The Light Phone 2 || 2 Year Review

Introduction

It’s been two years since I got my Light Phone 2. In that timeframe, I have come to love and be challenged by this petite cell phone. The Light Phone 2 is a device meant to “be used as little as possible.” Light, the company behind this product, engineered it as a response to the constant stream of information, features, and gimmicks that smartphones bring every year. There is no camera, no social media, or big tech in it. Yet, it remains useful with the tools provided.

As of October 2021, it possesses the ability to call, text, stream podcasts, play your favorite tunes, give you directions, use as a calculator, and set up alarms. It’s a cellphone meant to be a companion and not the master of your day.

Basic Functions

After approximately 24 months of constant use, I can say that the basic functionality (texts and calls) of the Light Phone 2 is adequate for every day use. A cellphone, after all, is a communication tool. As such, the Light Phone 2 provides its owner with the ability to relay information to others via calls and texts with relative ease. The Light Phone 2 comes unlocked and its compatible with most major carriers in the United States and around the world. The company provides a compatibility checker and relies on users to report if the phone can be used in a certain region or not. For most countries, the Light Phone should be available to use due to its band compatibility. Whether you are able to secure a unit, that is another side of the story (more on that below).

The phone does suffer from a petite speaker (due to its compact size) and average call quality. During my testing, the Light Phone’s peak speaker volume is at around 65 to 67 dB-A with an average sound profile of 40 to 50 db-A. In other words, it is good enough to have a conversation while in a quiet environment indoors, but not so great if you are outside or driving through traffic. If you connect the device to Bluetooth headphones or a wired 3.5mm headphone jack, the experience improves greatly. I, myself, use bone conduction wireless headphones and have not had any issues when calling on the road or outdoors. Paired with Verizon’s excellent coverage, my calling experience on the Light Phone 2 with Bluetooth has delivered crisp sound and no hiccups throughout the past 24 months.

The Light Phone lacks in other basic call areas for now. There are no indicators for voicemail or visual voicemail, no way to initiate a 3-way call (you can be added to one though), or even call waiting. All of these will be coming in future upgrades to the device. For now, it is a bare bones calling experience that can work excellently depending on your carrier. Adding contacts, on the other hand, was as seamless as uploading a .vcf file within the dashboard, Light’s management system for the Light Phone 2.

Texting, the other basic type of communication, on the Light Phone 2 has been a learning experience. Coming from a smartphone with 5 or more inches of screen real estate to a 2.8" device was difficult. The virtual QWERTY keyboard (AZERTY and QWERTZ also available) felt cramped compared to my iPhone, and the different type of screen technology (e-ink vs LCD/OLED) with slower refreshes meant that I could not type as fast as I used to. It took about two and a half months to get used to the keyboard, responsiveness, and overall texting format. I say texting format because with a small screen, non-spacious keyboard, and slow refreshes, long texts were not the most ideal form of communication.

As time has transcurred, I have learned to text succinctly, deliver information in short sentences, or just ask my friends to call me at a later time. Some would deem asking for a phone call a detriment from getting the Light Phone 2. I see it as a return to more personable communication. Both sides of the coin are acceptable and valid opinions, but the reality is that the texting experience on this unit will constantly push you to have personable connections more often. It is a personal decision to reject or accept that fact.

Tools

Although a minimal phone with the aim to be used as little as possible, the Light Phone 2 has optional tools available for your entertainment. As of October 2021, Directions, Music, Podcasts, Alarms, and a Calculator are optional installs on the device. The phone also sports hotspot, Bluetooth, and WiFi functionalities by default. Most of the tools are functional with quirks to be still worked out, but Light has done a great job at making them available and is proactively working to patch the bugs. They are not perfect by any means, but they do work in a bare bones fashion.

For example, the podcast tool, the one I use the most, is able to fetch your favorite podcasts from the Apple’s library index. It can play the podcasts, download them for offline listening, and reproduce them over Bluetooth speakers. However, it suffers from the lack of double speed playback (a must for some), remembering your playback location (a great omission), adding podcasts on the go (a great “feature” in my opinion), and a random bug that pauses your playback or forwards to the next episode abruptly. Moreover, there are no manual RSS feed additions, extra details to confirm that you are subscribing to the right podcast, and it can also glitch from time to time. These bugs sometimes are frustrating, but I have gotten accustomed to them after using the phone for 2 years.

I would say that in all of my podcast tool usage, the phone reproduces any given podcast well 6 out of 10 times. While this may be unacceptable to some, considering the price of the phone, I remain hopeful that Light will fix it as they have delivered constant updates during the past 2 years. You learn to adjust to the device and its quirks and having support actively engaging in development and polishing the features adds peace of mind that you are not left behind after your investment.

Adding any of the tools requires a dashboard set up. You log in, add the tool, and then either upload songs, set up podcasts, add your location for directions, or uninstall them. They appear like magic on the phone, but need an internet connection to do so.

Other tools that have seen constant use for me are the Music and Directions tool. The former has been the most stable in my experience and has not given me any issues since its introduction during the Summer of 2020. I have about 100 songs on my Light Phone 2 and the sound is clear, the tool works well in shuffle or regular mode, and I have the music I love in it. While some prefer streaming, or constantly being exposed to new music, I like the process of curating my own library and intentionally putting songs on my device.

