From 97fe6f347a2709514fffde239b08f37d0b96e397 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Neale Pickett Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2024 14:26:17 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] dumbphone --- .../apps.md | 61 ++++++++ .../index.md | 130 ++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 191 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/2024/01-17-my-dumb-dumbphone-experiment/apps.md create mode 100644 content/blog/2024/01-17-my-dumb-dumbphone-experiment/index.md diff --git a/content/blog/2024/01-17-my-dumb-dumbphone-experiment/apps.md b/content/blog/2024/01-17-my-dumb-dumbphone-experiment/apps.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c8a6dc --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2024/01-17-my-dumb-dumbphone-experiment/apps.md @@ -0,0 +1,61 @@ +--- +title: App List +--- + +This is most of the apps I use on my smartphone. + +* 1Password: I'll have to rely on the browser version +* A Better Route Planner: The new phone has some version of Google Maps, + and longer trips can be planned on the computer beforehand +* *Amtrak*: this one could be tough. Having the Amtrak app is very helpful + on train voyages when problems happen. +* Andronome: A metronome app. I bet I can make a web app on woozle.org to do this. +* AntennaPod: Podcasts. I think there's a podcast app for KaiOS. +* Authenticator: There's a TOTP app for KaiOS. I may need to update it. +* Awful: I'll use the web version. +* Book Reader: I wasn't reading books on the phone. What's funny is that + I read Moby Dick on my Nokia 5310. But the smartphone is too distracting to read. +* Calculator: KaiOS has a calculator. +* ChargePoint: EV charger app. I may have to either pay more and use my credit card, + or get their plastic card for in-network rates. +* ConnectBot: ssh client. There's one on my laptop. +* Contacts: There's one built into KaiOS. +* Electrify America: same story as ChargePoint. +* EVGo: same story. +* Firefox: KaiOS has a browser. I bet it's awful. But I don't think I'll use it much. +* Fitbit: Gonna have to give this one up. +* Gmail: I'm already off gmail. +* *Google Calendar*: This may be the thing that pulls me back. + Getting push reminders of upcoming events has been a big deal. +* Google Home: I think I actually need to keep the phone just for this app. +* Google Messages: It'll be SMS only for me. +* Google News: good riddance. +* Google Photos: web version. +* Google Podcasts: they're killing this anyway. +* Google Pay: credit cards have tap to pay. +* Listen Audiobook Player: I'll have to see if I can find a KaiOS app for this. +* Mattermost: No more work push notifications for me, so sad. +* Open Camera: The camera is not as big a part of my life now as it once was. + I can get snapshots with the dumbphone. Not good ones, but good enough. + I grew up with crummy 110 cameras. It'll be okay. +* Plex: maybe I can copy video files over, for the train trips. + Will I want to watch movies on a 2-inch screen, though? + Good thing I have a laptop! +* PlexAmp: I will have to copy music files over to my phone, like I did 20 years ago. + It'll be okay. +* Proton Mail: laptop ahoy! +* *Signal*: Ironically, Signal is the one app that absolutely cannot run without a smartphone. + And it's where most of my friends are. +* gStrings: (instrument tuner) I may have to buy a guitar tuner! +* YouTube: comes with the phone, although, again, 2-inch screen. +* YouTube Music: same story as PlexAmp. Music files on phone. +* Work Apps: I'll just use my work laptop for work. It'll be fine, + the main inconvenience will be when I forget to do my timecard, + I'll have to grab the laptop. +* Banking Apps: they all have web sites I can use, + although one of my credit cards leans fairly heavily into the app. + + + + + diff --git a/content/blog/2024/01-17-my-dumb-dumbphone-experiment/index.md b/content/blog/2024/01-17-my-dumb-dumbphone-experiment/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..569bc3c --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2024/01-17-my-dumb-dumbphone-experiment/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,130 @@ +--- +title: My Dumb Dumbphone Experiment +date: 2024-01-17 +tags: + - pocket computing +--- + +Last year, +I went on a quest to reduce how much time I spend on my "phone" +(which is actually a pocket computer: I don't place many calls with it). +Comparing notes with my kid last week, +it looks like I'm averaging about 1 hour per day, +which is pretty good. +Most of that appears to be using the web browser, +probably to look stuff up, +and the Something Awful Forums app. +I do a little bit of text messaging every day, +and a few other scattered "utility" apps here and there. + +The kid's phone stops getting security updates in August, +meaning we're going to have to drop another $500-$800 again, +or risk running malware on the gateway into her online life. + +I'm tired of this. + +I'm going to try using an $80 Nokia flip phone. +We'll see how it works out, +maybe jr will want one when it's time. + + +# Apps I'm Giving Up + +By doing this, +I am in essence giving up every app on my device at once. +Many of them have web page equivalents, +so this is not a big deal. +A few, like banking apps, +I suppose I can keep using the phone when I'm at home. +Maybe I can set up SMS check deposits: +that would mean I don't need the app at all. + +The ones that seem the most painful are: + +* Amtrak: Their web site isn't great, but maybe I just need to spend more time on it. +* Google Calendar: Getting reminders has caused an improvement in me being to things on time. +* Signal: This is where all my friends are. + +I made [a full list](apps.html), +if you're interested. + + +# Initial Thoughts + +It's much better than I remember featurephones being. +So it's exceeding my expectations, +which is nice. + +It is a lot bigger, though. +Much bigger than I was expecting. +Maybe in a few years there will be a smaller one I can get, +with the same functionality. +It's still significantly smaller than the smartphone, +so it's still an improvement. + +The text messages work pretty well, +I can do group messages and see images, +I can even send images and emoji. + +The music player is fine for me. +People on the Internet seem to hate it, +but it's playing my music files, +so whatever. +Bluetooth music playback is great too. + +I found a podcast app that seems decent enough. +That might be nice when Amy starts back at work, +but right now I'm not listening to a lot of podcasts. + +The browser is miles better than the one on the 5310. +It's good enough that I'm thinking about whether I should try writing an ePub reader +that I can host on Woozle. +I think maybe not: +I like the e-ink book reader I've got a lot. + +The phone part is fine, no complaints. +Speakerphone works well, maybe better than the smartphone. +Bluetooth works on calls exactly like it did on the Pixel. + +I paired it to the car, +but I can't imagine using it that way for anything other than calls +and quick voice-dictated text messages. +That's probably for the better: +ever since Google got rid of standalone Android Auto on the phone, +I've been unlocking it, navigating menus, and whatnot, +in the seconds I'm at red lights. +I was probably going to give up on that anyway. + +The camera is roughly equivalent to the point-and-shoot camera we have. +My requirement for keepsake photos is that they be at least as good as a 110 camera from 1975. +This is much better than that. +It also geo-tags photos, which is a nice thing to have. + +It comes with a low-resource version of Google Maps! +I haven't used it for directions yet, +but it seems like it'll be good enough. +This is a pretty big deal, +and I'm glad to have it. + +I can also connect to Google Mail, +Google Calendar, +and Google Contacts. +None of them seem to work particularly well: +I keep getting reminders for things that happened years ago. +Maybe cleaning out old events will help: +having calendar reminders would be pretty nice. + +The games are insipid. +No change there from the 5310. +It also has news and weather apps that will tell me some headlines and the weather, +but I have to go open them up to see it. +There's little chance I'll get wrapped up in any of these. + +Calculator is basic and fine. + +Honestly, I'm excited about the browser being so capable. +I tried sideloading an app in debug mode and ran into trouble, +but I'm realizing that I'm thinking about the phone wrong here. +It is a telephone with an okay camera. +I should only turn to it when I have no better options: +it's not there to try and replace a real computer.