I sold my e-ink phone. It was, or is, aggressively "anti-user". I just want a peaceful life and it was causing me anxiety.

4 months ago · 👍 chirale, userfxnet

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8 Replies

That's me though. I still use cash. I refuse to put certain things online. I've requested employers take my picture off their staff roster on websites. I don't do that shit. · 4 months ago

I had a Hibreak Pro. The software was/is Shaky. But ever since I've been using android I aim for custom roms. It started out okay, very little needed doing and you could pull out the Bigme bloatware. It was not too bad. Then they went full google-certified with the last firmware updates and without root they're is no way to get google off it. I sound fussy, but it's not how I do things. I lost control of the device, I lost sovereignty over my data and who and what the device connected to. I set up blocks amd work arounds but it still felt Infected. Dirty. I couldn't do it.

So. I sold it. Great device for reading, not a bad phone, privacy nightmare. · 4 months ago

@ruby thanks for the update on the battery situation. I must have missed the memo on that one. I'll have to look more into the silicon-carbon battery tech regards, capacity, longevity and safety. · 4 months ago

@five_over_four the Boox is a phone form factor device though, and I use it for everything that I use my phone for at home. It's good for listening to podcasts, and browsing the web, reading news, checking Gemini, even making (VoIP) calls, it's not really just an e-reader at all.

Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with ashnar selling their e-ink phone, I'm sure that they did the right thing for them. I just don't think that the whole concept of an e-ink phone is entirely bad, since I've basically been living with one for the past year. :) · 4 months ago

@ruby e-readers don't really count, because their sole purpose is to read books and they're fantastic (and designed) for that. · 4 months ago

@five_over_four Are they overpriced and generally awful? A year ago I got the Boox Palma for 250 Euros, and while it's not a full phone, it's in a phone form factor and it's replaced my Kindle as well as most of what I used a phone for while at home before. It's been a great experience! I've never been big on watching video on my phone though...

@drh3xx It's funny that you mention battery capacity staying static, because this year is the first in a long time where battery capacity has actually significantly increased on consumer devices! It's due to manufacturers (finally) adopting silicon-carbon batteries. You're right though, they didn't improve for a while. · 4 months ago

Honestly, devices like that seem like bandaids on a gaping wound. The solution to deep digital immersion is not in making the experience worse, but learning to experience other things, instead.

But yeah e-ink phones are overpriced and generally awful. · 4 months ago

Which e-ink phone did you have? And could you elaborate on "anti-user"?

I quite like the idea of an e-ink style device for general computing (and mobile) due to the low power consumption. It seems battery capacity in devices generally is staying static and only minimal power efficiency gains are been made on the CPU front. · 4 months ago