Well I don't see it as a replacement for current phones in the general sense but an alternative type of phone living next to screen based phones.

Think about it as the phone you bring when you don't want to carry a phone at all. It is the compromise between trying to live as a back-to-nature style hippie rejecting all modern tech and our current mindless embrace of anything modern and entertaining.

Yes, this obviously is a tradeoff for many of the reason you cite. But I see that as a feature. The whole point of the phone is the disconnect you more from the world. Bring focus back to normal life as it used to be before tech totally dominated our lives.

Yes reading comments from this article wouldn't be possible but that is a feature in my view. My vision was of a limited phone. Being limited is the purpose. It is about forcing you to disconnect yourself from the constantly tuned in existence.

The choice would still be have screen based phones for those who want to be all connected. But I wrote this from the perspective of someone who does actually struggle with disconnecting from the digital world. I would say I struggle with an addiction I would love for there to be technology alternatives that could help me break this sort of addiction.

And judging by what I see around me, I think a lot more people than me struggle with addiction to electronic content.