Light Phone III Shipping Now To Earliest Pre-Orders
Light Phone III interface
Light
Your smartphone is making you crazy.
In the past decade, I've noticed a general increase in anxiety and anxiousness. And while, yes, the past 10 years have been culturally fraught, there's a more personal reason for the uptick and it's probably in your hand right now.
Your smartphone has you locked into an endless cycle of waiting for yet another alert to pull your attention back to your phone for something that has to be dealt with immediately (whether the need is actually immediate or not). And when you're not waiting for an update, you're scrolling to try and give yourself a dopamine boost that calms your constantly triggered brain. It's an endless, harmful cycle.
That's why Light Phone III captured my attention when pre-orders opened last year. The company describes it as: "…a simple, refined and anti-dopamine hijacking technological convenience that you can trust…designed to give you the tools to flourish as the most thoughtful & intentional version of yourself.'
The idea of a premium "dumbphone" that had gorgeous hardware paired with a minimalistic operating system to encourage not spending time endlessly scrolling on your phone seemed like the kind of thoughtful tech we need more of.
The idea is taking off as well, if you look extremely closely you'll see a Light Phone II in Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us" video. That limited edition version, sold by Lamar's pgLang burned through all 250 units almost immediately.
Let's face it, you're addicted to your smartphone. It doesn't matter if it's Android or iOS, chances are you spend at least some of your day locked into scrolling through social media. At the very least, you're at the mercy of updates and alerts that push you to open apps, pulling your focus from whatever you're doing.
Putting it another way, apps are the enemy.
It's an oft-spoken, but accurate, axiom that "if something is free, you're the product." Most of the apps we download, even those with a nominal fee, are making their money off your attention. They're serving up ads and recording how you interact with their software for optimization and to develop more engaging features.
For example, there's a reason that Meta is a trillion-dollar company and their core product is completely free. They've figured out how to monetize your eyeballs (not literally…not yet).
And that's not even getting into how we're raising a generation that expects nothing less than 24/7 access and engagement (literally, just check my daughter's overnight phone activity). Light has gone so far as to partner with the Buxton School to provide Light Phone II devices to students and faculty—allowing them to stay connected without compromising their attention.
So we need to take our attention off the market and re-invest in ourselves. But we also need to stay connected (and maybe listen to some music and take a few pictures). Light Phone III does just that. It keeps you connected with the people you actually want to connect with in a way that you choose.
In addition to calls and messaging, Light OS ships with Alarm, Calculator, Calendar, Directory, Directions, Hotspot, Music, Notes/Voice Memo, Podcast and Timer apps. That's it. Light Phone boils down and concentrates what a phone is meant to do—keep you connected, help you get where you're going, and provides some basic audio entertainment and utilities.
Matte and minimalistic
LIght
With a matte finish, the aluminum, glass, and recycled plastic (for the battery cover and speaker grille) enclosure has a gorgeous matte OLED touchscreen, a 50m rear camera (with a two-step shutter button), 8m front-facing camera (for potential front-facing video call support), lots of physical buttons, and a machined wheel for quickly scrolling through the interface. It also has a fingerprint reader, flashlight, 5G chip, and NFC (a digital wallet option is possible in a future update). It's meant to be an enjoyable and convenient device to use…just not something at which you spend all day staring.
The larger screen and hardware improvements are based on Light's community feedback. Light Phone III is faster than the Light Phone II as well.
The rear battery is user-accessible.
Light
The battery is user-accessible and completely swappable. You can change out the USB-C port as well. Light doesn't believe in planned obsolescence and has built the Light Phone III to last. Which is also why it commands a premium full retail price of $799.
Light has its own service built on AT&T's network, but the hardware arrives unlocked and you can bring your own SIM card to the mix. Light Phone III will work with AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Ting, Mint, and US Mobile. Starting in May, you'll be able to pick up the Light Phone III at Boost Mobile locations in New York City.
When the initial January ship date came and went, I started to wonder when the Light Phone III was actually going to ship. That day has finally come. If you placed your pre-order when it went live last year, Light is now shipping out the Light Phone III to customers in chronological order.
Luckily, while the company is fulfilling initial pre-orders, they've launched another round of pre-orders at $599. It's not quite as good of a discount as last year's pre-orders but it's still a substantial amount off what the final retail price will be. The press release says that these will ship in June, but the website is already indicating a ship date of July.
I'm looking forward to checking out the Light Phone III soon and doing a test run of a digital detox. After decades of having the entire internet in my pocket, I'm not sure how successful I'll be. But I'm very curious to see if I can break old habits, rediscover boredom, and ponder again (when was the last time you tried to figure out anything without consulting a Google search). I don't expect to completely replace my iPhone (after all—I have a home full of devices that rely on apps to keep running) but I wonder just how far I can go with just basics. I'll have a full hands-on report soon.
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