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The Quest for a Dumber Phone

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Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#41

Post by gog »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #35
extr0pian wrote: post #32

I had researched dumb phones recently only to learn that the two most important functions of a smartphone (for me) is the GPS and having a decent camera, and these things are either crippled or missing entirely from dumb phones. It's simply easier to dumb down your existing smartphone, especially if you have an Android phone. In my case, I have a 2017 Pixel 2 XL running LineageOS, with a text only home screen launche…

Being about to use various instant messaging platforms, especially WhatsApp, is also nice.

Nokia has a model that works with WhatsApp.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#42

Post by red-iron-pine »

extr0pian wrote: post #32

I had researched dumb phones recently only to learn that the two most important functions of a smartphone (for me) is the GPS and having a decent camera, and these things are either crippled or missing entirely from dumb phones. It's simply easier to dumb down your existing smartphone, especially if you have an Android phone. In my case, I have a 2017 Pixel 2 XL running LineageOS, with a text only home screen launche…

Literally tried to upgrade my Pixel 2 XL to Lineage and it failed repeatedly. Reddit says, no joke, it's the cable that's the problem. Sigh. Same computer didn't have issues flashing old Galaxy and Nexus phones.

Bought a dumb phone but found it lacking for your exact reasons -- no GPS, crappy camera, and texting using the number pad was tedious as all hell.

Gave up, got a Pixel 7, might think about flashing it.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#43

Post by extr0pian »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #35
extr0pian wrote: post #32

I had researched dumb phones recently only to learn that the two most important functions of a smartphone (for me) is the GPS and having a decent camera, and these things are either crippled or missing entirely from dumb phones. It's simply easier to dumb down your existing smartphone, especially if you have an Android phone. In my case, I have a 2017 Pixel 2 XL running LineageOS, with a text only home screen launche…

Being about to use various instant messaging platforms, especially WhatsApp, is also nice.

I had Signal installed for a while, but ultimately removed it because it's mostly friends sending stupid memes, breaking whatever I was concentrating on seemingly at random. I do have it running on my laptop.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#44

Post by extr0pian »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #42
extr0pian wrote: post #32

I had researched dumb phones recently only to learn that the two most important functions of a smartphone (for me) is the GPS and having a decent camera, and these things are either crippled or missing entirely from dumb phones. It's simply easier to dumb down your existing smartphone, especially if you have an Android phone. In my case, I have a 2017 Pixel 2 XL running LineageOS, with a text only home screen launche…

Literally tried to upgrade my Pixel 2 XL to Lineage and it failed repeatedly. Reddit says, no joke, it's the cable that's the problem. Sigh. Same computer didn't have issues flashing old Galaxy and Nexus phones. Bought a dumb phone but found it lacking for your exact reasons -- no GPS, crappy camera, and texting using the number pad was tedious as all hell. Gave up, got a Pixel 7, might think about flashing it.

> Literally tried to upgrade my Pixel 2 XL to Lineage and it failed repeatedly. Reddit says, no joke, it's the cable that's the problem.

I recently started having issues with the data functionality of the port. I can't get ADB to run at all, it will only charge. The power button also doesn't work so I've had to set it to shut off the screen by holding down the "Recents" button.

> Bought a dumb phone but found it lacking for your exact reasons

I like the idea of dumb phones, but I don't want to have to buy separate things like a digital camera, GPS, mp3 player, etc. Seems like it's just adding more complexity.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#45

Post by kibwen »

I recently "upgraded" to a new phone, not because I wanted to, but because my prior phone was too old to receive security updates. The new phone, despite being newer tech, is abjectly worse at being a usable device: the fingerprint is in a worse location and has terrible accuracy, scrolling or zooming anything is a stuttering nightmare, it's too heavy and wide to be comfortably used one-handed, and so on. It's so much worse it makes me not want to use it. And, ironically, being discouraged from using my phone has made me marginally happier throughout the day. So thanks, I guess, for making an inferior product??

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#46

Post by superkuh »

I use a Nokia 6030 phone; the old indestructible brick one. It still works where I am. But I don't use it because I want to get away from the internet. I just don't use smart phones because they're terrible computers. I use a computer for computing, a GPS for navigation, and a camera for photos. And each of these devices is better at it's job with fewer downsides than any general purpose device.

Mostly the "smart phones/internet/etc" are ruining society reaction is the same type of thing as the reactions to the introduction to newspapers/books, electricity, radio, television, etc. These were all destroying society and addicting the youth. But they aren't addictive. The only existing medically recognized behavioral addiction (ie, not a real addiction like to a drug like methamphetamine) is "gambling disorder".

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#47

Post by googlryas »

rootusrootus wrote: post #11
patchorang wrote: post #8

I've posted this here before, but I've figured out a way that makes an iPhone work as a semi-smart phone for me. I delete all app that I waste time in, but keep one that are useful. (I won't blow two hours scrolling Lyft, and it's very helpful sometimes) I then set screentime permissions to block websites I don't want to use (like reddit), and prevent app downloads. I set a screentime password and give it to my partn…

This reminds me of when my dad used to ask my mother to hide the peanut butter so he couldn't find it. He was still fat, so clearly that wasn't a perfect solution.

Maybe he would have been really fat if he didn't hide it

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#48

Post by bovermyer »

cpsns wrote: post #34
bovermyer wrote: post #27

What about landlines? I feel like that's an option people rarely talk about. I use my iPhone as a camera, for text chatting with (less than 5) people, and for navigation, mostly. Sometimes I use it as a phone. I could see replacing the phone feature (except for emergencies) with a landline.

Due to where I live I have to maintain a wired phone as I can’t get a reliable cell signal. I just have a voip phone adapter connected to a random old phone and I use voip.ms for the actual service. It costs effectively nothing to run. It’s not a landline in the transitional sense, but those largely don’t exist anymore.

My house still has phone wiring and my ISP still offers landline services, and I'm not in a primitive area.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#49

Post by cpsns »

bovermyer wrote: post #48
cpsns wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Due to where I live I have to maintain a wired phone as I can’t get a reliable cell signal. I just have a voip phone adapter connected to a random old phone and I use voip.ms for the actual service. It costs effectively nothing to run. It’s not a landline in the transitional sense, but those largely don’t exist anymore.

My house still has phone wiring and my ISP still offers landline services, and I'm not in a primitive area.

Yes, but it’s probably not a landline in the way most people think. Almost all those services use voip backends now with only the last mile being copper.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#50

Post by rhn_mk1 »

stagger87 wrote: post #30
em500 wrote: post #20

Focusing on the phone seems like missing the mark. The addictive thing is not the phone, but the internet. Even with a dumbphone you can easily waste as much time on your laptop's web-browser (and people did: FB and Youtube were already big before the iPhone was a thing). Conversely, if you turn off data, there are not many possibilities to spend huge amounts of time on your phone. (And yes, there are still plenty of…

It's not the bottle that's addictive, it's the alcohol inside. Just don't open the bottle and there are not many possibilities to drink!

You make it sound as if alcohol was the only thing ever found in bottles.
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