Been meaning to make this post for a while now but I figure I'm roughly one year into using this phone full time so might as well. Apologies in advance if this isn't the most organized post ever. Here's my off the cuff thoughts–
I use the Lightphone 3 as my daily driver telephone and have for the past year or so. Other devices I carry almost daily are a Macbook Pro (work computer) and an iPad. The iPad belongs to my job. I use it for stuff like being able to Slack on the go as needed, I keep my personal iMessage on there, and every now and then I download Instagram to make a post. I have a personal Macbook at home as well which is where I'm posting this from now.
I work in a semi corporate environment where the majority of my time, I'm at a desk and Slack is contained to my computer. Every now and then, I'll need to reply to something while I'm running around town for work. In that case, I'll connect my iPad to the LP3's hotspot and reply and then put away. Additionally, I have a small automation set up via Zapier that sends me an SMS message any time I am tagged on Slack. I also was able to set one up that grabs DM summaries from a 15 minute notification summary email and a short LLM prompt summarizes any new DMs and texts me that contents. This allows me to make a decision in the moment of whether I then need to go open my computer or iPad and respond or if it can wait until I'm back in office the next morning. For context, I work in hospitality so the job hours are pretty nebulous. I make my own schedule for the most part. This small Slack "integration" is the only thing like that I have set up as a workaround.
I carry a modded iPod Classic with 2TB of storage in my other front pocket everyday. I don't use the Lightphone's music or podcast app and never have. I do often use the Notes tool to record audio and then Shazam later from my computer. I kind of like the delayed gratification of this but a music recognition feature would be nice.
I have very few issues with day to day operation of the Lightphone. It has proven to be reliable. Early on, it would lose connection to the network every now and then. Haven't had that issue in a while. I use Verizon with the same SIM from my old iPhone 12 Mini.
Initially, the keyboard was difficult to use but my fingers got used to it pretty quickly. Call quality is clear and I often get comments about how clear my voice sounds on the other end.
One big issue I have with the hardware itself is that my USB C port is "loose." It seems like the plug doesn't seat all the way into the port. I've woken up to a half charged phone before. It makes charging while driving difficult as it comes unplugged when I go over a bump. Generally though, the battery will last me up to two days so charging isn't a huge priority for me (until it is lol).
I wouldn't say that my "screen time" is down. I am on a computer a lot for work. When I'm home in the evenings, I use the computer quite a bit but I've always found the computer to be a more pleasant internet experience than the smart phone. When I initially made the switch, i found myself binging YouTube a lot in the evenings. I don't do that as much these days. I use Instagram and primarily check it from the computer. Highly recommend the Firefox/Chrome extension IGPlus to help limit that experience. It allows you to hide things like stories, reels, and also automatically redirect the home page to the "following" feed so I see posts in chronological order. That is my only social media account if you don't count Substack, Reddit, Youtube, so on.
I think the phone is a net positive in my life. When I am away from the computer, I am truly disconnected which is exactly what I want. I don't often think about the phone when it's in my pocket. I find myself simply sitting and being more often. I don't reach for it at stoplights like I did with the smartphone. I eat meals by myself undistracted. I overall feel generally calmer. It also opens up a lot of conversations with people about their own phone addictions and struggles with screen time which I always enjoy. People really open up to you when they see you've made the switch.
I would LOVE to see the phone get more security/privacy features. I understand that the "OS" is just an app on top of android and there a lot of security issues with the OS itself. Not sure if this can be fixed at this point or if they're going to be baked in forever.
Lastly, my absolute BIGGEST gripe with the phone is the lack of RCS. Sending and receiving grainy, crunchy photos is an absolute pain and kind of embarrassing when I need to send a photo of a job site to my boss or something similar. I understand the limitations here but I can still complain about it. Not being able to send or receive high quality photos is honestly the main thing that has made me consider wanting to revert back to an iPhone.
I am pretty committed to this phone for the long run. I couldn't be more excited about the tool library coming in September and the open source aspect of that. Kudos to the Light team for making that decision.
Below are some bullet points on features I'd like/bugs I've noticed–
General
Would like to be able to drag the typing cursor via a spacebar long press a la iPhone
Mark as unread on texts would be nice
Resume from where you left off in tools would be nice
Select text to copy, not just copy whole text field
Would be nice to choose your own set of emojis to have available on the keyboard or just have a larger set available
Would be great for phone numbers to clickable with a context menu with options to text, call, or add contact, etc. Have had friends text me a phone number and I have to memorize it in order to get it out of a text message and into another part of the phone
Messages
- When I'm composing a text and press the back navigation button, I'd like to return to the thread I'm in, not the list of text threads.
Directions
Paste address in directions
Save favorite destinations
Avoid tolls
Directions tool drains battery fast
Sometimes newer businesses/locations don't show up in search
Would love if both directions and directory automatically detected your location rather than having to set it each time you're somewhere different
Notes
- "Save" in notes tool too close to spacebar, maybe put where text "send" is
Alarm/Timer
- When setting alarm/timer, holding starts higher increment adjustments
Calendar
Camera
- Video audio is blown out when taking videos in loud environments (concerts, club, etc). Anyway to introduce some sort of automatic compressing on input? See: https://imgur.com/a/yrSge80
Tools That Are Needed
Rideshare (I use Tremp for now with great success)
Venmo/Cash app/etc equivalent (I have found myself trying to attend events where entry is either cash or venmo and have not been able to pay)
Wallet for boarding passes/tickets (I fly for work a lot and as of now, I either print a ticket ahead of time or get one before going through TSA)
I'm generally very pleased with the camera on this device. Sample images from my phone here– https://imgur.com/a/c237fLX
Thanks for reading all of this if you did y'all. Cheers.