Kickstarter Campaign Raises Over $9,000 For ‘NoPhone’: The Phone That Does Nothing

A Kickstarter project has been started to produce the No Phone, a smartphone that is waterproof, doesn’t bend, doesn’t drop calls, and comes with an unlimited service plan for free.

The Kickstarter campaign is touting the NoPhone as a “technology-free alternative to constant hand-to-phone contact.”

And it is exactly what it sounds like, a phone that isn’t really a phone. It is just a smooth rectangular piece of plastic that looks like an iPhone and does, well, nothing.

The Kickstarter campaign claims that the NoPhone is a solution to phone addiction, which it says is “everywhere. It’s ruining your dates. It’s distracting you at concerts. It’s disrupting you in movie theaters. It’s clogging up sidewalks.”

Is this a joke? The Inquisitr recently reported a scam that was removed from Kickstarter after only a few days, so is this just another one of those?

No, it isn’t. According to BBC News, the inventors of the NoPhone came up with the idea after an evening out socializing.

“By ‘socialize’ we meant ‘stare at our phones and occasionally look up from our screens to order another round’ which is the norm nowadays,” they said.

The phone was originally supposed to be a “satirical security blanket” according to inventors Van Gould, Ingmar Larsen, and Ben Langeveld.

“However, after we created the project, the response from people actually wanting to purchase the NoPhone was overwhelming.”

How does it compare with the iPhone? This chart from the Kickstarter page shows you.

“With a thin, light and completely wireless design, the NoPhone acts as a surrogate to any smart mobile device, enabling you to always have a rectangle of smooth, cold plastic to clutch without forgoing any potential engagement with your direct environment. Never again experience the unsettling feeling of flesh on flesh when closing your hand.”

If you are addicted to selfies, have no fear — the NoPhone even comes with a “selfie upgrade” in the form of a mirrored sticker you can put on the phone, enabling you to share your selfies “in real time” with friends who are standing behind you. You can even add verbal hashtags – by turning around and talking to them. The NoPhone producers call this “Real Face Time.”

The inventors of the NoPhone started their Kickstarter campaign in September, according to Vox, and most of the donors have given $12, the price of one device. As of this writing, the makers have raised $9,364 from 470 backers. This is nearly double the original $5,000 goal set by the makers.

After two failed Kickstarter campaigns to produce the phone that isn’t really a phone, the idea took off.

Will it really help phone addiction? Judge for yourself from these testimonials on the webpage.

“I used to sleep with my phone in my hand, but my night terrors would cause me to hurl it across the room in an unconscious panic. With the NoPhone, I can still enjoy the comfort of holding a phone in my sleep, without waking up to a shattered screen. Thanks, NoPhone,” said David H.

“With the NoPhone, my eye contact skills have improved 73%,” Whitney R explained.

“Because of the NoPhone, I haven’t drunk texted my ex boyfriend in one whole week,” raved Craig G.

“Not a real phone,” Katie A confessed.

[Images via Kickstarter]