Living without a cellphone of any kind. Is it possible?

[Smithfield]

4 hours ago, Erioch said:

I've had a cell phone since some time in the 00's and I have never once broken a cell phone.  WTF are you cell phone breakers doing?  

Apparently they think I was the one that created scoped storage. I briefly joked that I did but no, I did not one day decide to make Android users' lives a living hell. Scoped storage is the main reason my Pixel 7 Pro is "broken", however, I did not bring scoped storage into Android, Android just had scoped storage unless you have root access since Android 3.0 in theory (and Android 11 in practice). If anything, I actually almost fixed my phone! None of my phones are bricked!

[whispous]

8 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

Apparently they think I was the one that created scoped storage. I briefly joked that I did but no, I did not one day decide to make Android users' lives a living hell. Scoped storage is the main reason my Pixel 7 Pro is "broken", however, I did not bring scoped storage into Android, Android just had scoped storage unless you have root access since Android 3.0 in theory (and Android 11 in practice). If anything, I actually almost fixed my phone! None of my phones are bricked!

I'm still none the wiser as to what scoped storage is, and what problem it's causing that makes you repeatedly break your phones

[wONKEyeYEs]

4 minutes ago, whispous said:

I'm still none the wiser as to what scoped storage is,

Found it.

What is Scoped Storage in Android?

https://www.androidcentral.com/what-scoped-storage

[Needfuldoer]

"Scoped storage, scoped storage, scoped storage!"

 

What exactly is the problem? You don't like it because it doesn't let you see the root directory of your SD card? What difference does that make with day-to-day use?

 

Re-flash one of your phones back to the stock image and stop messing with it. Use a secondary device for tinkering.

[Avocado Diaboli]

1 hour ago, Smithfield said:

Apparently they think I was the one that created scoped storage. I briefly joked that I did but no, I did not one day decide to make Android users' lives a living hell. Scoped storage is the main reason my Pixel 7 Pro is "broken", however, I did not bring scoped storage into Android, Android just had scoped storage unless you have root access since Android 3.0 in theory (and Android 11 in practice). If anything, I actually almost fixed my phone! None of my phones are bricked!

Can you stop acting as if the existence of scoped storage in and of itself is a problem and maybe for once elaborate when people ask why you're so upset about its existence? Maybe the reason your experience with Android is so terrible is because you have horrendous reading comprehension, given that you think people accuse you of creating scoped storage or that you think anybody claimed you bricked any of your devices. Let me correct my previous post: I'm gonna assume you're not going to be happy with a laptop either, because the problem will carry over: the user.

[cooky560]

I don't want to comment as to what I think of the reasons OP has chosen to dislike phones. However the answer to the question is yes, people lived thousands of years without phones, and you still can, life might be less convenient, but no-one has ever died from lack of a cellphone

[Needfuldoer]

20 minutes ago, cooky560 said:

no-one has ever died from lack of a cellphone

Do you want to be haunted by the ghosts of lost hikers? Because saying stuff like that is how you get haunted by the ghosts of lost hikers.

[Erioch]

4 hours ago, WiscoMetro said:

The only time I've "broke" a phone it fell out of my backpack and got run over by a 6000 lb forklift. With some new parts from a blacklisted parts phone was able to miraculously keep using the motherboard from it for some time

Back when I had an old Nokia as a work phone, I dropped it on the pavement and it stopped working.  Pulled the battery and saw that the sim card had partially ejected.  Pushed it back in and it worked fine.  A while later, I was on a flight and, when we landed, the guy next to me told me he dropped his phone and it stopped working.  Same model and exact same issue.

 

But I've never broken a smart phone.  I've never even damaged the screen (no screen protectors).

[Mark Kaine]

i.mean, yes. but why so extreme? I'd still want a normal cellphone without the "smart"

 

having a camera on the go + a phone is just too convenient. 

 

also a laptop cant really do that...

