WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.480 Just last night, I was playing ping pong with my youngest daughter and thinking, 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:10.880 "Man, I need to put away the phone more often and just spend one-on-one time." 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:15.920 So, imagine my surprise when I come into the office today and I'm unboxing a 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:21.279 product that is designed for just that, the Light Phone 3. It's a phone, it's an 00:00:19.520 --> 00:00:25.359 alarm, directions, calendar, notes, settings, and nothing else. Okay, 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.840 there's a few things it can do other than that, but it doesn't have a web 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:34.320 browser and supports none of the social media or algorithmic news feed that 00:00:32.239 --> 00:00:38.160 tends to take up our lives. You can still watch YouTube. Please don't stop 00:00:36.559 --> 00:00:42.079 watching YouTube. You just won't be doing it on this phone. It's designed to 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:49.120 give you the most thoughtful and intentional version of yourself. And I 00:00:45.680 --> 00:00:50.480 really want to like it. Oh, lordy. For a 00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:53.680 second there, I thought that was the phone. And I was like, "Oh, but I it's 00:00:52.399 --> 00:01:01.039 going to be pretty hard if it's this chunky." No, there it is. And it's still 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:04.879 pretty chunky. Wow. She is a bit of a 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:07.600 thick boy. Ah, yes. A braided USBC to 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.600 USBC 00:01:08.520 --> 00:01:14.640 cable. That is all. Sorry. Sorry. Point of 00:01:12.960 --> 00:01:19.280 clarification. There is a SIM removal tool in this piece of paper. This is 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:23.680 actually my very first hands-on with a light phone. And other than the design 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:28.080 philosophy, it has very little in common with the Lite 2, which apparently they 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:32.880 will continue to sell. The interface is more complicated. You get the same home 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:37.280 button, volume up, volume down, but now there's also a two-stage camera button 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:41.680 for the 50 megapixel rear sensor that apparently bends down to a 12 megapixel 00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:45.360 final output. And they've got this little wheel on the left that apparently 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:49.680 is used for screen brightness and to activate the flashlight. At the top is a 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:54.240 power button as well as fingerprint sensor, but it should be noted that the 00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:59.119 fingerprint reader, like quite a few other things, isn't working just yet. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:02.560 There's also a mic up here for noise cancellation. Then at the bottom, we've 00:02:00.479 --> 00:02:06.560 got a USBC for input, as well as the main mic. The internals are pretty 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:10.800 standard for what you'd expect from an entry-level smartphone. It uses a 00:02:08.399 --> 00:02:15.680 Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 with six gigs of RAM and 128 gigs of storage, which should 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:20.720 contribute to a much more responsive experience in Light OS, but also 00:02:17.879 --> 00:02:25.599 contributes controversially to a much higher price than the older Light Phone 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:32.560 2. Another controversial decision was the switch from an e- in display to an 00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:34.160 OLED display. monochromatic OLED, which 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:38.519 apparently will give it anywhere from two to three days of battery life, but 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:43.599 an OLED nonetheless. It is matte though, which 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:48.879 gives it a more e- inky look, but it's still not e ink. Time to learn light OS 00:02:46.720 --> 00:02:53.200 after a quick message from our sponsor, the talking points for whom I will not 00:02:51.120 --> 00:03:01.840 be receiving on my Light Phone 3 because usually they send them to me via Teams 00:02:56.200 --> 00:03:02.840 and there's no Teams, just SMS. So, one 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:08.640 moment, please. And this is a fundamental flaw 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:13.280 in this product for me is that no, I actually need to access data and a 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:17.680 browser for my daily life. Thank you, SLY, for sponsoring this video. If nasty 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:20.879 spring weather is getting you down, a vacation might be calling your name. So, 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:26.080 make sure you stay connected with Saley's eim plans. They're available in 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:30.239 over 180 countries, and setting it up is easy. Simply download the app, select 00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:34.080 the plan that fits your needs, and with a few more taps, you'll be good to go. