#dumbphone — Public Fediverse posts

My new phone arrived on Saturday, and I've been playing with it so that I can give at least a somewhat knowledgeable review. For a bit of background, try these posts.

https://someplace.social/@dandylover1/117016570097287465

https://someplace.social/@dandylover1/117080735346981626

Note that I have not tried Calculator, E-mail, Browser, Messages, or usb tethering and hotspot. I know that it will speak inside of the message edit box, but I haven't sent a message, since it seems I need to add a contact first. The only ones i would really use of those are Calculator and hotspot/tethering, anyway. I shall divide this into pros, cons, and overall opinion.

Pros
*It has real buttons. This was my main purpose in buying this phone. I was sick of touchscreens. The navigation pad isn't really tactile in the sense of having separate buttons as my Kyocera Rally did, but it's fairly easy to figure out, since it's just a circle with only four options.
* Yes, it has a screen reader. It's called Readout. Tello does not include the user manual in the box and directs users to the official one by TCL. For some inexplicable reason, while they mention other accessibility features such as hearing aid compatibility, they say absolutely nothing about a screen reader. Fortunately, both AT&T and Tracfone do. This is from AT&T.
https://www.att.com/device-support/index/tcl/flip-2/
* Readout reads almost everything. Almost all menus are read. Certainly, important ones such as settings are, except for the battery percentage. I can easily add a Bluetooth device, set an alarm, change ring tones, switch to usb file transfer mode, read all files on the phone (and presumably on an sd card/I'm waiting for that to arrive), read notifications, use the Music, Recorder, and Notes programs. I think I can also add contacts, but I'm still working on that.
*Files are easily transferred from my computer to the phone and vise versa. Even though it's a very old version (11), on AOSP, so I'm not truly surprised about that.
*It works well with an external keyboard. Mostly, I won't be using one, but it really helps when adding contacts, writing notes, or sending texts, though I usually do the last via Google Voice on my computer.
*It's not huge. I was concerned that it would be a very long phone, but it's really not. It's also narrow and very easy to hold in the hand.
*The battery life is excellent. It lasts for a long time if it's just sitting idle.
*It has a headphone jack. I really missed that when going to the SE3 from my A15. Now, I can listen to things without worrying that the batteries in my earbuds will die.

Cons
*Setting it up the first time requires sighted assistance. There is no way to turn Readout on with a hotkey such as the volume buttons, as with regular Android. But the option appears very early in the process, and if you wanted to, once it was on, you could finish the process yourself.
*Setting alarms can be confusing at first. For some reason, while it always speaks the first number in each column (hour and minute), when I arrow up and down, it says nothing. Then, when I go back to it, it will tell me the changes. For example, if the hour is on 9 and I set it to 10, it will not say "10". IIf the minute is on 29 and I set it to 30, it says nothing. But if I then go back to the hour column, it will say "10" and if I then go to the minute column, it will say "30". Now that I know this, it's fairly simple to do.
*The battery percentage isn't announced via the menus. As with the clock, I don't understand this. It reads everything up to clicking on "battery level" and then it just says "okay" without actually telling me the level. The only way I can be sure of it is to plug the phone into a wall outlet, a computer, or a power bank.
*The calendar does not speak at all. Absolutely nothing in the calendar speaks.
*It does not announce whose calling. At first, I was upset about this. Then, I realized that the only phone which did that was my Kyocera Rally and then only because I chose a ring tone that specifically read out messages. None of my iphones (SE, SE2, and SE3) nor my galaxy A15 read out numbers. I must unlock the phone to read them. Here, though, if I open the phone, it answers. The other option is press any key, so no matter what, I won't ever know who's calling. I can, however, set specific ring tones for contacts and just ignore everyone else.
*Programs can be installed on it, but it's not easy or officially supported. I wasn't sure whether to include this in Pros or Cons, but since everyone says it's extremely difficult, as the phone must be rooted and failure and even ruining the phone are possible, I put it under Cons. I won't be attempting it. But for those interested, this is a forum discussion that explains how to do it. It also contains a site with programs for flip phones in general, so you might find it useful, even if you own another model or brand entirely.
https://www.howardforums.com/threads/tcl-flip-2-modding-info.1927948/
*The branding on this phone is very confuding. When trying to determine if this phone had a screen reader, I came across several similar-sounding names. The Alcatel My Flip 2 and Flip Go 2 are entirely different phones. But the TCL Flip 2 and Alcatel TCL Flip 2, all with the model number T408DL (or ALT408DL) are the same thing.

Overall Opinion
I absolutely love this phone! It's small, light, has real buttons, speaks what I need it to speak, and even has some extras like music, Recorder, Notes, alarm/timer, and hotspot. I can finally simply call someone and hang up without annoyances, an use a phone that doesn't require the strength of Hercules and the hands of a giant to hold! I would highly recommend this to anyone who just wants a simple phone and doesn't want to pay over $300 for the Minivision2+. While the Flip 2 isn't designed for the blind, it does most things right and can definitely be used daily.

