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Comment by extr0pian | Hacker News Reader

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 launcher (OLauncher). I only have SMS, phone/contacts, camera, open street maps, KOReader, Music, Podcasts, Notes, and Calculator. That's it. Everything else has been purged or disabled, including the web browser, via ADB.

I don't really use it all unless I'm driving. I wrote about my setup here: https://chuck.is/phone

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I'm in a similar boat. GPS, Camera, but also Telegram and a basic browser for reference.

Dumbing down a smart phone doesn't fix the size and delicateness of the device either. I essentially want a tiny durable smartphone, ie size of an iPhone 3g.

My biggest thing is I hate how important this device is while also being unwieldy and easy to break. The only entertainment I use on my phone is twitter and even then I find it easy to stop scrolling.

I want the abilities of a smart phone, but something I can keep on me without worrying about it, like wearing a watch or how I can throw around my wallet.

Try a smartwatch with cellular connectivity?

Apple Watches still need an iPhone mothership, which of course you can leave in a drawer at home.

While true that an iPhone is still needed somewhere in the process, Apple now lets you set up an Apple Watch for family members that don't have an iPhone.

Set up Apple Watch for a family member - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211768

I had thought that smartwatches didn't have cameras, but it looks like some do, at least. I can't imagine they're very good, since iPhones have a hard enough time fitting good cameras.

> Dumbing down a smart phone doesn't fix the size

Ugh, agreed. Pockets aren't getting bigger!

Rugged smartphones are available, but not as small as you'd like.

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.

> Reddit says, no joke, it's the cable that's the problem.

Not surprising. My experience across a few different Android devices over the years is just about all USB-related functionality is a flaky mess, and that includes things like ADB and installing new ROMs. How it's flaky varies from device to device which makes it extra fun.

Can confirm with Android phones and vr headsets that ADB access can definitely be affected by choice of cable. Talk about face palm, but it is what it us

Not knowing anything about Pixel 2's USB functionality, but I have encountered cases where new cables have solved the problem I was encountering. One time was when I've tried to transfer files from my phone to the desktop and the speeds were ludicrously slow, like ~2Mbps where normally it would be 80-100 Mbps. The cable was rather old at that point and I bit the bullet and bought a new one and at that point I've realised that cables can worn out eventually.

That OLauncher home screen just made me take a deep breath, very very nice! Truly 'calm tech' [0]

My anxiety with ditching Android to LineageOS is the loss of all the software-defined image quality in the Camera app.

What has been your experience using your phone camera with Lineage? As in is it good enough to also capture some family moments or do you use it just as functional camera to take pictures of something you need to remember?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calm_technology

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

Nokia has a model that works with WhatsApp.

Which model?

Nokia 6300 4G

Thanks! Will check it out. Whatsapp is a requisite comm tool for me and less-habit-forming compared with some other popular apps.

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.

You know you can mute notifications and ignore until you decide to look into it?

I'm aware and I have. It's been helpful, but I tend to get into the habit of checking and messaging friends at random when I feel I feel slightly bored. Secondly, they'll often send me links and Youtube videos that I can't open. I'll likely reinstall it again in specific situations, like when I'm traveling abroad. Thirdly, the battery life on my phone lasts a few days without Signal running in the background. I've had the setup I have for about two months and it's working for me, at least right now.

Have you looked into any of the Jolla devices? You can get a Sony Experia phone with Linux SailfishOS preinstalled on it for less than $500:

https://buy.jolla-devices.com/

Or even installing CalyxOS? You can get a Pixel 5a 5G phone (selling on ebay for under $200) and then install CalyxOS on it.

https://calyxos.org/

I'm going to grab one of the Jolla devices and give it a test drive next month. I think there's decent alternative out there where you can still maintain your privacy without having to step all the way down to a "dumb phone".

I've planned on running the Pixel 2 XL into the ground. I was originally running GrapheneOS but switched to LineageOS after support was dropped. I did look into CalyxOS but I believe support for the Pixel 2 was dropped around the same time that it was dropped by GrapheneOS - likely coinciding when Google stopped releasing security updates.

> It's simply easier to dumb down your existing smartphone, especially if you have an Android phone.

That claim is a bit nuanced, IMO. Before I finally chose to move to iPhones, I tried my best to remove distractions from my Android phone, and I failed. iOS is less customisable, but comes with a configuration/ecosystem baseline that's far easier to tolerate, and insofar as it is flexible, the changes are far less painful than bringing an Android to that level.

Again, that's just my experience. YMMV.

What did you find difficult in removing distractions on Android?

I got a Pixel 5 few years ago (seemingly the smallest form factor Android device), didn't install any apps, removed a bunch of stock apps I didn't need, and turned off notifications for everything beside incoming calls/messages. After that, I just trained myself to avoid using search/the browser unless necessary and to do something else when the itch arises to check the phone for something.

I'll have to check out OLauncher. I use and adore another open source text launcher: KISS

I'm sorry, but I don't understand your first sentence. You researched dumbphones and discovered they're not smartphones? I'm struggling to understand what you thought you were going to find.

Feature phones in the later '00s usually had cameras, it's not a feature that started with smartphones.

I had spent time researching dumb phones and thinking about what my needs are with a mobile device (ie GPS and decent camera). What I learned was that a "dumbphone" isn't really an option. Maybe we're getting into semantics here, but can a dumbphone have both GPS and decent camera and still be considered a dumb?

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