(neither safely nor convincingly tbh)

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, cooky560 said:

I don't want to comment as to what I think of the reasons OP has chosen to dislike phones. However the answer to the question is yes, people lived thousands of years without phones, and you still can, life might be less convenient, but no-one has ever died from lack of a cellphone

yeah, except those who did! lol 

 

(its just you rarely hear about them )

 

[Mark Kaine]

11 hours ago, Smithfield said:

Yeah, it was totally me that implemented scoped storage into Android! It is also my fault that applications I need don't fully exist on Android!

the truth is... you're mad your parents don't want to pay for your plan anymore... its really kinda cute...

 

i would therfore indeed suggest doing what you said,  do not get a cellphone,  just use email from now on. that'll show them!

 

 

[Bismut]

Hey OP, thanks for starting this thread. I might not understand your position (reset one of your phones to stock and get the most basic of phone plans, for crying out loud - adults have to do that sort of thing) but I have found some entertainment.
I have also learned what scoped storage is (it does sound quite neat, but I am no expert) and that you can apparently use a laptop for loads of phone stuff. It does not seem like something I would want to do, even if I had a second SIM card for my Laptop so I do not have to hotspot it all the time, but something to keep in the back of the mind.

[Dedayog]

13 hours ago, Smithfield said:

Basically, there pretty much is nothing a phone can do that a laptop cannot do. So, I was wondering, why not get rid of the cell phone and use my laptop for absolutely everything? If I get a recent smartphone, I will expect far too much out of it and scoped storage is still a problem even on rooted devices! If I intentionally gimp myself with an older flagship phone, I will get a myriad of unsolvable issues with no way to fix them such as inability to make and receive any phone calls or even not paying attention to the bands supported and not being able to connect to any existing cellular network. With a "feature phone", I will screw it up by hacking it and putting games on it, and nowadays possibly even PSP games. So yeah, I hate cell phones.

 

Another solution I looked into was either a laptop with a built-in cellular modem, but found those to be stupidly overpriced, or buying a cellular modem that plugs in via USB into an existing gaming laptop, but once again, these cellular modems are stupidly overpriced!

 

Not only that, but my parents now make me pay for my phone plan. So, I was wondering, is it worth saving money by not buying the prerequisite cellular hardware required to then have to pay for a phone plan anyway?

Sounds like a you issue.  Lack of self control.  

 

Yes, it's possible but I doubt you could based on your self description.  

 

Best of luck.  Growing up is a pain isn't it?

[freeagent]

First world problems lol..

An iPhone will keep you out of trouble 

[Godlygamer23]

13 hours ago, Smithfield said:

With a "feature phone", I will screw it up by hacking it and putting games on it, and nowadays possibly even PSP games. So yeah, I hate cell phones.

So don't do that stuff?

The solution to your problem comes from you not doing the things you are doing.

[Godlygamer23]

10 hours ago, Rocketdog2112 said:

Actually, the root problem is mommy and daddy quit supporting his phone habits due to his destructive behavior of trying to modify the operating systems. 

That in of itself is not a problem...However, if they were paying for his phone - including the phone itself - then I wouldn't even consider doing that simply because it's not my phone.

[BrandonLatzig]

6 hours ago, cooky560 said:

no-one has ever died from lack of a cellphone

idk about that, at  least by proxy

[LAwLz]

14 hours ago, BrandonLatzig said:

here is a question. isnt there emulators on the app store?

Not on the feature phones I have seen.

I would like to see OP try and put PSP games on for example the Nokia 105, but I seriously doubt he would get very far.

 

 

13 hours ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

The most important ones give a voice call with a recorded voice giving the code.

That's true, but that's also a lot less convenient and less secure than having an authenticator app.

Why make things more difficult and less secure?

[wONKEyeYEs]

5 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Why make things more difficult and less secure?

How is it more difficult and less secure?

I don't find listening harder than reading.

So a cell phone is more secure than a VoIP?

My outlay is only $50/year, this matters to me.

