Different people need a different number of steps inbetween. I know for myself, I'll just end up disabling the battery saver mode.

"Just say no"

The subscription is for the phone service. Though it is true that you can only use this with their service.

Do you swap SIM cards all the time? This seems to be the biggest blocking issue for me.

I tried switching phones once a week, which was heavenly. Might try that again, it requires some discipline.

"Europe" may be a bit broad there. In Denmark, I can get by without a smartphone; I have to carry what they call a "MitID code display" to gain access to online public services (though the device is entirely free of charge), but I also carry keys, so it's not a big hassle.

There was a comment a couple of days ago that mentioned using MDM to lock down their iPhone. So essentially, dumbing down a normal smartphone to whatever your essentials are and removing the web browser. That may be an expensive way of going about this, but I find it an interesting approach. Android probably has similar solutions, anything outside that duopoly will get tricky again w.r.t. banking.

Depends on your bank.

A lot of banks in Germany still offer photoTAN generators. Effectively, a physical device that generates 2FA codes for your login. You can then use the website as usual and use the codes from this instead of phone confirmation. This is one example from ING.[0]

That way you can effectively use most feature phones as your daily drivers. HMD (Nokia) still manufacturers some of them that even come with GPS, etc. There are some feature phones that even run Android but I don't know what app support for things like Spotify is like.

[0]https://genostore.de/ING

At least in Germany, many banks still offer alternatives. You’ll need to buy dedicated hardware like a chipcard reader.

Alternatively, keep a cheap smartphone around with nothing but the banking app on it.

I think the solution is not a dumbphone but a full android e-ink phone. Horrendous for everything that involves video but runs every app and can be used as an ereader.

Unfortunately I have to found one that speaks to me, as they are all from Chinese manufactures with questionable quality.

I see nothing wrong here. You cannot fight several teams of customer retention (no idea how it’s called) when you are already deep in their hands. Sometimes the best way is to remove or limit their products.

it's not personal if most people are doing it

Which makes me wonder how they claim to support WhatsApp since they no longer support KaiOS. Maybe it's an Android fork instead.

Probably to avoid the accusations of selling burners?

> People need to learn to guard their time and schedule like a hawk and not operate in chronic reaction mode, i.e. someone else setting your priorities for the day.

Why not just use a smartphone if you’re able to guard your time effectively?

I feel like the main reason people are interested in dumb phones is because they’ve identified that they personally can’t, for whatever reason. (Certainly that’s why I’m intrigued by them.)

Once upon a time, or perhaps in an alternative universe in which the iPhone did not take over the world, there was Peek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peek_(mobile_Internet_device)

Plus, email access is assumed for identity verification these days. Whether that's porting a number out from a wireless carrier or any service that has your email but not your phone number.

> Email is not as urgent as text or phone calls

I receive emails that need immediate attention and texts that can wait a day or two. The only urgency attached to these communication methods is the urgency you assign them.

The limited communication options and the frankly weird choices for what to include and what not to include (no email, WhatsApp and Uber are included?) make this a very weird product in my opinion.