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

[AbsoluteWoo]

If scoped storage on Android was such a massive issue they won't currently have over 70% of the mobile OS market.

 

Also travelling around the world yourself is technically a replacement for the internet, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[ToboRobot]

it can be done, but it can be annoying, more expensive or simply impossible to do certain things.

 

ive gone years without a phone even after smartphone, used burners for years as a privacy focused person, but now i just have an iphone for family and sms auth (i hate it) because its easier to pay rent and bills with a phone number and not needing to explain things

[Smithfield]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

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.

 

But smartphones still cannot do things that were possible 15 years ago on laptops! And scoped storage has pissed me off one too many times!

[Smithfield]

7 hours ago, smcoakley said:

"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.

So I should bash my head in so I never attempt anything ever again? Anyone recommend any brain surgeries that can make me able to use iPhones? Anyone?

Edited January 16 by Smithfield
grammar error corrected

[smcoakley]

13 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

But smartphones still cannot do things that were possible 15 years ago on laptops!

They don't need to. That's not their purpose. You can have a laptop and a phone you know.

 

14 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

And scoped storage has pissed me off one too many times!

You still have not offered a single example of this.

 

12 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

So I should bash my head in so I never attempt anything ever again? Anyone recommend any brain surgeries that can make me able to use iPhones? Anyone?

What you should do is use a phone as a tool that is meant to be used for and move on living your life. If you're someone that likes to tinker and want to experiment with reverse-engineering with phones and the like, by all means go ahead. Just don't do that on your primary phone, otherwise you have no license to complain if you have issues.

[Smithfield]

1 hour ago, smcoakley said:

They don't need to. That's not their purpose. You can have a laptop and a phone you know.

I have no idea how to know what the hell a laptop and a phone are made to do if they both have 64-bit processors.

1 hour ago, smcoakley said:

You still have not offered a single example of this.

Writing to /sdcard/Android/data is still a pain in the ass, even with root access. You cannot just arbitrarily give say, a text editor root access (not even temporarily). An application needs to have been written with root access in mind, and root access is pretty much required to write to /sdcard/Android/data, a folder many applications use. Technically speaking, there exist non-root workarounds, https://old.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/j3zgmm/managing_files_in_the_androiddata_folder_on/, but they always sucked, and Android 13 made things even worse. Another issue I have is that app folders in /sdcard/Android/data are deleted when the user uninstalls the application, this has been the case since Android 4.4.

1 hour ago, smcoakley said:

What you should do is use a phone as a tool that is meant to be used for and move on living your life. If you're someone that likes to tinker and want to experiment with reverse-engineering with phones and the like, by all means go ahead. Just don't do that on your primary phone, otherwise you have no license to complain if you have issues.

So I do need to get brain surgery so I can become a normie! Where is the nearest Apple reeducation camp? Do they offer these services?

[da na]

4 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

I have no idea how to know what the hell a laptop and a phone are made to do if they both have 64-bit processors.

Writing to /sdcard/Android/data is still a pain in the ass, even with root access. You cannot just arbitrarily give say, a text editor root access (not even temporarily). An application needs to have been written with root access in mind, and root access is pretty much required to write to /sdcard/Android/data, a folder many applications use. Technically speaking, there exist non-root workarounds, https://old.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/j3zgmm/managing_files_in_the_androiddata_folder_on/, but they always sucked, and Android 13 made things even worse. Another issue I have is that app folders in /sdcard/Android/data are deleted when the user uninstalls the application, this has been the case since Android 4.4.

So I do need to get brain surgery so I can become a normie! Where is the nearest Apple reeducation camp? Do they offer these services?

Please describe why you need to write to the root folder of your operating system.

That's how you keep breaking phones.

[Smithfield]

Just now, da na said:

Please describe why you need to write to the root folder of your operating system.

That's how you keep breaking phones.

That is not the root folder of the OS. That is a folder used for app data. The real root folder is what Android calls "internal storage", /data,/data/data, etc. Anything in /data (except /data/media) cannot be touched without root access, other than app installs, and apps cannot modify anything outside of their own internal storage, without root access. However, the user is supposed to have full control over /sdcard (symlinked to /data/media). So the app folders created in /sdcard/Android/data should still be available to the user!

 

Also my phones are not broken. I can reflash them, and even that isn't necessary right now as they boot into Android normally. The reason my phone is "broken" would become even worse without root access.

 

I need to write to that folder to install game mods, manage PS2 memory cards, and other data.

[da na]

Just now, Smithfield said:

I need to write to that folder to install game mods, manage PS2 memory cards, and other data.

Something one could do from a laptop, no?

[smcoakley]

15 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

I have no idea how to know what the hell a laptop and a phone are made to do if they both have 64-bit processors.

Usually the manufacturer of a device gives a pretty good indication as to what a product is for. Your oven might have a 64-bit processor in it, but that doesn't mean it is intended to play video games.

 

17 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

Writing to /sdcard/Android/data is still a pain in the ass, even with root access. You cannot just arbitrarily give say, a text editor root access (not even temporarily). An application needs to have been written with root access in mind, and root access is pretty much required to write to /sdcard/Android/data, a folder many applications use.

But why do you need to do this? What are you trying to accomplish?

 

17 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

So I do need to get brain surgery so I can become a normie! Where is the nearest Apple reeducation camp? Do they offer these services?

Using tools for the purpose they are designed for is something everyone does. Again, if you don't want to use phones in the way they are designed to work then that's fine, but then you have no business whining if that causes issues for you.

