Then again in 2024, when I finally got myself a DumbPhone;

https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@strypey/111915619885321176

... which I promptly fell on and broke the screen, within a month or 2 of getting it. Leading to the third post, asking for recommendations for a clamshell/ FlipPhone, which I hoped might be a bit more Strypey-proof;

https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@strypey/115069735153555094

Once again I fell into paralysis by analysis, and time passed.

(2/?)

Then, late last year, fate intervened. Mobile carriers in Aotearoa announced the sunsetting of their 3G networks, all 2 of them (other than the 2 owners, mobile brands just resell access to 1 or t'other). Including the need to replace devices that don't support calls and texting over VoLTE, which would soon be unable to work as cell phones. I posted a few times about my frustration with this corporate bait-and-switch;

https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@strypey/115245666969848921

(3/?)

Although my aging Android/Linux device supports 4G mobile data, it turned out it doesn't support either calls or texting on 4G. I couldn't find any info about how to patch the OS, or dialer and SMS apps, to keep it working without 3G. So it was soon to become a pocket tablet, whether I liked it or not.

A kind fedizen offered 2 spares he had in a drawer (happy to give a public #HatTip if they want one, you know who you are). Posted both to me, one by one, at their own expenses. No dice.

(4/?)

The result of all this was a mad scramble to find a 4/5G capable non-touchscreen FlipPhone before the 3G shutdown. My final post on the #DumbPhone tag, until this one, was about how I finally got the only one I could find in a hurry liberated from the carrier it was locked to, and working with my mobile plan;

https://mastodon.nzoss.nz/@strypey/115896813561331913

That was about 2 months ago. So how am I feeling the FlipPhone experience now?

(5/?)

All the positives I listed in that thread still apply. But those are the positives of DumbPhone regression in general. One bonus, it has turned out to be a bit more robust than the first one I bought (touch wood). Also I did manage to get MMS working in the end, although I'm not sure it was my tinkering with the settings or something that changed at the carrier end.

(6/?)

All the downsides I listed in that post still apply. Plus, I've noticed that the OneTouch is *terrible* at keeping texts from one contact in a single thread, in the correct order. Forwarded messages usually (but not always) start a new thread.

Sometimes I'll open a thread and the most recent text has moved from the bottom to the top, while the others remain in reverse chronological order. The tiny storage capacity means this isn't a long term problem, but it's maddening all the same.

(7/?)

The worst thing is, this DumbPhone doesn't seem to reliably receive all texts, or notify me of missed calls.

This is a critical bug, and became a source of enormous stress just after I posted that last thread, when a close family member had emergency surgery. My family couldn't get hold of me for days after I came out of the festival site I was working at just beforehand, with no mobile reception. Despite a number of them trying to call and text.

In summary, the OneTouch too is a toy.

(8/?)

One thing I've noticed in my quest for a post-touchscreen DumbPhone is that all the models sold by NZ retailers seem to be based on out-of-patent tech from the early noughties. Maybe they're rolling off the same production lines set up to manufacture them when they were the new hotness, who knows?

Either way, these are not reliable modern devices, and the retailers stocking them are selling snake oil, whether they know it or not.

(9/?)

So once again I'm asking you, my fellow fedizens, for upaid technical advice. I'm on the hunt for a DumbPhone. A clamshell/ FlipPhone, OR one tough enough to survive being landed on when I come off my bike (which is how DumbPhone number 1 bit the dust). BlueTooth is a must, so I can connect my noise-cancelling headphones for hands-free calling.

(10/?)

#DeviceAdvice #FlipPhone

Ideally this DumbPhone would be capable of using mobile data to provide a WiFi hotspot to other devices, for when I need internet on the go. But that's a nice-to-have, not a dealbreaker.

Same with 5G support, which would make it more futureproof (chances are 4G networks won't last forever either). I can find no sign that my current FlipPhone actually supports 5G, despite the assurances from the snake oil salesmen at Noel Leemings at The Base, when he sold it to me.

(11/?)

Support for typing macrons is a must. Using double-vowels for long vowels in Te Reo Māori makes a certain sense while I'm living in Waikato, where it's the local convention. But it won't once I move back to Te Wai Pounamu, which is definitely on the cards.

Predictive text, or some other way of typing messages more efficiently than 3 button presses per letter, is a dealbreaker. This is my single biggest gripe with my current flip phone. Typing anything more than "c u soon" is ADHD hell.

(12/?)