In considering using my new phone when it arrives, there will be a lot to be excited about and a lot to get used to.
One concern I have is that texting while away from my computer may prove onerous. However, speech-to-text seems like a great way to solve this difficulty. Given that the system already has an audio-recording option, would the addition of speech-to-text capability be a plausible option?
Thank you.
The LIght Phone can do this, so it is surely possible.
@bksparrow Exactly.
@Wojciech_Cichon In general terms of usability for texting, I do not need access to MMS or group chatting on my phone, so long as I can have it somehow.*
However, what I do need for minimalist living is a way to text efficiently while on the go. The format of the keyboard could result in a portion of the time that is gained by being smart-phone free will be lost in the laborious process of texting one letter at a time. If workable, I think a text to speech option would be a fabulous way to substantially heighten the utility of the phone that is true to the minimalist philosophy.
(*I like the proposition I’ve seen of having MMS messages and group-chats receiv-/sendable via the Mudita Center application. As a rule, I don’t need access to those kinds of messages when I’m on the go, and this seems like an elegantly simple solution to the difficulty which bypasses hardware challenges.)
Group chats won’t be available even through Mudita Center. As far as I know, it is not possible through FreeRTOS which is the base of MuditaOS. Images yes, but no group text.
Also, for speech to text the phone needs to have an internet connection which technically it’s not available with the Mudita Pure. They could build their own detection for speech to text, but it’s not an easy process. @bksparrow
I would not count on it it’s what I’m saying, but I could be wrong.
Fully agree with Jose’s comments above. Unless there is on-device processing (with the Pure’s limited CPU/Memory resources I doubt this would be possible even if it were coded) the general way speech to text works is to send the audio clip in real time over the internet to a server that converts it to text and sends that back to the device. This is how it works on something like the Sunbeam F1 or the Light Phone. And most iOS/Android devices up until recent when on-device processing has started to become available with advances in technology.
From what I know about the pure, it doesn’t really use a data connection on the device outside of VoLTE calls and modem use when tethered. If it was able to send short audio clips for speech to text though, that would be awesome. But unlikely.
I think I’m still confused about exactly how/why the Mudita pure will be “offline.” The way the Light Phone utilizes phone data signal and WiFi, to operate things in the background (podcasts, music downloads, updates, speech to text) seems perfectly smart to me, and unobtrusive.
Has the mudita pure done something to actively block the data signal to the phone? If I pay for unlimited data through T-mobile, shouldn’t background features like voice to text be simple to implement? Is there some hardware issue I’m not understanding?
Mudita is offline first and won’t have an active 4G connection. Probably it is a combination of software and hardware that they have implemented.
If you have an unlimited data plan or a plan without data, it won’t make a difference for Mudita. You can still make calls and send sms, but no smart features via the internet.
@urszula @Bartosz_sp2fet Can you confirm that the mudita pure physically lacks the necessary hardware to receive either a data or WiFi signal? Is there any chance that internet operations that function in the background (such as cloud syncing of messages sent via the desktop app or using the phone as a mobile hotspot) might ever be possible in the future?
Data can be used (for tethering, apps on the phone don’t use data), but there is no Wi-fi antenna.
If data can be used, why must i plug the phone in to provide internet to another device? Why can’t it be a mobile hotspot?
Also, why can’t the desktop application cloud sync the messages? Why must I plug the phone in to my computer to type a longer SMS?
Both of these seem like a needless nuisance, if data is enabled on the phone.
Data can be used, but the components for a WiFi hotspot (a WiFi module) do not exist on the phone.
Because they haven’t developed a cloud system and also they are not using any data on the operating system. Even if the phone can access data, it doesn’t mean that the OS is made with data usage. It’s a design choice and they are keeping it that way so far.
The OS is made to be simple and disconnected. That’s what they have been saying all this time and while I understand that it is a nuisance, it is what it is at this point.
I think if you are looking for more “smart” features, maybe a power user Android device would be a better option? Idk you situation, but the Mudita has very little RAM and some of these extra smart programs would potentially break the stability of the OS.
The Pure just is never going to be the most efficient, time-saving way to do things.
If you’re gonna write 1000 messages, the Pure is gonna be really slow. The time it saves you is by forcing you to not write those messages.
It can text, but, it’s for emergencies and stuff, when you absolutely can’t get to your computer in time. I used to text a lot before smart phones, and then after smart phones (I got back into dumbphones four years ago) I found that I had been so spoiled by touchscreen keyboards that I couldn’t go back.
Instead, I email, which I can do much more intentionally and with a real keyboard.