[Godlygamer23]

22 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

I have no idea how to know what the hell a laptop and a phone are made to do if they both have 64-bit processors.

Just because two items both have 64-bit processors doesn't mean they have the same capabilities. It comes down to the architecture of the processors - whatever they might be - and how the device is being marketed, plus some ingenuity from developers, engineers, users, etc., along with how portable the device is.

[Smithfield]

20 minutes ago, da na said:

Something one could do from a laptop, no?

Goes back the question, why even buy a phone?

[Godlygamer23]

5 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

Goes back the question, why even buy a phone?

Portability, and compactness. 

For smartphones, you have high computational capability in a form factor that is quite small, along with features that make it powerful, as an everyday device. 

 

For example, I have an iPhone XR(released back towards the end of 2018). When I take photos or videos, I can copy text within the image(and with a pretty high success rate). Laptops by comparison are bulky, but do offer additional features, like a larger(and physical) keyboard, along with a larger display.

 

Ultimately, the device is only as good as its user. If the user doesn't know how to use it, then it does no good, and is just an expensive paperweight. 

[da na]

4 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

Goes back the question, why even buy a phone?

You don't need to buy a phone - you have several. Reflash any one of them and now you have a working phone.

If you don't depend on SMS verification codes then sure, go phoneless. That's the only reason I have my flip phone, else I just wouldn't bother paying for the plan

[da na]

1 minute ago, Godlygamer23 said:

When I take photos or videos, I can copy text within the image

See, you don't need a phone. Just carry around a scanner, smack it face-down on whatever document you need to copy text from, and hope there's an outlet nearby.

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, da na said:

See, you don't need a phone. Just carry around a scanner, smack it face-down on whatever document you need to copy text from, and hope there's an outlet nearby.

I carry UPSes with me just for this purpose. I don't need mains. #checkmate. 

[Smithfield]

16 minutes ago, da na said:

You don't need to buy a phone - you have several. Reflash any one of them and now you have a working phone.

If you don't depend on SMS verification codes then sure, go phoneless. That's the only reason I have my flip phone, else I just wouldn't bother paying for the plan

My HTC ONE M8 can boot into Android but isn't able to receive calls. Data and SMS/MMS work fine though. Because it is on Android 7.1, there is no scoped storage. Also, because it is 32-bit-only, there are less arbitrary software compatibility issues, all of them are purely technical, and therfore, acceptable. My OnePlus 6T is problematic, we'll have to get back to it. My Pixel 7 Pro is on Android 14, so I will need root access. Root access still isn't enough to completely fix scoped storage! None of them are truly bricked.

Edited January 17 by Smithfield
HTC ONE M8 is a 32-bit device, a reason I bought it

[smcoakley]

I use a phone for a few purposes:

• Incoming and outgoing calls
• Texting and messaging
• Getting notified of emails and other things that may demand my attention
• Basic web browsing on the go
• As a 2FA device
• As a camera always on my person
• Consulting my notes repository and writing quick text notes there

Everything else are extra niceties, but ultimately this is all I need it for.

 

It kinda sounds like you neither need nor want Android, nor want things that modern smartphones are designed to do. In that case, sure, just bring a laptop with cellular connectivity.

52 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

I need to write to that folder to install game mods, manage PS2 memory cards, and other data.

Definitely outside the realm of what phones are good for IMO. You're going to be constantly fighting a Sisyphean battle to use smartphones in this way. Maybe what you really want is something like a Steam Deck or GPD WIN. Keep the phone for phone purposes and get a different device for other things.

[Erioch]

Subby is right.  He should never own a cell phone.

[Smithfield]

Honestly, the real reason this thread exists is because of a problem that was the last straw. I had trouble figuring out how to extract "self-extracting" .exe files (self-extracting my ass!). That issue has been resolved before I created this thread, but it was a problem that would have never occurred on a laptop and made me realize how much time and money I wasted on trying to learn how to use smartphones. It turns out, Android just sucks and is inferior to not just Windows or Debian, but at times, even my modded 3DS.

 

Also, my parents making me pay for my own phone plan was the perfect excuse to stop using cell phones.

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, Smithfield said:

Honestly, the real reason this thread exists is because of a problem that was the last straw. I had trouble figuring out how to extract "self-extracting" .exe files (self-extracting my ass!). That issue has been resolved before I created this thread, but it was a problem that would have never occurred on a laptop and made me realize how much time and money I wasted on trying to learn how to use smartphones. It turns out, Android just sucks and is inferior to not just Windows or Debian, but at times, even my modded 3DS.

 

Also, my parents making me pay for my own phone plan was the perfect excuse to stop using cell phones.

Sounds like a misuse and misunderstanding of devices, as well as just being pissed off at your parents.

 

Look...The devices are only as good as the users. If smartphones have no use to you, then fine. Move on. Use a plain jane phone. Use a laptop as a VoIP phone. I've used smartphones for years, and they have served me well in varying capacities, both Android based phones, and iPhones. They serve my needs, and I've expanded on the tasks that I've performed on my iPhone XR since I've owned it based on ever-evolving needs.

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, Schnoz said:

Don't say Android sucks because you're trying to do the equivalent of using a hex wrench to tighten a Philips-head screw. If you use something for what it was designed to do, then you won't have bizarre issues like these.

What's funny is that you can tighten a Philips screw with a hex wrench. