I contacted their support to confirm a few things.
While this isn’t a fully featured smart phone, it’s meant to minimize distractions. It seems like it could be a viable option for some. I just need to find out if there is any way to use my banking app.
Yup! I preordered one back around last june. I will post flicker data when I receive mine which I think is next month? I am super curious if the refresh rate flicker is non existent. The true dc dimming is what got me buying it, I wonder how good it is compared to dc like phones. I am glad to hear it doesnt use frc, I was wondering about that.
It does run their LightOS which is just an apk running on android. I have a lightphone 2 and you can press a certain button combo and it will exist light os and take you to the normal android mode. Its also able to flash normal android GSI builds easily over fastboot. I am hoping the lightphone 3 is this easy to do those things on because if it has an amazing screen then we can turn it into a smartphone while keeping that dc no frc display.
jordan Hello! Tell us if the lightphone 2 causes you eye strain or eye pain? What was your experience?
Clokwork The normal android mode wasn't a feature from Light btw, it was just something someone found. I hope thats possible on the LP3 as well.
Clokwork If its possible to do the LP2 shortcut on the 3 then im sure itll remain as dc dimming and no frc. I guess its a good thing that their LightOS is just black and white because im sure theres not going to be any visual enhancements that could be straining if we can get into the normal android mode.
The light phone 2 feels comfortable for me. Its eink screen does refresh full black when switching between their apps but that sort of refresh/flicker doesnt really seem to bother me. It is a very minimal phone so you cannot use a browser, spotify, etc on it but they at least have their own "tools" which are their apps optimized for the eink screen which are directions, phone(which has sms in it), music, podcasts, calculator and several others. just dont expect any social media stuff, just the basics. This is a great phone that feels comfortable if you just need the basics. It is really small too and I wish that the texting keyboard had a vertical mode. when you open texts and are typing it forces you to rotate the phone horizontally to type. I do like the voice to text on it too
jordan Thanks for the explanation. It seems really good, the problem is that here in Brazil you need to have the WhatsApp app. But I will try to buy it online to see with my eyes. Thanks again.
Unfortunately theres no way to use whatsapp on it without the extra steps that arent supported by Light. If the screen didnt have a significant screen refresh constantly it would have been worth to do those extra steps. I think the better option would be to maybe wait for the mudita kompakt phone or the minimal phone if you have to have whatsapp.
I may have to edge more towards the Minimal Phone due to the play store being available. All I Really need is banking, a browser that is up to date, and a few messaging apps. I am reluctantly weaning off of apple slowly as things become unsupported on my old OS.
If a device supports side-loading, you can install the google play services yourself. People used to/still do that with Chinese devices that don't have it installed by default.