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:38.840 And if you're running into any issues, their 247 chat support is there to help. 00:03:36.640 --> 00:03:43.760 So head on over to sale.com/shortcircuit or download the 00:03:40.720 --> 00:03:46.959 app and use code shortcircuit to get 15% 00:03:43.760 --> 00:03:49.200 off a sale eim data plan on your fully 00:03:46.959 --> 00:03:53.360 functional smartphone rather than your locked down be present smartphone which 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:58.560 isn't to say that this is a wrong choice. It's just a different choice. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:05.840 And let's see what this choice might look like. I assume this is my app. 00:04:01.760 --> 00:04:08.519 Really? Oh, okay. No, no, this is okay. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:14.040 Okay, so this is phone. There's no contacts. No contacts. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:21.199 Please, come on. M coming haptics, but pretty 00:04:17.799 --> 00:04:22.520 responsive. Whoa. You enter the phone 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:30.639 number first, then the name. 00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:32.800 Okay. Call. Oh, right. One second. Throw 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:36.000 my SIM in here. Man, this really is the kind of product 00:04:34.400 --> 00:04:39.759 that I desperately want to be excited about, but then I think about it for 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:43.199 more than two seconds and I'm like, how am I supposed to use this? Like, I was 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:47.440 thinking as we were starting this shoot, man, I should just throw my SIM in it 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:52.400 during the shoot and just keep it, right? Like, just try it. I was like, oh 00:04:50.479 --> 00:04:57.280 yeah, no, immediately I need to do something that I I definitely absolutely 00:04:54.560 --> 00:05:00.400 need my other phone for. Apparently, the speaker is supposed to be really good 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:05.360 cuz it has like a proper grill on it. Hello, wife. Do you want to just um say 00:05:03.280 --> 00:05:08.240 something? I am about to get in the car to go to lunch with accounting. We're 00:05:06.880 --> 00:05:14.160 going to McDonald's because apparently they have a Minecraft toy that somebody 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:17.120 wants. Okay. Well, that's good. How's 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:21.520 the mic quality for you? It's actually really good. I was It doesn't sound like 00:05:18.880 --> 00:05:26.400 you're on uh I'm on speaker. Oh, okay. Well, here I'll take you off speaker and 00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:28.479 maybe it'll be even better. Um a little 00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:32.639 bit, but only because you told me to pay attention. I don't know if I would have 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:36.880 noticed otherwise. Okay, thanks wife. I think that'll be all. So, I'm struck 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:40.800 immediately by the fact that there is absolutely nothing to distract me in 00:05:39.039 --> 00:05:45.680 this interface. There's no notification shade. There's no multitasking to, you 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:49.520 know, an app or a browser while I'm talking to somebody. That's it. When 00:05:47.919 --> 00:05:53.520 you're talking to someone, you're talking to them. This is an interesting 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:59.440 one. When you scroll, instead of scrolling smoothly, it just takes you to 00:05:56.400 --> 00:06:01.680 your next page. I assume this is just to 00:05:59.440 --> 00:06:04.720 maintain continuity for the users who are on e- in displays because with the 00:06:03.520 --> 00:06:11.039 hardware that's in here, there's no reason that they would have to do that. Okay, this is display brightness, right? 00:06:07.840 --> 00:06:13.840 Oh, yeah. Okay. It definitely gets more 00:06:11.039 --> 00:06:18.639 e- in like when you turn the display brightness down. But man, I got to say 00:06:16.479 --> 00:06:23.360 one of the biggest benefits for me of using an e- in phone would be that I 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:27.280 would like read, right? I'm not going to be reading any ebooks on this, right? Do 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:30.800 they have an ebook app? Ah, yeah, that's tough. Okay. Well, 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:36.639 here, let's look at some of the other apps. I can set an 00:06:32.919 --> 00:06:39.199 alarm 12:36, you know, whatever. And 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:42.560 then I can set it. Boom. It's set. One button to get rid of it. Do love that. