It's about time for a new phone.

[DWSmith]

Not a smart phone but a phone.

I have a Google Pixel 3A. It's a good phone but I really don't like smart phones. The best smart phones I've used were BlackBerry phones that were issued to me from work. I REALLY don't like iPhones and all of the iPhoney hype. The best phone I've owned was a Samsung Convoy 4.

I just need a phone that I can use for talking, texting, and not much else really. It's okay if it has a camera and a primitive web browser and maybe another one or two items because I don't have to use them. When I want to use a computer I use a computer, not a phone.

I'd also like to be able to replace the battery when it goes bad without spending 2 hours taking the phone apart, cutting wires, and soldering in a new battery.

Anyone else think this way about phones? Any suggestions?

 

[RSteve]

Here's the dealio. Virtually none of the new generation of cell phones have a removable battery. It's becoming very difficult not to carry a smartphone unless you always have a laptop with you and it has cell carrier access. This past summer I went to a couple of MN Twins baseball games. There are no paper tickets. Your ticket is in your phone. Many movie theaters now require advance ticketing and seat reservation and your ticket is in your phone. Most phones no longer have 3.5 mm ports for earphones. If you want to listen to music via your phone, it's bluetooth only. Virtually all concerts are smartphone ticketed. 3G is about to be shut down. Smartphones will become more intrusive in our lives, but there's no going back. My next phone, which I'll probably buy in the next few months will be 5G.

 

[RudyN]

Earlier this year I decided to get rid of my Samsung S9+ and I bought a Google Pixel 6Pro. It has a a whole bunch of bells and whistles of which some I know I will never use. However, what I use it for is great. You might look into it. I looked on You Tube before I bought it and that is what helped me decide to get it. You might look there to determine what you might like.

 

[DWSmith]

The Punkt and Light phones are close to what I want and there are others similar but I haven't found anything 100% the way I want it. I don't know that any of them have removable batteries. That was the problem with one of my iPhones from work. The battery swelled so thick it popped open the case.

With non-removable batteries the phone always has power to track where you are and report it back to Google. Faraday boxes help with that somewhat but you can't just turn off your phone and have it truly turned off any more.

Finding what I want would have been very easy a few years ago but 4G obsoleted what I had and obsoleted anything I wanted.

Maybe I'll go back to a land line ... nah!

 

[Ranger107]

Had a Samsung flip phone for years. Loved it but it was a ***** to text on with my fat fingers, lll.

 

[DWSmith]

Had a Samsung flip phone for years. Loved it but it was a ***** to text on with my fat fingers, lll.

That was the only issue with my Samsung Convoy 4 flip phone. T-9 texting is a bit slow. Other than that it was a great phone.

I had a phone with a slide out keyboard. It was a good one for texting.

The Blackberry Passport was supposed to be good for texting and keying notes. Too bad 3G was obsolete by the time I found one. Plus BB was dropping support for all of their old phones. So sad.

 

[Ranger107]

That was the only issue with my Samsung Convoy 4 flip phone. T-9 texting is a bit slow. Other than that it was a great phone.

I had a phone with a slide out keyboard. It was a good one for texting.

The Blackberry Passport was supposed to be good for texting and keying notes. Too bad 3G was obsolete by the time I found one. Plus BB was dropping support for all of their old phones. So sad.

Had one of those too. A Samsung slide phone with the querty? keyboard. Small but kind of heavy. Somewhat easier than the flip but overall still a PITA. LOL.

 

[DWSmith]

Even smart phones are a PITA when I'm texting. Some more than others but none are really good. I was really hoping the BB Passport was the answer.

 

[Ranger107]

Yep. Got a new Samsung S21 4 months ago. Still haven't figured the damn thing out. Way too much garbage and apps on it.

 

[DWSmith]

Yep. Got a new Samsung S21 4 months ago. Still haven't figured the damn thing out. Way too much garbage and apps on it.

Yeah, I've been working in I.T. for 44 years. IBM mainframes and feature phones, i.e., dumb phones, make sense. PC's and smart phones don't. Too inconsistent. Yep, 'way too much garbage and apps' is a good way to put it.

 

[Balisong]

Samsung Tablet and phone, same operating system and apps, load and learn once and hookup to a portable charger in a power outage.

 

[DWSmith]

Samsung Tablet and phone, same operating system and apps, load and learn once and hookup to a portable charger in a power outage.

Ahhh, power outages. Before we had our whole house standby generator I had a deep cycle battery and a 400 watt inverter. Don't laugh. It was a godsend.

We lost power for 3 1/2 days during the winter when the temperatures were hovering a little below freezing. The gas fireplace barely kept us warm enough. That battery kept our cell phones charged, my laptop charged so I could access the internet over our land line (remember dial up? ), let us watch some TV in the evenings, and ran a lamp with a CFL. The battery still had a decent charge when we got our power back.

