I read Digital Minimalism and have been "smartphone free" for six months and am loving it. However, I pulled it off using an Apple Watch with LTE (which still requires an iPhone). I don't use the iPhone to read Nostr or SN - I use a laptop instead. So for me, Apple products are fine as I just want a watch that has GPS, calls, and texting. Admittedly, it's a really expensive way to be a digital minimalist, but is has gotten me to avoid wasting as much time online.
I'm hoping that Apple makes the Watch more of a standalone device as I really have no use for the iPhone anymore. I wish the company that makes the Light Phone would make a watch.
I bought a Nokia flip phone during the covid lockdowns. I figured I could make everything work; the only irreplaceable app was WhatsApp, but I mostly use the web version which only requires the phone app to authenticate, and KaiOS had it pre-installed. I thought I was finally free, but sure enough, the KaiOS version of WhatsApp doesn't support authenticating the web app.
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I don't use WhatsApp but most chat apps don't work stand alone on Watch, which is a bummer, but hasn't been a deal breaker for me.
My favorite thing about the watch is that I put it on and I'm good to rush out the door at any time and I also enjoy not having a phone taking up space in my pocket.
I've thought about a flip phone since it'd be much cheaper, but I really dig having a phone in my watch (super convenient). Just wish there were more smart watches with LTE as options out there.
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