The music tool is not without its lack of functionality, however. It falls short for many since it does not have access to playlist creation or filtering by albums. Audiophiles will not be satisfied with this device when comparing it to more specialized options on the market or apps on any given app store. It does, on the other hand, teaches the owner to be satisfied with a simple tool until more robust functionality comes in the form of a software update.

The Directions tool, the newest addition to the Light Phone, has been excellent for short trips, looking up stores, supermarkets, and other small businesses in a new area. It does not deliver the same amount of information as a smartphone app like Google Maps or Open Street Maps, but it will get you from point A to point B with voice navigation and turn by turn directions either on GPS mode or Offline mode.

I have found this tool to be the most complex, yet the most important for this device. As someone who is constantly driving for his work, it has served me greatly for the last few weeks. The latest update (version 260) includes a faster option for my routes and excellent navigation for those needing public transport. The best part of this tool is that is built with privacy in mind as it uses Here Maps instead of the data hungry Google version.

The alarm and calculator tools have also been tested for this review. Alarms work well with the caveat of only being able to set up one alarm at a time. Calculator is as basic as the first available units for computing markets and you should not expect it to be useful in trigonometry classes. It will compute and excel for basic operations, however.

Battery Life and other adjustments

After 2 years of using my device, the verdict on battery life is in. I have used my device with Verizon, AT&T, and T-mobile throughout this period and I can confidently say that your carrier will be the most important factor as whether or not you keep the Light Phone 2. Besides the obvious part that comes with coverage (dropping calls, receiving texts, etc.), battery life depends greatly on your carrier of choice.

With T-mobile and AT&T, my battery life was around 24–28 hours with light use (2 short phone calls, some texts, and a 30 minute podcast) and 8–10 hours with moderate or heavy use (multiple phone calls, texting, 30 minute podcast, and music listening). I found that with these networks (the weakest in my rural county) the battery life greatly suffered and I had to consider when to use the device and if I would have a charger around or not.

With Verizon, the story has been completely different. Being the best carrier in my area, the Light Phone 2 gets 48 hours of battery life with light use, sometimes even pushing into the third day. With heavier use, I would get through the day (12–14 hours) comfortably and without any anxiety about my phone dying or not. It does usually go into the next day even when I use it for an extended period of time. The more you use power hungry tools (directions, music, podcasts), the faster the battery will deplete. Yet, that is the beauty of the Light Phone 2. As time goes by, it teaches you to understand its limitations and plan accordingly for intentional use. As a counter point to those that may be anxious about the phone not lasting all day, its recharging capabilities are excellent due to the compact size of the battery.

Having a smartphone that lasts 2–3 days is a great commodity, but it does not provide me with the peace of mind that I have been able to acquire with the Light Phone 2. Life has gotten slower and I have become a bit more intentional in my approach to communication, note taking, and overall productivity.

As my journey with the Light Phone 2 elongates, I have come to appreciate its quirkiness and lack of features as it guides me into experiencing my surroundings and communicating more effectively with others. The phone has been a medium for me to re-learn how to operate as a human being in the 21st century. Low tech, just the basics, no need for NFC payment systems, endless QR codes, or the constant stream of information and misinformation found on the web. It has been a return to printing airplane tickets, jotting down addresses, scribbling on notepads, and transferring my appointments to a physical agenda.

Do not misunderstand me, however. You can still be addicted to your phone with the Light Phone 2. You can text, call, listen to podcasts or music, use maps, find text based services that give you information from Wikipedia or the web, and a plethora of other things. You can still ignore the difficult conversations and awkward moments in your surroundings by nosediving into the little content that the phone provides. The Light Phone 2 is not a cure to our mindlessness or lack of appreciation to the world. It is just a tool that you must decide how to use.

Going Forward

So who is the Light Phone 2 for? At $299, either one time payment or split throughout some months, it is accessible to some and less to others. The question is complex and it comes with complex answers. I’d love to say that everyone should get a Light Phone 2, but that is not the reality. After 2 years with the device, I have relearned to live with it, wait for features to come, and adjusted where necessary. Yet, I recognize that this may not be everyone’s desire or experience.

Therefore, I have developed a series of questions that can guide you into determining whether the Light Phone 2 or even a basic phone is the best course of action for you. They are not “yes or no” questions, but rather they are meant to guide you in understanding the nature of returning to basic phones and some of the philosophy behind them. Here are the questions:

1. Are you someone who embraces relearning and adjusting to new challenges?
2. Do you need constant access to online services or communication apps (WhatsApp, Signal, email, business apps, etc.) for personal or work use?
3. Are you willing to wait for quirks to be ironed out?
4. Do you desire a slower pace to your day and less information all the time?
5. Are you willing to leave services and find alternatives that may be less convenient or low tech?
6. While you may desire a low tech lifestyle, are your family members, friends, and co-workers ready for your transition?
7. Why do you need a Light Phone 2?

Out of all the questions, the last one is the most important. I needed a Light Phone 2 because it was easy for me to beat all barriers on my previous devices. You can call it “lack of self control” or curiosity, the result was the same. I used to spend 10 hours in front of my phone and I was tired of it. I constantly beat whatever minimal launcher, iPhone’s restrictive mode, or any other hurdle that was placed in front of me. That’s why I decided to go Light. I decided that it was time for me to focus on offline experiences and not the endless stream from the web.