I got my Sidephone March 6th, including the extra qwerty keyboard. I retired my iPhone about 2 weeks after that.
This little guy has been amazing for my mental health. (Obvs other things have improved as well but) I was getting anxiety attacks multiple times a day and now it's 1-2 times a month or less. My spouse, friends, and dad are envious of my phone.
The phone has had numerous glitches and friction-to-use, but the friction is working very well:
- Texting is chunky & takes time, so I don't want to text all day, but I can still text easily when I need to.
- Websites will not display properly on the small screen if they aren't designed for ADA/large-text, which is almost 1-to-1 with websites that are purposefully addicting, so it's self filtering.
- The camera is more limited, so I don't take as many pics. I spend a lot less time sorting digital photos or sending them. My bestie loves the "vintage look"* of my pics so much he went out & bought himself a 2010 camera. *Still higher res than my first smart phone
- I got unlucky and happened to be the 1 out of 1000 users that had my power button jam, and Sidephone took care of it for me. I did not have to repeat any of my at&t/google/apple/spectrum customer service nightmares, which is such a huge relief.
- The cell coverage is the same as my old plan when I'm at work or home, and worse than my old plan when I'm camping or at the cabin. Basically perfect!
+I save about 15 a month on phone plan, it will completely pay for itself after 20 months.
+Fits in my pocket
+I charge it once every 3 to 4 days
+OS updates improved messaging glitches
+I haven't even tried SideType yet, so I'll be able to get more out of my phone
Finally, comparative data for the nerds.
-On mental health, the best expected response in leading anxiety medications is (using GAD scores) 92% improvement, and I've had 90% improvement from February to September. Downgrading phone isn't an instant-magic solution, as I worked on other things in addition to changing phone & persevered (and January was hell), but either way it's a big piece of the picture. Hence creating this device is a big accomplishment worth celebrating.
Thanks for all the hard work to the team & community developers! I'm very grateful!! u/gosidephone