Have you ever wished you could go back to using a dumbphone?

[anon(6078578)]

Are you outside the U.S. because I thought all the U.S. carriers dropped 2g?

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

T-Mobile still has 2G until 2020 I believe.

 

[Summer_Moon]

I tried that some months ago, then I had to carry a backpack with a Laptop, a Camera, a Map, a yellow-pages directory, a flashlight, a Nintendo 3DS, etc etc. So, no practical at all.
However, I do know that the big problems we're facing today are the Social Networks. Remove Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram.. bla bla bla.. from you Smartphone, and you'll find yourself using it only for the necessary stuff.

This exactly! I have already removed myself from all social networks - no facebook, twitter, linkedin, myspace (is that still a thing?), etc.
I'm back to using AOL Instant Messenger (jk!)
Seriously, I stopped social networking sites when all of my parents and grandparents got on there and started demanding that I accept their friend requests and then they started making it worthless with all of their nonsense. So I just up and quit. I use my phone for calls, texting, reading, and playing with W10M (like interop tools digging through the registry), and listening to music. Pretty simple and I am rarely on it. So much more time during the week and especially weekends.

 

[Summer_Moon]

I've actually tried going back to using a dumbphone on more than one occasion, most recently, a Samsung Gravity TXT with slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

You may be shocked to learn that the world didn't end and it was actually a refreshing, enlightening experience. I was forced to actually observe and connect with the world around me and the people in it.

The challenge I ran into was that, at a bare minimum, I wanted to be able to make phone calls and send texts. And unfortunately, most (if not all) dumbphones do not support group SMS, only broadcast SMS. Meaning you cannot have a conversation via text with more than one person at a time. Lack of group SMS capability is, unfortunately, is the one deal-breaker for me when it comes to dumbphones, because there are times when it is absolutely essential that I have a text conversation with 2+ people at the same time.

But everything else I can absolutely accomplish on a tablet, laptop, or desktop.

Wait, I thought GroupMe has support for dumb phones? I think it just assigns a single phone number for you to text to and everyone else that is on a smartphone it looks like normal. And you get texts because your number is included in the GroupMe. You do not have to have the app and everything is done through text commands. Really pretty cool and simple, look up GroupMe over SMS

 

[Summer_Moon]

I had a flip phone for years before having to switch to a smartphone. I like my smartphone because of the camera and music player features in addition to calling and texting but sometimes I wish I could go back to a flip phone. If there was one that could do group text, I'd be all over that.

Okay, I replied to someone else about this, but I will go ahead and give you the same info. You can do group texting over SMS only with a dumb phone. GroupMe supports it. You do not need an app or anything. Everything is done through SMS commands. Look up GroupMe over SMS.

 

[Summer_Moon]

I agree with you 1000%. Yes, it sucks that work email almost forces us to maintain smartphones but anyone who doesn't rely on their phone for work is enjoying the convenience. It wasn't that long ago that payphones (remember those?) were ubiquitous, cars only had AM radios and there were no ATMs. Now we have smartphones, tap to pay, mobile banking, cars have 9-speed automatic transmissions, satellite radios and GPS displays. For what it's worth, all my cars have manual transmissions, no XM or Sirius and my boat still has a Loran-C receiver that works better than my Garmin handheld. I keep paper maps too even though it's not required anymore.

Does it count if I still pick up a Rand McNally Road Atlas before traveling anywhere? Even though I have my 950XL with me at all times

 

[fatclue_98]

Does it count if I still pick up a Rand McNally Road Atlas before traveling anywhere? Even though I have my 950XL with me at all times

It makes you smart without having to stay at a Holiday Inn.

 

[Mike G]

Thanks for the responses everyone. So instead of jumping off the roof, I decided to start at a lower level. I pulled my 920 out of the drawer and stripped it of Twitter and all the other annoying things I do not need. Just the basics. Let's see how this goes.

Excellent idea. I removed Facebook from my phone months ago and don't miss it's constant tracking, interruptions and battery draining behaviors at all.

 

[Mike G]

Uh no, not for me. However, my mother, father and brother only use the calling features of their smartphones and would be fine going back to dumb flip phones. Going to grab my dad's Lumia 650 as a spare if he does switch.

 

[libra89]

Wait, I thought GroupMe has support for dumb phones? I think it just assigns a single phone number for you to text to and everyone else that is on a smartphone it looks like normal. And you get texts because your number is included in the GroupMe. You do not have to have the app and everything is done through text commands. Really pretty cool and simple, look up GroupMe over SMS

It does but the thing is that in order to use that, the people sharing and sending the message would have to do it via GroupMe. I don't know about your contacts but for pretty much all of my contacts, group SMS is used for something pressing/planning but it's only used for that thing and then the message is done. It's a waste of time to create a GroupMe DM for all of these occasions when you can just text.