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:45.800 The number of buttons you have to press to get rid of an alarm on the iPhone. 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:51.840 It's like, why? Oo, pictures. Okay, hold on. 00:06:50.479 --> 00:06:58.080 We'll try we'll try taking our own. There's also a selfie camera, by the way. 8 megapixels on that one, I think 00:06:54.880 --> 00:07:00.199 it is. Oh, wow. This has like a very 00:06:58.080 --> 00:07:05.440 Polaroid kind of feel to it. Is that Is that intentional or is 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:12.919 that just cuz it's like a crappy camera? Oh my god. Hold still. It says to take a 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:15.919 picture. Whoa, 00:07:15.960 --> 00:07:21.919 buddy. That is the worst this picture I 00:07:19.599 --> 00:07:25.360 have ever seen. You know, I always take this picture in this challenging 00:07:23.280 --> 00:07:29.520 environment with the lights shining at me from the studio and everything. I 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:34.240 want to see like what kind of detail can be picked up. Like, see, that's a funny 00:07:31.599 --> 00:07:41.599 thing is the resolution actually is not bad, but there's so much noise and the 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:43.599 color is atrocious. 00:07:41.599 --> 00:07:48.880 So, they do say it's supposed to be like a film camera. Like a film camera. Yeah. 00:07:47.039 --> 00:07:56.560 Yeah. Well, a film camera would have done a better job than this. share media 00:07:51.440 --> 00:07:59.280 and I can send via MMS I guess right 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:04.080 like it doesn't do email right yeah no email so getting the full quality 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:08.160 version of the photo off is like no you plug in dude like a you know like a 00:08:06.080 --> 00:08:11.120 camera like a digital camera maybe that's just because of the light 00:08:09.840 --> 00:08:14.000 directly into the lens I'm going to take a picture this way 00:08:14.280 --> 00:08:17.280 okay 00:08:17.479 --> 00:08:21.360 right does it auto rotate 00:08:24.440 --> 00:08:30.800 Uh, now it's a pretty square display, 00:08:27.440 --> 00:08:33.159 okay? It's 1080 by like 12 something, so 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:39.200 you don't really need to rotate it, but I would like to. They They did 00:08:36.560 --> 00:08:43.120 succeed in giving it kind of a filmic look. Let's try the selfie camera. Oh, 00:08:41.680 --> 00:08:49.519 can you launch the camera just by pressing the camera button? Yes, you can. Thoughtful. Oh, you can record 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:53.920 video. I can already tell you that this is going to look like absolute butt 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:58.240 chunks. Can already tell you that this is going to look like absolute butt 00:08:55.760 --> 00:09:01.680 chunks. The audio is great though. Ivonne was right. You know what? The 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:06.720 preview is worse than the actual recorded video. That's That's not that 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:08.240 bad. Okay. I do not like this. It's 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:15.480 completely taking over my screen when I'm changing the volume. I don't need to 00:09:09.839 --> 00:09:15.480 be present adjusting my volume slider. 00:09:15.680 --> 00:09:22.000 The selfie camera doesn't do the funny hold thing and actually looks a lot more 00:09:19.920 --> 00:09:26.600 like a modern smartphone camera. Interesting. Wonder if that was a choice 00:09:23.839 --> 00:09:33.519 or they just didn't code the like multi-exposure and then edit tom foolery 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:36.360 into the selfie cam calculator. Wow. 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:40.720 Hey, it's like Apple never made a new calculator. Okay, here. Let's add a 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:46.560 calendar event. Oo, that was that was a that was 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:50.320 a delay. I can't say where it is. Oh, yeah. There it is. There it is. Okay. 00:09:47.839 --> 00:09:55.399 Okay. But I can't navigate there. I can't take an Uber there. That's tough. