Possible Use for My 950

[libra89]

I like the idea of converting my SE to a phone like this.
Might just work.

That would be a cool idea since you also have a 7. It could be interesting to try out for you. Funnily enough, I'm doing that with my SE right now. I tried it with a Lumia and basic things like MMS refused to work so nope, not using that.
I am using my Android phone as the WiFi media thing with my podcasts downloaded along with music I listen to in the car (via Spotify) and my downloaded book (to be fair, it's a library book so I'm not about to do the return and hope to get it back dance). I just learned that Bluetooth works just fine without data. Otherwise, I do have the apps on my Android phone but no data half of the time so idealistically my habits should change. We'll see.

 

[anon(50597)]

That would be a cool idea since you also have a 7. It could be interesting to try out for you. Funnily enough, I'm doing that with my SE right now. I tried it with a Lumia and basic things like MMS refused to work so nope, not using that.
I am using my Android phone as the WiFi media thing with my podcasts downloaded along with music I listen to in the car (via Spotify) and my downloaded book (to be fair, it's a library book so I'm not about to do the return and hope to get it back dance). I just learned that Bluetooth works just fine without data. Otherwise, I do have the apps on my Android phone but no data half of the time so idealistically my habits should change. We'll see.

What I have been doing lately is carrying my SE at work because of the smaller size, since I have to carry a 7 around for work already. Then I usually switch to my personal 7 on the weekend. I also have my iPad Pro. There’s no real reason to have my SE jammed full of apps.

So, now it is not! Other that text, email, music, maps, I kept an AP news app, Tapatalk (which is cheating for what I’m trying to do, but we’ll see), my banking app just in case. That’s it! Nice and clean.

 

[fatclue_98]

If calls text/MMS and email is all you need then grab a Pre2 cheap on feeBay. It still does Exchange email as well or better than some newer phones. Plus, it has a full qwerty keyboard to save you from T9 text input.

 

[libra89]

What I have been doing lately is carrying my SE at work because of the smaller size, since I have to carry a 7 around for work already. Then I usually switch to my personal 7 on the weekend. I also have my iPad Pro. There’s no real reason to have my SE jammed full of apps.

So, now it is not! Other that text, email, music, maps, I kept an AP news app, Tapatalk (which is cheating for what I’m trying to do, but we’ll see), my banking app just in case. That’s it! Nice and clean.

Ooh okay, that makes sense. That setup sounds pretty light to me, it sounds like you have the essentials down.

 

[anon(50597)]

If calls text/MMS and email is all you need then grab a Pre2 cheap on feeBay. It still does Exchange email as well or better than some newer phones. Plus, it has a full qwerty keyboard to save you from T9 text input.

A Palm Pre2?

 

[fatclue_98]

A Palm Pre2?

Sure, I'd use one before any feature phone. Besides, most feature phones don't have email capability.

 

[anon(50597)]

Sure, I'd use one before any feature phone. Besides, most feature phones don't have email capability.

Well, if I didn’t already have an SE I might.....no I wouldn’t. That thing is fugly!

 

[libra89]

Well, if I didn’t already have an SE I might.....no I wouldn’t. That thing is fugly!

 

[Rhody#WP]

I never got to say thank you for this thread. You're so right about different people having different stuff that they need. I have an idea for you, for the times when you do need Google Maps, why don't you download the maps to use offline? That way, you will still have them available to you.

I have some maps downloaded. I tried that in Mexico last year and the maps were just ok, not great. Google Maps has become much better than MS Maps. Plus, I am going to Tokyo next week and MS Maps doesn't have Japan for download, while you can go anywhere in Japan using Google Maps (with a data card or portable WiFi).

 

[Rhody#WP]

If calls text/MMS and email is all you need then grab a Pre2 cheap on feeBay. It still does Exchange email as well or better than some newer phones. Plus, it has a full qwerty keyboard to save you from T9 text input.

Believe it or not, one of my favorite phones of all time was the Palm Pixie. I loved that little phone. Maybe I'll get an AT&T Pixie Plus from eBay.

 

[libra89]

I have some maps downloaded. I tried that in Mexico last year and the maps were just ok, not great. Google Maps has become much better than MS Maps. Plus, I am going to Tokyo next week and MS Maps doesn't have Japan for download, while you can go anywhere in Japan using Google Maps (with a data card or portable WiFi).

Ah okay. I can understand that, but the maps I mean is Google Maps. I didn't learn until recently that you can actually download those maps too.

 

[anon(50597)]

Ah okay. I can understand that, but the maps I mean is Google Maps. I didn't learn until recently that you can actually download those maps too.

I have done this in the past. Works well.

 

[Rhody#WP]

I already abandoned the 950. Not because it doesn't work for this purpose, but because I bought a Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact, which gives me the best of both worlds. The Xperia XZ1 is very similar to the 950 in hardware build quality. I like that it has USB-C and, best of all, a camera button. I cannot express how happy that makes me. The camera is very good, too. I am not a camera snob, so it is good enough for me. And to top it off, the Xperia XZ1 Compact is actually smaller than the 950 and has much better battery life. When I connect it to the charger at night, it still has up to 70% charge. I would get at least 2 days on a charge, which I never got with my 950. I have to live without wireless charging, but that's fine since the battery lasts so long. I had to flash the firmware to get the fingerprint reader to work. If an update breaks it, I think I can live without it (I'll just have to get rid of more apps).

I still have my phone in a semi-minimalist configuration. My essentials are phone, SMS, email, Audible, podcast, basic music app, Google Maps, photos, grocery (OutofMilk), and weather (Yahoo). I have no games, no social media, no news apps, no AI assistants, etc. I still have some apps that I hardly ever use, but I keep just in case, e.g., banking app, google pay, uber, open table, password keeper, etc. I use Nova Launcher and hide the apps I cannot uninstall. I have a grand total of 28 apps in my app drawer.

I am also trying to minimize my use of cloud services. I have a NAS (qnap 251A) at home, so I use the Qfile app to automatically upload my photos and videos to my NAS and the Qphoto app to view them. I don't use any music streaming services. I still use outlook mail and use google for search, but there are some things that are too difficult to take out of the cloud. I'm sure Google is still collecting a lot of data about me. I'm not ready to turn off all location services just yet, and there's no guarantee they won't track that data anyway. I still use YouTube also.