for why it is difficult to implement and examples of other similar companies that also couldn’t implement that feature. It’s still a hold up because I know it would effect my use and enjoyment of that vehicle.
I want to minimize distractions to make my life easier, not harder! A device can become so feature devoid that it becomes just as much of a crutch as a device with too many excess features.
@urszula The Light Phone manages group SMS without any issues. I have had one for 18 months and I have never had an issue with group messages. It also delivers pictures over email and it will have a messaging platform on the computer as well just like the Mudita center.
@Jose_Briones & @textbook_quest We do want to take advantage of the additional months for additional software development… We haven’t ruled out predictive texting, we are are in the process of verifying which option would be better for us.
Just want to join in and say predictive text is a must, above almost any other feature on the phone (meditation timer and inspirational quotes are adorable but without predictive texts I would end up doing the exact opposite of discovering mindfulness)!
It would end up making me spend more time on the phone rather than less if it didn’t have the feature. I fully intend on using it as a daily driver and binning off my smartphone altogether.
Group texts are not necessary for me, I didn’t realise they were so popular to be honest!
This part of your post made me literally LOL . I do see your point. Like I mentioned in my previous post, we haven’t ruled our predictive texting. Instead, we’ll take the advantage of the additional months for additional software development & we’ll decide which option is best for us.
but the predictive texting I agree with. It’s a feature that would reduce the amount of time spent on the phone, not increase it. Otherwise you’re forced to carry around more clutter (notebook/pen), not to mention the added mental clutter of thinking “must remember to use laptop to put this note on my phone/send this message”