Ideally, the intent of the Mudita Pure is that the Mudita Center is going to work really well for texting on your computer. It’s not quite there yet (maybe a third party client that’s not Electron based is gonna be the ticket?) but the basic functionality is there. So if you have some conversations that have to happen over text, do them on your computer. “Diving in” to focused internet sessions and then going offline again.
All that presupposes that you have some amount of say in when and how you have these conversations. It’s a big ask and you should take it seriously. It’s like. IDK, going vegetarian or joining a monestary something. There’s gonna be hoops—the hoops are the point! They’re the scaffolding to lead you into a directed and intentional life.
If you wanna do email in the taxi or do your taxes in the checkout lane at the grocery store, a dumbphone is gonna be painful. If you need a hyper effecient always-on pocket computer—and I can think of many professions that do!—that’s not what the Pure is.
People use texts instead of calling because they wanna be polite and non-intrusive and “they’ll see it when they see it”. If you are responsible for dispatching urgent text communication, a dumbphone isn’t gonna be your friend (and probably SMS isn’t gonna be your friend either, over something like Delta or Jabber).
The Pure is for when the full moon is bonkers beautiful and you want your phone to be quiet in your purse. It’s for when the wind is on your face and the sky is silent.
I’ve already bought the Mudita, and am waiting for it to arrive. I’m reading these forums everyday, because I’m trying to understand what I bought, and whether I will actually be happy with it.
To be honest, I like a lot of things about the Light Phone better than Mudita. I like the touchscreen, the voice to text, the directions function, and podcasts. I like the size better than the mudita, too. I also think the system of buttons on the Light Phone is simpler and more logical. That said, I bought a Light Phone, and it crashed after 24 hours. A replacement was sent, and that crashed after only one hour. So, everything I’m saying is good about the Light Phone is just “in theory.” As I know you have owned a Light Phone for years, I believe that at least some users have had success with it, and not all of their units are so useless. But two tries is too many for me, and I’ve moved on…
All of that to say that I am very much interested in an e-ink minimalist phone. I just don’t understand some of the design/aesthetic decisions of the Mudita.
I don’t care anything about SAR. Even if it’s a real problem, the fact that I will own a low-SAR device, surrounded by thousands of people with smartphones, seems like there’s no possible benefit, in fact. Worse, if it means the phone has limited functionality due to low signal, then it’s actually counter-productive.
I don’t meditate and don’t need a phone in order to meditate, but if that’s a useful feature for others, fine.
Choices like long ringtones for messages, or poor audio quality for phone calls seem to me like aesthetic choices that significantly reduce the quality of the Mudita.
I like the Mudita desktop application (already downloaded it, and it looks excellent) but I don’t like the idea of having to plug my phone into my computer whenever I want to type a longer message. I’m still trying to understand if this is actually necessary, or just an aesthetic decision, which makes the phone less useful.
I see. Sorry to hear about your LP2 experience.
Do you still have the units? We can help you hack it and fix it on the Light Phone Reddit or discord. We have done so with many people who had their phones “crash.”
Mudita will be better in certain areas than Light phone and viceversa. But if you are looking for those extra functions and you still have the units, I don’t mind helping you out to get them fixed and restored for optimal use.
Thanks, Jose. I wish I had reached out directly to you when I was dealing with the Light Phone. I feverishly scanned Reddit for solutions, and couldn’t get anything to work, so I sent them back for a refund.
It happens. If you give it a spin again, let me know. Always willing to help basic phone enthusiasts 
I assume your issue was the dreaded “Go Light”?
Yes, the dreaded “go light” endlessness was what made me return the phones. But I did have other glitchy problems, which led to me trying to turn the phone on/off. Both the music and podcasts froze at different points. On the replacement phone, the contacts didn’t all sync properly, and also I was getting notifications about text messages, but not the actual messages. So, these were the nuisances that led me to try to reboot. Rebooting got me to the “go light” screen, and I never got out of that.
The company claims that this happens to very few phones, and so I had remarkably bad luck to have it happen twice in a row, but I suspect the problem is larger than they are admitting.
Yeah. It happens to around 2% of phones in my estimation. I am actually in the middle of putting a guide as to how to fix it without having to return it to Light.
It’s a 10 minute process to get your phone back to normal and it doesn’t require tons of tech expertise. I helped someone the other day to do it and they were back in business super quick. But I understand that the frustrations led you to return it. You wanted the phone to just work and it didn’t.
Light has improved tons in the past 2 years and more stability is coming for sure. That’s why the early bugs with Mudita will be tore lable for me because I hope the phone will get better over time. I just hope they are not super behind because they’ve had 2 yrs to develop this. But patience is key haha
It seems that you may have misunderstood the point/purpose of the Mudita Pure phone; it seems to me that you won’t really be at all happy with it.