[LAwLz]

1 hour ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

How is it more difficult and less secure?

I don't find listening harder than reading.

So a cell phone is more secure than a VoIP?

My outlay is only $50/year, this matters to me.

Because having to wait for a call, answer that call, listen, and then type it in requires more effort than just seeing the number instantly and then typing it in.

 

I think your solution works if you rarely trigger 2FA prompts, but if you are in a situation like me where I have to use 2FA maybe 5-10 times a day then it would be awful having to take a phone call every time.

 

As for security, phone calls are less secure since they use weaker encryption methods and are susceptible to spoof-attacks like when someone gets a hold of your number and as a result gets your 2FA codes too.

 

 

If it works for you then that's great, and if your priority is keeping costs down then I guess it's fine. I would still say that for most people it is a more complicated, less reliable, and less secure solution though.

[smcoakley]

On 1/15/2024 at 6:08 AM, Smithfield said:

Scoped storage basically makes your device unusable as you can no longer expect to have full access to the Android external storage (/sdcard, /storage/emulated/0, /data/media/0, etc.) for all applications.

"Unusable" is a really strong word here. Clearly it is usable because 99.9% of the world's population seems to have no problem using smartphones where they can't have global access to their storage.

 

Why do you need it? What use case is this preventing you from being able to use the phone?

 

To be clear, I'm not saying I think the approach is good or bad, but rather that you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

I was going to reply, but then I took a scoped storage in the knee.

[silenttwalker]

There are too many companies that force you to own a mobile phone to receive the text message verification code to allow a transaction. Some might let you delay giving you a number, but a few will refuse an account without that mobile number. Land lines isn't good enough for them.

This was the only reason I was forced to buy a cheap phone from the supermarket, to activate transactions.

Good new was it was pay as you go, and because I never used the phone part of the device it now no longer works as a phone, but the SMP text still works.

Bad news, a cheap mobile phone that can take over 5 minutes to start up from boot is the devils' sperm!

[Kisai]

On 1/15/2024 at 3:22 AM, Smithfield said:

Basically, there pretty much is nothing a phone can do that a laptop cannot do. So, I was wondering, why not get rid of the cell phone and use my laptop for absolutely everything?

You are better off with a smartphone and ditching the laptop than ditching the cellphone.

 

That said, too many things now assume you do have a smartphone. Sadly that's the direction things are heading, so eventually there come a day where if you want to do any banking at all, and you refuse to use the bank's smartphone app, they will tell you to come into the bank branch and you will pay for doing the transactions in person. Many banks already do this if you opt not to use the ATM and don't have their premium checking plan.

 

Now if your question was "can I use an iPad with a cell modem" or "Can I use a laptop with a cell modem", then the the answer is "yes" and "maybe"

An iPad will not receive phone calls unless you have certain accessories that basically turn it into a VOIP phone. These have existed since the iPod Touch. A Laptop can run smartphone apps via emulator (Android) or MacOS can just run the iPhone/iPad apps if they have been enabled to do so. However a Mac can't receive phone calls with a cell modem, an app from a wireless carrier or another VoIP service needs to exist to do phone calls that way. 

 

However if you are a business, you can in fact use your iphone/ipad/mac/windows device as a PBX extension. Software to do so has also existed for quite a while, but it only works if you're connected to your office network.

 

So for practical reasons the answer is going to be "you need a smartphone to operate in western countries and east asian countries", YMMV in countries that have poor wireless infrastructure.

 

You could downgrade to a device that can recieve only phone calls and text messages, but this will only suffice if 2FA/MFA only uses text messages and not a OTP app.

 

[cooky560]

8 minutes ago, Kisai said:

You could downgrade to a device that can recieve only phone calls and text messages, but this will only suffice if 2FA/MFA only uses text messages and not a OTP app.

 

A minor off topic but as a yubikey owner I am disappointed how many things don't let me use my key. While many of my more serious accounts do, loads of websites that should (like my bank) don't.