As Apple rushes towards to its smartphones, other companies are moving in the opposite direction. One of these companies, Light, has just revealed its providing a stark contrast to the app-filled gadgets we all look at way too much.
The Light Phone III avoids the e-paper screen , opting for a sleek black and white OLED. It still doesn't offer any access to social media, the internet, or even email. It is, above all, a telephone. It's not completely bare-bones, though, as the Light Phone III includes a camera and a built-in NFC chip for making payments. It also provides access to navigation tools, a simple music player, SMS, voice notes, calendar, timer and alarm.
It's larger than previous generations, with a cute format that can “the Rabbit R1, but seriously.” However, there's no half-baked AI integration here, but there is an analog scroll wheel on the side for navigation and making adjustments. It's about the width of modern iPhones, but much shorter. The team says this was on purpose, to make it easier to text while holding the device vertically.
Light also paid for private access to browsing information, so Google won't have any tracking data. The camera appears to be a simple point-and-shoot that can't compete with modern offerings from Google or Apple, but will get the job done.
Other specs include 6GB of RAM, up from 1GB in the Light Phone II, 128GB of memory, and a newer Qualcomm chip. There is a fingerprint ID on the power button and speakers at the bottom. The battery is much larger than that included in previous iterations and is user-replaceable.
Now here's the bad news. The Light Phone III costs $800, more than double the price of the Light Phone II at $300. That's a lot of cheddar for what amounts to a phone. Removing all intrusive apps on your current smartphone costs $0, although it's easier said than done.
However, Light offers an early adopter deal. The phone is available for $400 for a limited time to fund mass production. The models are expected to ship in January.