Downgrading and optimizing older phones

[Massive Knobhead]

I never had the chance to get a phone with an actual physical keyboard or even numberpad of my own (yes, I am a zoomer) until very recently, with a device mostly bought for limiting screen time.
It's from this weird time period (around 2017) where a couple of Korean companies were churning out smart flip phones for parents to buy for their kids and even by then the Android version they had on these was somewhat obsolete.
Unfortunately, I'm not nearly as tech-savvy as I would like to be but I have de-Googled the device and made significant concessions in the way I communicate with family and friends in order to make the user experience as smooth as possible. Although it is somewhat inconvenient, I have also found it pretty freeing at the same time. My only caveat is having to carry around a power bank because the damn thing runs out of battery pretty fast. I'm still on the lookout for a lightweight one that has a USB-B port.

What are your experiences with this kind of stuff? Is it worth the effort or should one just give up entirely?

 

[YoshiEgg]

If you are a zoomer and doing this, you will get some aura with girls and boys (if you are into this) and save a lot of money, also, photos from older models usually look better, aesthetically speaking, because there is less camera software interference with the image even if the new lenses are better.

If you are an older guy like me, but you don't have game like me, you will probably be look down, like a poorfag and be chastized by everyone, mighty even interfere with your career and academic process because people will see you as a sloppy person and not tech-savvy in the era of AI (Even if most people don't even know how to prompt the most basic shit).

You should look for older models that are usually called dumbphones:

https://www.dumbphones.org/

Keep up the good fight.

 

[BootyDickAssNigga]

A company called unihertz has some keyboard smartphones that are like blackberry phones they made but with android and all. Kind of expensive though.

I actually tried using a straight up flip phone at one point and my job ultimately forced me to get a smartphone again. I had a flip phone growing up but to be honest it fucking sucks typing anything with a flip phone.

If screen time is a concern maybe limiting yourself to a specific device isn't the answer (it's why I had a flip phone).

 

[User names must be unique]

I don't understand getting a shittier device to 'limit screen time'. Seems to me kinda like smoking crack from a soda-can instead of a crack pipe, when you should just stop smoking crack.

Get a hobby nigger.

 

[⚞⛇⚟]

Consooming won't reduce your screen time, it just makes you look like a retarded goy.
That being said, trying to run cyanogenmod/lineage OS and Linux on old phones is pretty fun. I enjoy seeing how far I can push old pieces of junk. I wish I was less retarded so I could actually write drivers and patches to get everything working properly.

 

[monk]

I used to degoogle and flash roms on smartphones back when they were still easy to root/unlock, but I broke all those old phones. The one I bought lately wanted me to insert the sim and login to a xiaomi account to unlock, and fuck that. I have my sim in my Linux phone, it's never going into a chinese spy device.

 

[Chongqing]

What are your experiences with this kind of stuff? Is it worth the effort or should one just give up entirely?

I have a Nokia that I used to use in 2013-14 that has an old fashioned number keyboard. I still use it as my backup if I need to call 911 when I'm doing outdoors stuff.

I had another one I think was called a Samsung Rugby, an indestructible flip phone. I enjoyed it but it didn't have a headphone jack.

Both of these were normal to use at the time so I can't speak to the software aspects of it.

 

[Let it burn to fuckin ash]

It is hard to not romanticize an older phone, the simpler time, and less intrusive eco system of mobile phones but...I think it is a load of bs to do so.

However, while my daily driver is a newer smart phone I have a soft spot for Nokia Lumia series. Notably the 925, 1020, and 1520. There is a thriving community and keeping the Win8.1 phones up and running.

As a result, and as a hobby, I have a few of them and they are the bomb. Fun to unlock, old school simple, and a throwback to before smart phones were entirely enshittified . All of them jailbroken, ample sideloaded apps, but mostly because I love the 1020, the camera is simple but takes perfect dng photots and the form factor when it is in the camera case is clever af.

It is a fun project to unlock them.

A working 1020 will run you <$100, a 16Gb 1520 will run about $150. Jailbreaking and sideloading apps is as easy as it used to be with older android phones, and the win phone UI is still, imo, exceptional.

The 1020 is good on battery, the 1520 better but none of them are as good as a modern phone. Also, they are microusb, not a big inconvenience. Also, 1020 and 1520 are 4g network phones.

No physical keyboards though.

Little sperg there, but so be it.

 

[catpetter]

I live in Australia (No clue if this is in other countries) and over here you can walk down to the post office (or even the grocery store) and buy a dumb phone with likely either Telstra or Optus branding. There's also Android phones but from what I've heard they're slow.

I don't understand getting a shittier device to 'limit screen time'. Seems to me kinda like smoking crack from a soda-can instead of a crack pipe, when you should just stop smoking crack.

I think this is because these phones barely ever have social media, even though a lot of them are Android and can easily have stuff sideloaded.

If you want to avoid social media, why not just delete your accounts? If you can't delete them, scramble your password, change the email to a tempmail and logout. If you're just autistic about these phones then by all means go ahead.

 

[Pee Cola]

If you are an older guy like me, but you don't have game like me, you will probably be look down, like a poorfag and be chastized by everyone, mighty even interfere with your career and academic process because people will see you as a sloppy person and not tech-savvy in the era of AI (Even if most people don't even know how to prompt the most basic shit).

Meanwhile in the Western world where nobody literally gives a fuck about what phone you have, there are issues the OP may encounter. For example, if OP is going way back to 3G phones, there's a chance that if they still live somewhere with 3G, they'll be on borrowed time. Even some early 4G phones have been borked by the shutdown of at least one 3G network.

OP would be better off using their old smartphone for purposes such as a portable media player. Given that it's likely to have a 3.5mm headphone jack, using it to play audio is a no-brainer. For best results - especially if you want to use it for video as well as audio - root the phone and use Titanium Backup to disable or uninstall all the baked-in Google shit. That will speed things right up.