David has a Light Phone III, and it's making him wonder a lot of things about technology. So The Verge's Allison Johnson joins the show to talk about the whole trend of minimalist smartphones, and to figure out which features a smartphone absolutely needs, and which ones we could all probably do without. After that, The Verge's Andy Hawkins takes us through a big weekend in the Tesla Takedown movement, what's happening with Elon Musk's car company, how automakers are responding to impending tariffs, and whether we're wrong to be excited about the new Nissan Leaf. Finally, The Verge's Jen Tuohy answers a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11, or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about all-seeing cameras in our homes. Which mostly don't exist yet. Mostly.

Further reading:

Light Phone III review: everything in moderation

There’s no perfect minimalist phone — yet

One year with the Light Phone 2

We went to 10 anti-Tesla protests — and a couple counter protests, too

‘Tesla Takedown’ protesters planning ‘biggest day of action’

How Elon Musk turned the Tesla brand so toxic

The Nissan Leaf lives on as a compact SUV with a Tesla charge port

Ring’s latest security camera is a drone that flies around inside your house

Project Astra is the future of AI at Google

Alexa Plus arrives with promise but plenty of questions


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The Verge's Allison Johnson joins the show to talk about the whole trend of minimalist smartphones, and to figure out which features a smartphone absolutely needs, and which ones we could all probably do without.

Searching for the perfect minimalist smartphone