#Android #accessibility #AOSP #blind #Dumbphone #FlipPhone #MiniVision2+ #MobilePhone #TCLFlip2 #Tello #technology

Commodore Callback Email: Is Peri Getting Nervous?
#Commodore #Callback8020 #Perifractic #CommodoreCallback #C64Ultimate #Lemon64 #Sailfish #MediaTek #RetroComputing #DumbPhone #DigitalDetox #ModernRetro #GEOS #ImpossibleMission
https://theoasisbbs.com/commodore-callback-email-is-peri-getting-nervous/?fsp_sid=8741

@annika This was always curious to me: https://www.punkt.ch/pages/mp02-4g-minimalist-phone-pigeon

I had an MP01 phone from Punkt. and it felt good, despite some annoying gripes in the primitive software.

I think @ruari has a MP02. Did you ever set up Signal integration, Ruari?

#Punkt #PunktMP02 #Signal #dumbphone

“I was beside myself when they stopped making iPods”: The people still collecting obsolete tech.

A growing cohort of people are shunning new technologies in favour of the outdated or obsolete.

Euronews Next spoke to four collectors about escaping digital fatigue with dumb phones and iPods.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20260516-i-was-beside-myself-when-they-stopped-making-ipods-the-people-still-collecting-obsolete-tech?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

#Tech #Nostalgia #MobilePhones #Ipod #Smartphone #DumbPhone #Collecting #Collectors

TIL that the #Taxis app on #KaiOS (the #dumbPhone #OS) does #Uber rides

This means, #flipPhones can get Uber rides.

https://soft-travel-311871.framer.app/

Huoh. Mä niin halusin tykätä tästä Punktista.
Olin valmis katsomaan läpi sormien huonon akunkeston, satunnaiset jäätymiset, Pigeon(=Signal)-appin laitelinkityksen poistumisen, 5G-yhteensopivuuden puuttumisen, glitchit, naarmuille alttiin maalipinnan yms. Mutta nyt katkesi kamelin selkä. Tää putos mulla ekaa kertaa maahan, ja näytön lasi meni tuhannen sirpaleiksi. Eikä pelkästään ulkokuori, vaan näyttöön tuli kuolleita pikselirivejä ja muita vaurioita. Eli turha tätä on varmaan Sveitsiin lähettää, kun käytännössä tarvii kokonaan uuden luurin. Melkeinpä voisi sanoa että alkoi jo vähän harmittamaan.

Otin pääpuhelimeksi takaisin käyttöön mun Motorola-älypuhelimen, mutta kun seuraa tätä Android-uutisointia, niin en koe tätä pitkällä tähtäimellä sellaiseksi valinnaksi, jota mielelläni käytän. Voisiko Jolla Phonesta olla pelastajaksi? Tietoturvaan ja yksityisyyteen panostava Linux-puhelin kuulostaa kyllä todella hyvältä, ja kotimaisuus on aina plussaa. Tammikuun loppuun asti oli muistaakseni aikaa ennakkotilata...

Meikäläisen "dumb phone era" jäi valitettavan lyhyeksi. Punkt oli ainoa vaihtoehto, jossa yhdistyi mun vaatimukset: hotspot, minimalismi, T9-näppäimistö, Signal-yhteensopivuus. Mutta ei millään tuolla ole väliä, kun laitteen design ei palvele puhelimen konkreettista käyttöä tavallisessa arjessa. Voi miksi ihmeessä tässä piti olla lasinen näyttö, joka on vielä ulkokuoren kanssa samassa tasossa... kun laitteessa ei ole edes kosketusnäyttöä?

Mikään 3310 tämä ei kestävyydeltään todellakaan ole. Eikä myöskään käytettävyydeltä.

No, tulipahan kokeiltua.

#punkt #punktmp02 #dumbphone #degoogle #linux #linuxphone #jolla #jollaphone #signal

Alright, Apple, I give up. I've ordered a Sunbeam F1 Pro Juniper.

#DumbPhone #FeaturePhone #BasicPhone

Looking for a #dumbphone with @signalapp support. The Punkt MP02 is the only one I've found so far. Still for sale, beautiful design, but unfortunately: "5th August 2021 - Android and Vendor Platform security updates are no longer provided."

Any other suggestions?

#basicphone #flipphone #punktmp02 #signal #signalapp

(@[email protected])

One of #TheNiceThings about #3G being #Dead is that I can #Continue to use my #SonyEricsson #DumbPhone as a #Bookmark... | #NoFuss #ZeroDrama

That's #QuiteHandy... #AlsoAvailable in #PlumAndRusty...

🧙:spinning_pinwheel:​🤖🐺🤖:spinning_pinwheel:​🧙 | :fediverse:​🦹:loading:​🦄:loading:​🦹:fediverse: