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Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

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Re: Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

#131

Post by beretguy »

zokier wrote: post #103
j_leboulanger wrote: post #4

Sound incredible ! I like the word "simply" in this sentence > i will simply be able to recreate the baseboard with the new 4G module, a microcontroller, and some audio processing and power management circuitry and it will be able to seamlessly fit inside the phone. Seems like a bigger project than the author would let us think ! But I hope to see the PCB soon !

Well, I wouldn't call it trivial, but it's not completely outlandish idea. There is prior art in this Ringo kit, which does almost 90% of what's required here: https://github.com/CircuitMess/CircuitMess-Ringo

I still have it, haven't put it together yet. I've heard it doesn't actually work with carriers.

Re: Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

#132

Post by jcul »

jtbayly wrote: post #115
jcul wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I bought a Nokia 2660. After probably a month or so the hinge brackets broke from normal use. Nokia refused to refund / repair it saying that only a drop could have caused it. I replaced it with an AGM M8 which is a great dumbphone.

Can you use the M8 on carriers other than T-Mobile? I’m seeing several places that say T-mobile only.

It's probably worth double checking the bands they support.

I had the M6 before and I had issues where it would have coverage but calls would go straight to voicemail.

Maybe it was just an issue with that phone, I returned it.

I never had any problems with the M8 Flip.

Re: Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

#133

Post by jcul »

ninjin wrote: post #43
jcul wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I bought a Nokia 2660. After probably a month or so the hinge brackets broke from normal use. Nokia refused to refund / repair it saying that only a drop could have caused it. I replaced it with an AGM M8 which is a great dumbphone.

Thank you both for the warnings. I have been looking for a "dumb" phone and arrived at the Nokia and now I am eyeing up the AGM M8 FLIP Security+ [1] instead. [1]: https://www.agmmobile.com/products/agm-m8-security

Yeah I wanted to like the nokia, but it was such a cheap plastic-y build. Nokia refusing to repair it did leave a bad taste also.

Funny enough the software on the nokia and the M8 was very similar.

I also had the CAT S22 flip, but I couldn't warm to it. It's really heavy and bulky, runs android so can be a bit sluggish, not amazing battery. I even rooted it and removed some of the bloatware it comes with, but it just isn't a great phone.

I had no issues with the M8 Flip, I got the normal version, not the security plus. Even though the camera is not great, sometimes it can be useful to be able to send an image over MMS. It's nice and light but still feels quality. Good loud speaker etc.

It has call recording, optionally automatic, which is important for me. It takes an SD card and I was able to transfer contacts as a vcf file, podcasts, and even exercise videos after some conversion. Not that the screen was amazing for watching things, but for following an exercise video would work in a pinch.

I think something like this worked.

    ffmpeg -i "$INPUT" -c:v libx264 -profile:v baseline -vf setdar=dar=0,setsar=sar=0 -c:a copy "$OUTPUT"
Another thing I found cool is the ability to selectively lock the screen. It's kind of painful to have to type a pin if you just want to use the calculator or something. It has the option to choose which menu items are protected by the pin. So for example, things like call recordings, media, sms I would have locked, but not some other things.

I'm actually not using it at the moment, I moved to a jelly star by unihertz, which I love, but it's a very different offering. Though I am considering going back to the M8 for a few months.

Re: Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

#134

Post by rollcat »

dotancohen wrote: post #110
rollcat wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that difficult, DIY dumbphones are mostly case, buttons, display, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/20190827183214/http://alumni.med...

And a proprietary blob for actually communicating with the tower.

What are the alternatives? SDR? How's that with energy usage? Regional regulations?

Not cynical, just actually interested in practical answers and trade-offs.

Re: Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

#137

Post by insane_dreamer »

wkat4242 wrote: post #127
insane_dreamer wrote: post #105

Bring back the 9210!

It was really not a great phone. It was a really quirky combo of an organiser and a phone that didn't have much of a coupling between them. The keyboard was heavy to press and useless to type more than a line or two. It was really the worst of both worlds.