An example is when me and some of my friends were planning a surprise for another one of our friends. That's a one off thing. No need to create a DM for that.

 

[Tcat Houser]

1. iT'S not a dumb phone. It's a feature phone.

A. Yeah. I finally dropped my feature phone for a 950XL since the battery lasts longer than a day
AND I can swap in a new battery.

 

[Keefy_B]

Yes, I am from the UK. 2g coverage is about 99% over the country.

 

[Keefy_B]

QUALCOMM announced a new chipset for feature phones for next year which will support 3g/4g. So maybe a 3310(2018) ☺

 

[MrockNroll]

I hope win 10 mobile sticks around, but if not I may have to fire up my Nokia A6 Symbian phone and revive my Motorola razor V3 again. :-0

 

[anon(6038817)]

Wait, I thought GroupMe has support for dumb phones? I think it just assigns a single phone number for you to text to and everyone else that is on a smartphone it looks like normal. And you get texts because your number is included in the GroupMe. You do not have to have the app and everything is done through text commands. Really pretty cool and simple, look up GroupMe over SMS

But the recipients all have to use GroupMe, too, which kind of defeats the whole purpose, does it not?.

The whole point is SMS is ubiquitous. You can send a text to a cell phone number and they just get it. No need to sign up for additional services like GroupMe.

 

[anon(50597)]

T-Mobile still has 2G until 2020 I believe.

Ahh, thanks.

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

 

[anon(50597)]

QUALCOMM announced a new chipset for feature phones for next year which will support 3g/4g. So maybe a 3310(2018) ☺

I saw that. Will make things interesting.

Sent from mTalk on my SP4

 

[Andrew Pengelly]

I have a Motorola Razr which has only had about 1 month of use. I love it and would make it my main phone except for a couple of limitations which a simple technology refresh would answer. Update the OS, more mega pixels on the camera and better Bluetooth integration with my other electronics. If someone could do that I'd ditch my oversized smartphone immediately. Give me real keys, small form factor, simple to use phone any day. If I need to use the internet I have plenty of large form factor options.

For those that disagree consider the Windows Phone with Continuum or the recent Samsung Galaxy S8 announcement. These are phones that have the ability to connect to keyboards and large screens if you want to do serious work. So the question you need to ask is why the Windows Phone or the S8 need to be so large. You could make these into very small form factor phones with an optional 2-in-1 screen/keyboard combo add on for those occasions when you want to do need larger screen format.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

I don't like that name in the title, rather call them basic or feature phones

I used a basic phone for 3 months last year after my lumia 1020 was stolen - it worked for what I wanted which was phone calls and sms. All the other activities - I could do on my pc

I could still go back to using a feature phone like my old Nokia 2700c which still works till now

But I'm somehow dependent on using whatsapp - unfortunately my Nokia 2700c doesn't support that

 

[HM84]

Does it count if I still pick up a Rand McNally Road Atlas before traveling anywhere? Even though I have my 950XL with me at all times

You struck a chord here.

Back in the day where the most advanced app on a phone was snake, I made it a point to buy an Atlas (atlas atlas, not road atlas) because I had a huge interest in geography.

Now that I can access Wikipedia it would be redundant, and this feels like a huge loss. I also used city maps when travelling with my family, which makes our current dependence on GPS and online maps quite pathetic.

Worst part? As a kid I was one of the herd of basketball card hoarders. It seems like such a silly hobby, even without considering you can get high quality photos and constantly updated stats of players anywhere, but it seemed so much more engaging back then.

So I'm starting to think it's not how smart our phones are, it's more how dependent we are on the net, and how much we know it.

 

[LordFlux]

I'm somewhat of an anomaly. Electronics, PCs, gadgets, gaming, digital communication -- all those things have interested me since an early age. However, I've never owned a smart phone with a sim card. I do have a Windows 10 phone that I bought second hand. Got it just to fiddle with, but it mostly stays in my desk drawer.

Don't really have a desire to own one and I think it mostly comes from the fact that I don't think it'd see much use. I work in healthcare and all data requires HIPAA compliance, so I couldn't use it to perform work related tasks. I don't use social media. I've got a 3DS for portable gaming and a window mount GPS to help with travelling.

Been using an LG enV2 for the past 8 years. It has a keyboard for texting and lasts nearly 2 weeks on a full charge.