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:10:00.480 How do you find that balance, right? Cuz like there's certain things that I would 00:09:57.839 --> 00:10:03.440 need this to be able to do cuz otherwise I'm just going to have to carry a second 00:10:01.839 --> 00:10:09.360 phone in my pocket. And by the time I do that, this has accomplished nothing. But 00:10:05.839 --> 00:10:11.680 if it can do those smart doing things, 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:15.519 then all of a sudden it becomes not the distraction-free phone. And it's not 00:10:13.920 --> 00:10:20.800 just not being able to take an Uber. I use alternate messaging platforms for 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:23.120 almost everyone that I talk to, whether 00:10:20.800 --> 00:10:27.680 it's iMessage, cuz I happen to currently be on an iPhone right now, or Discord, 00:10:25.680 --> 00:10:31.040 or WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Like, I literally wouldn't be able to 00:10:28.880 --> 00:10:36.000 coordinate with my badminton group and get signed up because it fills up in 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:38.800 like 4 minutes, right? cuz I won't be on 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:43.000 Facebook Messenger. We talk about how smartphones have kind of destroyed the 00:10:40.959 --> 00:10:47.760 in-person social lives of the younger generation. But what I'll tell you is 00:10:45.680 --> 00:10:53.279 that if I didn't have my smartphone, that would destroy my social life way 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:55.519 more because how would I like meet up 00:10:53.279 --> 00:11:03.440 with anybody? I would tell them to call me and they'd be like, "Oh my god, 00:10:59.160 --> 00:11:06.720 call you're like 40, not 60." Oh yeah, 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:10.079 no two factor. Oh, only SMS-based 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:11.519 two-factor. So 100% I would have to 00:11:10.079 --> 00:11:15.519 Dude, I didn't even think all this stuff. You like brainstorm stuff to 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:19.680 throw at me during this. Oh my god. Yeah, I could I couldn't I couldn't get 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:25.320 a two-factor verification code. Okay, music though. Music. Let's talk about 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:28.000 music. You can upload songs on the light 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:31.600 dashboard. Ah, the light dashboard. So it's a web app you access on your 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:36.880 computer in order to interface with the phone. You can upload music, add apps, 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:40.399 and edit your contacts, which will be a good way to do that because it'll be a 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:46.040 little slow on here. Okay, so we got Crab Rafe. Let's go. I'm going to try to 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:49.040 pair my Bluetooth headphones. It has 00:11:46.040 --> 00:11:50.600 Bluetooth, right? Yes. Yes, it has 00:11:49.040 --> 00:11:54.079 Bluetooth. All right. See if it 00:11:55.320 --> 00:12:03.279 works. That was an appropriate number of clicks to get back to the thing I was 00:11:58.959 --> 00:12:05.560 just doing. Can I Can I Oh, there we go. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:10.519 Oh, wait. No, it's coming through the phone. Sorry, my noise cancellation is 00:12:08.079 --> 00:12:14.320 on. So, I Okay, but what the heck? What? No, this is just the 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:16.639 Bluetooth menu. I want to switch the audio 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:24.639 output. Okay, well, that's not good. I mean, the AirPods are just lowkey the 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:28.480 most popular wireless headphones on planet Earth. So, 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:34.000 uh, the fact that it does not immediately work with those is not great. I'm sure they're going to work on 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:37.279 that as well as implementing something with the NFC chip. Like, it has an NFC 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:42.760 chip, but right now it doesn't really do anything. I think the bigger issue for 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:45.519 me is even if my headphones did work, no 00:12:42.760 --> 00:12:50.320 Spotify, no YouTube Music, no music apps. So, you literally just need to put 00:12:47.760 --> 00:12:54.800 all your music on here and then like what the scroll wheel I can't even use 00:12:52.560 --> 00:12:59.440 to scroll through my music list. So, like, is there a way to organize it 00:12:56.880 --> 00:13:03.920 other than just like search, man? So, the interface is like somehow actually 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:08.480 worse than an OG iPod. Hey, does it do like speech to 00:13:05.959 --> 00:13:15.399 text? Period. It really does. Oh, wow. It even managed to get the inquisitive 00:13:12.079 --> 00:13:19.120 tone of my voice and put a question 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:20.800 mark. Oh, but then it also put a random 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:26.480 comma there and put a random period there. So, your mileage may vary. It can 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:28.880 do podcasts, so that's