this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2026
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This $450 Semi-Dumb Phone Is Barely Even a Phone (gizmodo.com)
submitted 2 days ago by other_cat@piefed.zip to c/technology@lemmy.zip
20 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

"Meadow gives you some apps along with calls and texts, but don't plan on having a big contact list."

It limits you to 12 contacts.

The premise--a mostly dumb phone with some access to music and navigation only--isn't bad but the execution is. I don't want to be locked into some very specific apps in my semi-dumb phone. The article also makes this good point:

The deal becomes even less appealing when you consider that you can just, you know, buy an actual dumb phone for around $50 if you’re really that hellbent on taking a break from TikTok.

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[–] other_cat@piefed.zip 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm not sure what you mean by text launcher. Do you mean like a custom launcher that only displays text and not icons?

[–] PMmeTrebuchets@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, sorry, I could have worded that better. I use o launcher pro (but the free version works great). There are others, that's just the one I use. No icons, no notification badges, nada. I set my phone to grayscale unless I'm taking a photo.

[–] other_cat@piefed.zip 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Oh, no notification badges sounds heavenly. I don't consider myself addicted to my phone but I do get twitchy if I see any dots or anything.

[–] calliope@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago

I turn off notifications for every device I have, other than things like text messages.

I don’t know how people can stand all the badges and stuff.

[–] WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

If you’re on iOS you can disable the notification badges.