Of course our food from the freezer and the refrigerator went out on the north side of the house on the front porch in some clean steel garbage cans we use for animal feed. I used new black trash bags to line the cans.

Anyway, I digress but these cell phones are important during a power outage. Got to keep updated on current events and let the relatives know your status.

 

[Carlos]

iPhone 13 Pro for both of us. Search the Youtube's and turn off what you think you do not need. 5G and Unlimited data for little more than what we were paying. I use it to turn lights and house alarm on and off. A lot of choices in browsers, but I do most of that on a real computer. We started with a Sony cellphone, then Nokia flip phones. Then the iPhone. Nothing does smartphone better than an iPhone. And that's from a long time Linux user.

There's always the Jitterbug Flip 2.

 

[DWSmith]

I actually tried the Jitterbug Flip. They promised me they were sending me the Samsung version but they sent the Alcatel. A flimsy piece of junk IMHO. Then I found out I had to pay extra for voicemail. Things kept going downhill from there.

On paper it was what I wanted but the disappointments of the provider were overwhelming.

 

[DWSmith]

Then the iPhone. Nothing does smartphone better than an iPhone.

From the post it looks like the iPhone is the only smart phone you've used. Not to be too critical but if it's the only smart phone you've used how do you know that there is no better smart phone?

I've used several smart phones and iPhones were always the worst. A couple of our adult family members have used them for quite some time and they are frequently breaking down. Fortunately they've always broken down under warranty. Same problems with the iPhones issued to me by my workplace. Two of them were replaced under warranty. I'll admit the software is okay with the exception of their security software. We always had to have Blackberry security apps on our iPhones to use for accessing our corporate network. iPhone security just never cut the mustard if you know what I mean.

Blackberry and Samsung smart phones have always been the winners in my experience with iPhone being in a distant last place.

Anyway, under the principle of keeping it simple I'd like to get away from smart phones again because I just don't need all of the bells and whistles. (Even my last flip phone had several things I didn't need; camera, internet access, and some others.) I want to get as close to just talk and text as I can get. The Punkt and Light phones do that along with a couple others.

 

[Carlos]

I've used Samsung and LG just enough to know that they were not something I ever wanted to own. There isn't a week that goes by that someone hands me their phone asking how to do something on it.

And where is Blackberry today? It's a software company. They were huge in business messaging.

US Market share is led by the iPhone. We haven't owned every model, and try to get our money's worth out of them. I don't think we are "fanboys". Get rid of them when I think the battery life is getting less. Upgrade the package. 5G is really spreading and our older iPhone 11 models were not 5G capable.

The iPhone isn't without it's eccentricities, or moments. It is more user friendly and unless one bypasses the security features, it is nearly impregnable. Apple has robust security on their app store. The business world has some priorities that they believe they need Blackberry software. Breaking down? The only problems I have heard with iPhones breaking were user inflicted, or software glitches. Software and firmware are usually easy to fix. Reboot. If it's new, you may have to wait a bit for an update. We experienced a problem with the iPhone 11, where a light drop on the floor would lockup the phone. Our phones are cased for protection. We have never broken a screen or dented one. But it is possible for the iPhone 11 to loose contact with a SIM card in a light drop. Requires removing the SIM card and reinstalling, rebooting.

I have not had my hands on the newer Nokia phones. They are supposed to be tough. Appear to be a simpler smartphone style.

 

[DWSmith]

I have not had my hands on the newer Nokia phones. They are supposed to be tough. Appear to be a simpler smartphone style.

Thus the Nokia 800 Tough.

Have you used any phones using the KaiOS operating system? Nokia has a few running it. It's a simpler OS than Android and iOS but I think Google controls some of the software running on it. It's supposed to be more private than Android and iOS. I think it's a skinnied down Linux OS.

 

[Carlos]

Have you used any phones using the KaiOS operating system? Nokia has a few running it. It's a simpler OS than Android and iOS but I think Google controls some of the software running on it. It's supposed to be more private than Android and iOS. I think it's a skinnied down Linux OS.

No, I haven't. It is open source. Extremely popular in the third world. Requires a keyboard apparently which keeps hardware cost down. It's based in the USA. Is getting a lot of monetary support from big software companies.

 

[DWSmith]

I'm still using my Google Pixel 3A. It won't die but when it does I'm going with a dumb phone.

Don't get me wrong. This is possibly the best smart phone I've had. I'm not getting rid of it until I have to.

I've noticed that phones with replaceable batteries are finally becoming a bit more popular again. That was one of my requirements when I got my current phone but the sales people nearly laughed out loud at me when I mentioned it to them.

Do any of you have a Sunbeam F1?