But it looked cool at the time ;)

Re: Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

#138

Post by sourcepluck »

wkat4242 wrote: post #124
sourcepluck wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a tad risky, as in, if I've an issue, returning it is an extra effort. Plus I'd be paying a fair bit extra for postage in the first place. I think the best bet for me over here (Ireland) is to research the CAT phone that is dumb enough and not too expensive. E.g., the CAT B26, for example, looks promising https://www.productindetail.com/pm/cat-b26

Be careful. CAT phones were made by Bullitt which went bankrupt early this year. Forget about support. https://www.androidpolice.com/bullitt-say-goodbye-to-rugged-...

I had spotted that, although thank you for pointing it out, it is indeed relevant.

My experience is that support can, under certain circumstances, be over-rated. Depending on your use case, of course.

If it's an Android-based phone with no support, and if you're not obliged to run specific mainstream apps on it, you can still keep them going for years and years with the magnificent F-Droid.

Source: just moved off of the Galaxy J-2 Prime I'd been using for maybe 5 years, and I'm not sure if it was supported even when I originally bought it, around 2019... I was on Android 8, or 6, or something ridiculous, I can't recall now.

With F-droid, and absolutely never logging in to a Google account, and deleting and disabling everything I safely could, and a couple of APKs like Signal, and some very judicious memory usage, I'd a functional phone, and learned a lot too.

Only moved off it because a family member got a new work phone, and was just going to not use the old one. Yoink!

Re: Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

#139

Post by fuzztester »

ljf wrote: post #28
fuzztester wrote: post #24

around the same time that the original 5110 was getting popular, I bought my first mobile phone, a used Motorola Amio. It was quite big, with big buttons, and looked somewhat like a walkie talkie. I liked it and used it for about a year, before I got another make of phone. I searched and found some images that look something like it: https://www.google.com/search?q=motorola+amio+phone

I remember that Motorola, I was opening a student bank account and they offered a free 3 year student railcard (to buy discount tickets), a camera or that motorola - I was just about to get it when the lack of Snake and also the pretty poor contract it came on made me jump for the Railcard. But still felt wild at the time that they were 'giving away' a mobile phone.

ha, nice story. I can relate to it.

but the US practice of a contract thing for phones seems to me to be a scam, kind of like a lock-in scheme. in fact i am sure that it is that. because then they have you by the balls, financially, for their gain and your loss, and you can bet your ass that they will exploit that position, if not now, then in the future.

It is highway robbery, IMO.

I wonder why people in the US do not understand this.

Or is it related to what I have heard, but not sure whether it is true, that a lot of people in the US do not have much savings, and so live paycheck to paycheck? and is it also related to the constant desire for consumption, which I've also read about?

Fuck, that's pretty bad, if so. I can understand that there can be many historical reasons why a lot of people are now in that state, due to past and current oppression, non-level playing field, etc.

I am not judging, just commenting and asking.

In at least some other countries, including India, mobile providers or mobile phone sellers trying to lock in people to such schemes, would be laughed out of court, so to speak, by the vast majority of consumers, IMO, although I have have heard of some such schemes that do exist, and some people probably do go for them, for short term reasons, due to being cash-strapped.

Re: Nokia 5110 – Back from the Dead (2022)

#140

Post by wwoessi »

hackertux wrote: post #26
paxys wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well good news for you – Nokia still sells plenty of these kinds of phones (just not in the USA). It’ll be pretty easy to import them from a developing market, on eBay or elsewhere. E.g. see https://www.amazon.in/s?k=nokia

I think what parent meant is that he would be willing to pay good money to anyone who could clone the 5110 to use 4g and keep the same screen.

Yes. I love the simplicity of the screen and ui, and don't want these newer ones. the problem with the older ones is they don't work anymore as 2G or 3G is disabled nowadays for many providers in the EU.
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