Taken logically, smartphones… kind of suck. They’re massive time sinks, both easy to pick up and hard to put down. Meadow, an American company, has a slightly different vision of the ubiquitous communication device. It involves less doomscrolling.
It also involves buying the phone and paying a monthly subscription fee, but that’s fine because it’s only available in the United States. But it’s an interesting concept that other companies could exploit on the international stage. A phone that isn’t going to spiral you into algorithm-based depression, but it still has navigation? How novel.
Relaxing in the Meadow
As you might have guessed, the Meadow phone doesn’t go too hard on the specs front. Why bother when its job is to keep you sane? It looks like half of one of Samsung’s Galaxy Flip devices, with a 3in TFT display, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Other details are more murky, with battery capacity measured in days (one to two, according to its creators). There’s a single 13MP camera, because you might want to take photos. And then there’s permanent 4G access via the associated subscription. A SIM or eSIM doesn’t seem to be required.
That’s because you’re not supposed to use this device as a digital distraction. A batch of standard phone apps is installed, plus Spotify, Uber, Apple Music, a weather app, and something to handle notes. Audible is also included. Everything else? Yeah, that’s not going to happen. There isn’t even a connected app store.
Even your contacts list is severely reduced to just twelve people. That dozen can contact the person using the Meadow phone. Spam calls should, in theory, never, ever take place.
Again, though, this handset is confined to the US. Buyers will pay R6,750 ($400) for one, though the usual retail price is closer to R7,600. After that, it’s R170/m ($10) for network and messaging access, which translates to unlimited calls… somehow. Even then, the first nine months of access are free. It’s a genuinely exciting idea — a smartphone that won’t worsen your depression. Someone get Samsung to make a version for South Africa immediately.
