Paper Phone: Google's Paper 'Non-Phone'

Our digital lives are expanding more and more, but if we look closely, it doesn't have to be that way. Finding the right balance can be tricky when every app and service out there demands your attention. Google's team recognizes the problem, and in an attempt to improve users' quality of life, they opened a new space with digital wellbeing experiments that modify or limit traditional smartphone and tablet use. One of those experiments is Paper Phone, which essentially prints a summary of what you'll need during the day.

There's no point in denying it: sometimes we're simply fed up with our mobile devices. App updates, the constant battery complaints, and the storm of notifications. Even the physical form itself has become irritating. First, screens were too small. Now they're too big, and we carry 'almost-tablets' in our pockets. These windows to the world become anchors, but cutting the chain is not simple either. In fact, there are places where we can't even buy a bottle of water without a mobile phone...

However, it's not impossible to give up the smartphone occasionally. All we need is willpower and a little extra organization. Google's team seems to have understood (or at least recognized) the desire of some users to get away from their phones, and they started a 'digital wellbeing' campaign with a series of experiments. One of the most interesting is Paper Phone, which basically proposes a return to the classic diary with the creation of a paper 'non-phone'.

Once you download the app, you select the elements you consider priorities, and Paper Phone will print a summary on a single sheet of paper (or alternatively, convert it to PDF for printing from your computer). Calendar (divided into categories like 'Work' and 'Family'), contacts, maps, weather, pending tasks, and even a sudoku are available in the selection. It also includes a contactless section to insert your traditional credit/debit/prepaid card. Paper Phone is just one of six experiments in Google's digital wellbeing campaign. The other five are:

The other five experiments

• Desert Island – invites you to spend 24 hours with a reduced number of essential apps, and if the experience is positive, repeat the cycle with one less app.
• Morph – has a profile similar to Desert Island, but limits access to specific apps depending on what you're doing. In other words, the phone adapts to your daily activity.
• Post Box – a global notification manager. You can choose the time or daily frequency with which you receive notifications from all installed apps.
• We Flip – an app to block devices in a group. When all members are connected, one of them flips the switch. Anyone can unlock their smartphone at any time, but the idea is to share time together.
• Unlock Clock – an animated wallpaper that counts how many times you've unlocked your device during the day. A simple but striking way to visualize our dependence on the smartphone or tablet. Technically not an app, Unlock Clock lives in the 'Live Wallpaper' section.

The proposal of Paper Phone and the rest of the experiments is very interesting, however, there are technical details to solve. Users have reported various bugs in the Paper Phone app, and the requirement of Oreo 8.0 as the minimum Android version limits its reach.

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