Hey all, not sure if anyone else had seen this but I came across the BoringPhone, which appears to be a different fork of LineageOS running on a Xiaomi Mi A1 right now. It is more focused on curbing addiction to smartphones but as a side effect it seems to have similar principles to /e/.
From their website, www.boringphone.com, it looks like the phone comes with:
Phone/contacts
Signal (for SMS/Signal messaging)
Camera
Maps (OsmAnd)
AntennaPod
DAVx5
music player
calculator
gallery
notepad
tethering
calendar clock
FM Radio
Voice recorder
Torch (flash light for us Americans)
No App Store
No Browser
This idea seems intriguing to me, though it would be nice if they had phones that worked with in the U.S. or maybe a way to flash the ROM yourself. What I find most intriguing is that Boring OS has no way to install apps that waste your time or suck up your data (besides the network checks to Google, but that’s where /e/ can help )
I wondered if maybe the /e/ team would be interested in setting up a version of /e/ that would mimic this aesthetic. While many of the tools in the /e/ ROM help to keep us a private a possible, distractions are still possible. Perhaps either a separate ROM could be developed without some of the included apps or have it included as part of the setup process.
Either way it seems there may be another resource out there for folks who have a similar mission to /e/. Possibly both teams could learn from each other?
You certainly could buy a plain dumb phone but those phones will lack features and usability that touch screen phones offer. You can’t use Signal on a dumb phone or other tools like calendar sync and GPS. Dumb phones also have notoriously bad cameras so that’s a plus for the BoringPhone.
I think the original idea from the creators was to remove the temptation to distract yourself with your phone. While there is no App Store, if you still have an internet browser you could just use Facebook in the browser so you really didn’t do much to avoid the distraction. The creator likened this to cigarettes in their Q&A video “if you’re trying to quit cigarettes, why would you carry a pack of cigarettes in your pocket to test your will power.”
I’d admit the concept won’t appeal to most. Just thought the idea had merit and would be nice to see /e/ incorporate as an option. Just my .02
Yeah I really dig the UI and almost bought myself one. (Also like to support European businesses wherever possible) but its still heavily infiltrated with Goolag play.
)
. Not sure if i’m going to use it, but it has some potential.
