Hacker News Reader

Comment by keiferski | Hacker News Reader

An old iPod touch/tablet with WiFi might be a sufficient replacement.

I'm not a fan of the Apple ecosystem, so that doesn't work for me specifically. But I am going to carry a pocket computer that doesn't have cellphone capabilities to replace what I use a smartphone for. And it will be running ordinary Linux, not Android.

Cool; can you share which one you're thinking about using? Thanks.

I'm building my own.

Don't leave us hanging like that, bro. Are you going to start with a generic ARM dev board, or what?

The prototype I have breadboarded up uses an ARM dev board (I'm keeping close to the chip that R-Pis use, so I can leverage that existing code), but the end product will be a PCB of my own design.

Once I've completed the project, it's very likely that I'll write it up on one of my websites. I'll submit the link to HN at that time so everyone can see what I've done.

The short and sweet, it's an ARM-based micro, with WiFi, Bluetooth, a couple of USB ports and an HDMI output (to use with a HUD that I have). It will have an old-school color 4-inch LCD with resistive touch for its screen (not ideal, but the best I can do right now. I'll work on upgrading that to an OLED w/capactive touch in version 2). It will also have 8 physical buttons, because I like physical buttons. It will be in a 3D printed case. The total size will be roughly the same as an average thin smartphone, but will be a mm or two thicker.

It will link up with my watch, which will be the primary way I interact with it on a daily basis. My goal is that 90% of the time I won't need to actually handle the device itself.

Sounds awesome, looking forward to your future post!

Are you using an existing smartwatch or building something yourself there too?

Right now, I'm using a Pebble, but I think that watch doesn't have too many years left in it, so I've been looking at building a new one. That's a future project, though.

Inspiring, I hope to read future details of your progress!

out of curiosity, which pocket computer are you going with? I have been interested in this idea as well.

That is intriguing. 95% of my phone utilization could be replaced by a disconnected pocket computer that syncs wikipedia / email / news every morning.

Come to think of it, would an iphone with the cellular network disabled do?

Indeed a smartphone with no sim card is ideal for what's being discussed here, because even without a cell plan it can call 911.

This is true -- and if you're happy with Android or iOS, then that's probably the best recommendation. But I don't use iOS, and a big part of the appeal of this for me is to be able to stop using Android.

Keep in mind though that even without a SIM location data will still be accessible/stored by the network providers through the devices IMEI number.

Maybe a good fix for this edge-case scenario would be an optional feature to normally refrain from connecting to the networks (i.e. airplane mode) but to override that and connect straightaway when an emergency call is placed?

I believe if you’ve turned off the phone radio (airplane mode), that should not be the case.

This would be true assuming the phone has not previously been compromised. Not a safe assumption considering baseband backdoors have been found in the wild and are suspected to be fairly wide spread. https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/Samsung...

Airplane mode

I’m curious, as well, what Linux flavor you’re planning to use. I’ve been considering loading Maru¹ on to an old Nexus 5X, and I wonder if that’s what you have planned, too.

There’s just something about running LineageOS on an old Galaxy Tab 2 (still Android, although apparently the hardware support is phenomenal) that has me trawling eBay for cheap tablets.

¹ https://maruos.com/

Same for a Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 for me. Works very well though I believe LineageOS has abandoned updates for the device. Battery replacements take minutes to do as well.

Purism and Pine are looking interesting.

Well, I'm undecided. Since I'm beginning the process of shifting my machines from Linux to BSD, my inclination is to use BSD if I can. If there's a showstopper there, then I'll go with Debian.

Is it though? Pretty hard to live without mobile data, let alone texting and calling outside of a WiFi hotspot

It depends on your needs. Right now, I use very nearly zero mobile data with my smartphone -- 99.9% of the time, if I need internet access then I'm within range of a WiFi AP I can use. Texting and phone calls, as well as mobile data, can be done with a feature phone that allows tethering.

Won't the cops just track you by your feature phone location?

If they want to, sure. But that's not a threat vector that I'm really worried about -- and should that be a concern for some reason, I can always yank the battery.

if you turn WiFi and bluetooth OFF, you might be ok... otherwise your location can still be tracked.

Modern smartphones keep recording WiFi access points even when you toggle WiFi off.

I still waiting for a non-Android phone with a physical radio cut-off switch, and removable battery... not holding my breath though :(

Librem 5?

That's a setting that can be disabled in Android (assuming they're not straight up lying of course), it even asks you about it during initial device setup, separately from enabling location services in general.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com