232 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
232 lines
6.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Jelly Star
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date: 2024-09-24T10:00:00
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tags:
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- dumbphone
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- featurephone
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---
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I've been using a "Jelly Star" Android phone for the last week.
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It's about the size of 16 credit cards bundled together.
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It provides something like a featurephone,
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with a 2-day battery life,
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small size,
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and never getting a security patch.
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Because it's Android, I can install any Android app.
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But because it's a security nightmare, I don't.
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I've spent quite a while configuring it:
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around 10 hours so far.
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This is mostly a note to myself,
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in case I ever have to factory reset this phone.
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Maybe it will help other people, too.
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Install No-Icons Launcher
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=========================
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I like OLauncher.
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My two home screen apps are a calculator (I use RealCalc,
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because I like Reverse Polish Notation), and
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YouTube Music (for podcasts, mostly).
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I have the launcher configured to swipe right for the phone app,
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swipe left for the messages app.
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I had to reassign the phone app to the swipe right action
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to prevent it from bringing up the dialer each time.
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I also had to briefly switch back to the factory launcher
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to get the right bottom face button (recent apps) to work.
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I don't understand why this worked to fix it, but it did.
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Setting the font to the largest size was also helpful.
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Remove/Disable Apps
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===================
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This phone will never get a security patch,
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so I have to be very careful about what information is stored on it.
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"Information" here includes data,
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but also authentication tokens.
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This means no banking apps, car apps, browsers, podcast apps (except YouTube Music,
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which I verified re-encodes podcast icons), or cloud storage clients.
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My first step was to remove or disable as many apps as I could tolerate.
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This included:
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* Google Drive
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* Google Photos
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* Google TV
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* Google Assistant
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* Chrome
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* Gmail
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* Keep Notes
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* YouTube
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Install Better Camera
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=====================
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The built-in camera is actually pretty good:
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better than OpenCamera and a few others I tried.
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But GCam is still the best.
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I used [MGC 8.9.097 A11 V25](https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-bsg/f/dl227/)
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and loaded the [Jelly Star config](https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/f/configs-bsg-05/).
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I've mirrored these in `media/software/GCam` on my NAS,
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if those links ever break.
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I made a few changes to the config:
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[my config](js2.xml) might be a better starting point
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if I have to reinstall the phone.
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I installed the "Gallery" app (by Google)
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to view photos.
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Google Photos doesn't appear to provide anything I want.
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I can't get "top shot" to work:
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it's the feature that records a little video when you take a photo.
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RCS with Messages
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=================
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RCS wouldn't enable until I had updated the Messages app to the latest version,
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and then cleared data for the app.
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Weird System Things
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===================
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The OS has some strange additions in the settings.
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Apply Advanced Settings
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-----------------------
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There are three things under here:
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Network Manager
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: A handly little thing to disable Internet access to certain apps.
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I disabled it for GCam
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App Blocker
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: This is a power saving feature that works alongside (or maybe against)
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the power saving already in the OS. I turned it off.
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Freezer
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: I think this is a way to hide apps from yourself.
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Olauncher has it built in, so I haven't used it.
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LED lights
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----------
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You can make the lights on the back of the phone flash.
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I'm probably going to turn it off,
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it's starting to annoy me.
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Intelligent Assistance
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----------------------
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Some of these are well-explained on screen.
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Some aren't:
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Physical key switch
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: "Lefty" mode, switches the function of the left and right face buttons
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below the LCD, by making them "recent apps", "home", and "back".
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Memory Extension
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: I think this just creates a swap file. I wouldn't do it,
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once you wear out the flash memory, you have to buy a new phone.
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Call recorder
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: I guess this is nice? I turned it off.
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LED notification
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: This is the LED on the face of the phone.
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Super useful! I have mine blink on missed notifications.
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I wish more phones did this, but I guess it would mean
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people aren't turning their phones on all the time,
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which manufacturers probably don't want to happen.
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Shortcut Settings
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----------------
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PTT key
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: I guess there are some apps that work like a walkie-talkie.
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You can turn this on to have the red side button be "push to talk"
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for these apps.
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Programmable key
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: I left it at "None". I don't know what the other options do,
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other than disable the shortcuts.
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Shortcut settings
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: You can have the red button do certain things.
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Right now I only have it turning the flashlight on and off.
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Other System Settings
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---------------------
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I disabled gesture navigation.
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The screen is so small,
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the gestures were conflicting with other stuff like swipe text entry.
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Since the phone has the three face buttons anyhow,
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this works out fine.
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Install Some Other Apps
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======================
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Like it or not,
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I need a few other apps:
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* Car charging networks (PlugShare, EVGo, ChargePoint, and so on)
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* PhotoSync, to back up photos. It *only* has access to photos on our NAS.
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* PlayBook will play audiobooks. I like it.
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* Plexamp for music.
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* Travel apps: TripIt, Uber, Amtrak, Catima (stores barcodes)
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Accelerometer
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=======
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The "Toolbox" app that comes built in is actually pretty nice.
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It has a Pedometer that you can't seem to disable but are free to ignore.
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It also has a "bubble level" that lets you see if the accelerometer is calibrated.
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Mine wasn't.
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To calibrate the accelerometer,
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dial `*#*#3377#*#*` on the phone,
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then select "GRAVITY CALIBRATIO N".
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Set the phone on a flat surface and press "calibrate".
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There's also a GPS test in here which shows speed,
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and a "DISTANCE CALIBRATIO N" that exercises the proximity sensor.
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Stay away from "MTKLOG", it must be force stopped to make it go away.
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I don't know what "SMARTPA CALIB" does:
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the Internet makes it sound like possibly something to do with the loudspeaker?
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"SINGLE TEST" lets you exercise all the sensors and output devices,
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including turning on both colors of flashlight LED (the amber one doesn't appear to be used by anything else)
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I haven't played with "AGING TEST".
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It might be worth calibrating the gyroscope in "SINGLE TEST".
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Place the phone on a flat surface to do so.
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Browser
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=======
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Two apps (TripIt and Amtrak) need a browser installed in order to log in.
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I enabled Chrome temporarily to set these up,
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then disabled it again.
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