something. And 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:33.399 you can always tell the priorities of the creators of products like this. It's 00:13:30.560 --> 00:13:38.079 like no distractions, but definitely podcasts. But music is going to be a 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:42.480 sucky experience. But podcasts, we got you. Like look at this. Look at this 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:47.360 podcast app compared to the music one, dude. We got like subscribe podcast. We 00:13:44.880 --> 00:13:53.240 got our Bluetooth. Okay, that wasn't the music one. Sync trigger. We can sync 00:13:49.680 --> 00:13:55.360 them in the background. We can 00:13:53.240 --> 00:14:00.600 synchronize. We got settings. We can autoplay the next episode. Dude, the 00:13:58.079 --> 00:14:05.720 creators, they like their podcasts. Oh, don't do that. There are a 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:09.839 few more things to talk through. It's IP54 water resistant. It's more 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:14.320 repairable than their previous one. The screen's apparently easier to repair. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:19.040 The battery is easily replaceable. So, that's pretty cool. But the elephant in 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:24.320 the room is, of course, the cost. at $600 to $800 depending on if you buy it 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:30.560 at launch or if you buy it at retail later. This is right up there with some 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:32.800 flagship class Android smartphones, many 00:14:30.560 --> 00:14:38.480 of which could be pretty easily configured to, you know, prompt you for 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:42.800 distractions or disable apps or whatever else. Whether you have the discipline to 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:46.880 do those things or not, well, that's kind of down to you. And that's where 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:51.760 the Light Phone is supposed to shine. But for me, I just don't see how I could 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:55.600 make this work. It's funny. I actually got a WhatsApp message from someone 00:14:53.600 --> 00:15:00.160 saying that they will not be contactable on WhatsApp anymore because they just 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:03.519 switched to a light phone. Moved to a dumb phone. No more WhatsApp text or 00:15:01.839 --> 00:15:07.760 call going forward. I said, "What the Text so unsecure." Uh they said, 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:13.760 "Fair point. Had to do it." I said, "I give you 3 and 1/2 weeks." That was on 00:15:11.680 --> 00:15:17.600 March the 26th. I'm going to call him right now and find out if he's off it 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:21.600 yet. I'm going to call him on WhatsApp. See if he gets the call. You know what? 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:25.880 No, I'm doing this entirely wrong. I'm doing this totally wrong. Hold on. 00:15:24.079 --> 00:15:31.600 Calling from my light phone. Yo, I'm on ShortCircuit. I'm uh 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:34.720 unboxing the Light Phone 3 and I was just kind of wondering, is that the one 00:15:33.040 --> 00:15:39.600 that you went with for your dumb phone? You're on it right now. So, this could 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:44.880 be the very first Light Phone to Light Phone 3 call because as far as I can 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:48.399 tell from spending some time with this thing, nobody is going to use 00:15:46.800 --> 00:15:51.440 this thing, dude. He says, "You got to be out of your mind." Yeah. Yeah. See 00:15:49.920 --> 00:15:55.199 that? That's what I'm talking about. So, are you off it yet? You're not off it 00:15:53.079 --> 00:15:58.320 then? Oh, the reception apparently sucks. Well, I'm getting so much insight 00:15:56.800 --> 00:16:02.959 cuz he's been using this thing for a week, man. This is This is great. I should make you use the products before 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:06.320 I unbox them every time. Dude, I gave you 3 weeks, I think. Right. Do you 00:16:04.880 --> 00:16:10.360 think you're going to make it? You're going to stick with it? All right. 00:16:08.079 --> 00:16:18.399 Thanks. Okay, I'll let you go. Wow. He describes the experience of 00:16:13.040 --> 00:16:20.240 using it as quote a show and then says, 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:27.720 "But I'm sticking with it. I hate phones. I was getting like 800 messages 00:16:23.040 --> 00:16:32.240 a day." So, there you go. For the right 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:33.600 user, there it is. Light phone 3. I just 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:37.839 don't think I have the discipline for it. But I do have the discipline to tell 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:41.120 you to subscribe to ShortCircuit. Don't miss a single video.