There's a delicate balance between "simple" and "too simple."
I've considered buying a cell phone that only acts as a phone. No text messages, just some buttons and a "send" key. But some people only text. So I need a phone that can text. And I use the phone's clock instead of a watch. Oh, one more thing, I also use the alarm clock when I nap away from home. And I use the address list quite a bit, because I've only memorized 4 phone numbers.
Unfortunately for me, it would be stupid to design this phone! It reached a tipping point where it makes more sense to use a real mobile OS. Then they can add apps and settings and make it appeal to more people. These demands are very inelastic. I need an alarm, and others need a tip calculator, and others need to take notes, and some people need a calendar.
The real irony is that I would love to select my phone features à la carte past the point of just adding and deleting apps, but that defeats the original problem - too much choice.
That phone has the same features as my current phone (a cheap LG), but a simpler interface. I will try it the next time I need a phone. Thanks for the recommendation!
I will second that recommendation. It was a fantastic phone. One phone like that currently is the 6500, it's amazingly fast, cheap and only does a few things, but it does them well.
It still is. I have a slightly more advanced, but still elderly, Nokia 6230i and I use it any time I'm doing something that might wreck my phone but where I do need a communication device.
Yes! Also a fantastic phone. Really, the 6xxx series were the best phones. I had a 6110, 6210, 6310, 6230, and now a 6500. They were all the best phones I've owned. I tried some of the Symbian smartphones but they were just disappointing, they took forever to do anything.
What's the problem in your example of choosing a phone?
I think those low end phones can be found aplenty. (i think they fit in the category marked by 1 of 10 bundles of money on http://gsmarena.com) At least Nokia is not going to stop making them anytime soon. My previous favourite was Nokia 1202 (RRP 25 Euros). Now there's a new offering in this market segment: Nokia 1280 which features FM radio(that's for me, I don't have one!), 3.5mm audio jack(can connect my favourite headphones!) and RRP of 20 Euros. However, take note that the production of this model is in India, and the construction and feel of the parts is different, so take a thorough look to see if you still like it.
I also specifically wanted monochrome screen (check), snappy interface (check), and if possible display of clock with nice large digits in sleep mode (check). Interestingly, many feature phones lag like hell, display time in tiny font (what are they saving space for?!) and try to squeeze color displays even in ultra-cheap phones.
I agree with your general point, but cannot agree with the specific example of cell phones. I think in this area we are being served well with the abundance of models for many demands, including the frugal ones.
Or, did you mean to say that you don't want any extra features beyond those? i.e. does it hurt you that there's a calculator in that phone somewhere? (I think it doesn't, if it in no way impedes the ease of use of the needed features)
"Or, did you mean to say that you don't want any extra features beyond those?"
Let me put it this way - all else being equal, I would buy the phone with just the exact features I listed. I would also pay a little extra for the simplest interface imaginable. If I'm not going to use something, why would I willingly opt to spend time looking at it?
I think most of these excessive-choice problems can be solved by first keeping the things simple and then building in a "plug-in" feature. It could be as simple as an "advanced" tab in case of configurations, to plug-in (hardware/software) modules (accessories?) in case of programs/devices, to apps in a mobile OS context. However, a prerequisite to creating things this way is good design, which is more of an art than science.
I've considered buying a cell phone that only acts as a phone. No text messages, just some buttons and a "send" key. But some people only text. So I need a phone that can text. And I use the phone's clock instead of a watch. Oh, one more thing, I also use the alarm clock when I nap away from home. And I use the address list quite a bit, because I've only memorized 4 phone numbers.
Unfortunately for me, it would be stupid to design this phone! It reached a tipping point where it makes more sense to use a real mobile OS. Then they can add apps and settings and make it appeal to more people. These demands are very inelastic. I need an alarm, and others need a tip calculator, and others need to take notes, and some people need a calendar.
The real irony is that I would love to select my phone features à la carte past the point of just adding and deleting apps, but that defeats the original problem - too much choice.