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I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

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Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#121

Post by xaqfox »

dgzl wrote: post #77
shurcooL wrote: post #45

One party trick some people miss about me is that for a number of years I carried around an iPad mini (with cellular) in my front jeans pocket. It was my primary and only mobile device. It was somewhat more inconvenient than a smaller phone, but not by as much as one would expect it to be. Having its bigger screen was an advantage in many situations though. I downsized to a large phone a year ago (partly because Appl…

What was the party trick?

Always having an excuse for being happy to see people. "Why yes, that is an iPad in my pocket"

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#122

Post by dmd »

IshKebab wrote: post #61
thefounder wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people use SMS and regular phone calls if they can't find you on whatsapp. Fortunately all have the "Phone" and SMS app already installed.

That situation pretty much doesn't happen, at least in the UK. Except people over 70, everyone has WhatsApp.

41, most of my friends are early 30s. Never even met someone who uses WhatsApp in the USA. (But everyone I've ever met outside the USA uses nothing else.)

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#123

Post by Tsiklon »

tsukikage wrote: post #115
Mo3 wrote: post #107

I've used a burner phone exclusively for ~6 months because of lack of financial funds. I loved that thing. Crystal clear calls, and while my fiancee had to recharge her smartphone every night I almost got to 2 weeks without charging and almost forgot that you actually have to charge it. It's a certain feeling of freedom. Unfortunately they don't run Slack so I just got an old S4, bought a huge aftermarket battery for…

I was the last of my circle to switch to a smartphone; I only made the leap about a year ago - the old dumb phone finally died, and when I looked online for a replacement all I could see was senior phones. I decided I wasn't ready for that yet - so marketing works I guess - so bought the smallest smart phone I could find (a Unihertz Jelly, fwiw). I have to say, I'm not impressed. * battery life down from two weeks to…

Have you considered going back to the feature phone? Something like the new versions of the Nokia 3310 and 8110 would address the majority of your concerns.

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#124

Post by myself248 »

nabdab wrote: post #67

Back when the Motorola razer was the most popular mobile phone on the market, my sisters boyfriend had the sweetest tiny little flash drive sized dumb phone that I still think would be awesome to own every time I go on vacation and really want to leave reddit/Facebook/Snapchat and even hackernews at home without loosing the ability to call emergency services or fellow travelers when needs arise. Sadly that market is…

Look at the phones designed for rectal concealment, called "Beat the BOSS" phones. They're super tiny and optimized for battery life too.

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#125

Post by m463 »

aapjaap wrote: post #74

This reminds me of my kids responding to my gaming ban by playing space vs backspace in the windows login prompt

Is that like being without quarters, but figuring out which arcade games actually DO something on the attract screen when you move the controls?

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#126

Post by arkano »

tsukikage wrote: post #115
Mo3 wrote: post #107

I've used a burner phone exclusively for ~6 months because of lack of financial funds. I loved that thing. Crystal clear calls, and while my fiancee had to recharge her smartphone every night I almost got to 2 weeks without charging and almost forgot that you actually have to charge it. It's a certain feeling of freedom. Unfortunately they don't run Slack so I just got an old S4, bought a huge aftermarket battery for…

I was the last of my circle to switch to a smartphone; I only made the leap about a year ago - the old dumb phone finally died, and when I looked online for a replacement all I could see was senior phones. I decided I wasn't ready for that yet - so marketing works I guess - so bought the smallest smart phone I could find (a Unihertz Jelly, fwiw). I have to say, I'm not impressed. * battery life down from two weeks to…

> Maybe it is time to declare myself a senior after all.

I think you shouldn't force yourself on a technology you don't like just cause it's popular, i.e., smartphones with a touchscreen. Do try a phone with a larger screen though. :)

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#127

Post by tomxor »

rootusrootus wrote: post #66
Consultant32452 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look for their prepaid phone offerings. There's some feature phones in that line up, and it'll work with any plan. On Amazon, search by carrier, sort by lowest price. Some are low end Android, but some are feature phones. In my experience really low end android phones have such little storage they might as well be feature phones. You could only get 1-2 apps on max if you tried.

Because I was curious (and I am a Verizon customer), I took a look. Verizon Prepaid has exactly one feature phone available now: https://www.zteusa.com/cymbal-lte Amazon lists at least one more but look at the fine print, if it's a 3G model it can't be activated after the end of 2018.

Can you not just buy a phone separately from your network provider?

In the UK i can just buy any unlocked phone I want online and stick my sim card in it, the networks let you use whatever you want. My current phone is only 3g but this has worked everywhere I have traveled so far, Europe, Asia, Mexico, but not tried US.

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#128

Post by Consultant32452 »

tomxor wrote: post #127
rootusrootus wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I was curious (and I am a Verizon customer), I took a look. Verizon Prepaid has exactly one feature phone available now: https://www.zteusa.com/cymbal-lte Amazon lists at least one more but look at the fine print, if it's a 3G model it can't be activated after the end of 2018.

Can you not just buy a phone separately from your network provider? In the UK i can just buy any unlocked phone I want online and stick my sim card in it, the networks let you use whatever you want. My current phone is only 3g but this has worked everywhere I have traveled so far, Europe, Asia, Mexico, but not tried US.

Yes, you can buy the phone separately from the provider. The issue is if you want to be able to access all the frequencies the network provider uses. If you get a phone that doesn't cover all the relevant frequencies, you will have degraded service.

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#129

Post by dllthomas »

barrkel wrote: post #99
BigJono wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Misunderstood in what way? The definition used in The Wire is the only one I've heard.

It originally meant handgun, one that's been used in too many crimes, i.e. is too hot to have in your possession. The Wire promulgated the phone meaning of burner AFAIK. It may have been misunderstood by the police (Ed Burns was a police officer) or it may have been by analogy. (I learned this from articles over a decade ago, very hard to pin down now that the phone meaning is widespread.)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/burner-phone

"The writers of The Wire did not invent this term. Evidence of its use can be found at least as far back as 1996, when the rapper Kingpin Skinny Pimp used it on the song One Life 2 Live: “Talkin’ on the burner phone, bumpin’ hutch.”"

Re: I wanted to punish my daughter with a no-frills phone but it didn't go to plan

#130

Post by barrkel »

dllthomas wrote: post #129
barrkel wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It originally meant handgun, one that's been used in too many crimes, i.e. is too hot to have in your possession. The Wire promulgated the phone meaning of burner AFAIK. It may have been misunderstood by the police (Ed Burns was a police officer) or it may have been by analogy. (I learned this from articles over a decade ago, very hard to pin down now that the phone meaning is widespread.)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/burner-phone "The writers of The Wire did not invent this term. Evidence of its use can be found at least as far back as 1996, when the rapper Kingpin Skinny Pimp used it on the song One Life 2 Live: “Talkin’ on the burner phone, bumpin’ hutch.”"

Happy to be corrected. Nas used it (unqualified with 'phone') with the meaning gun in Ether, but that's only 2001.
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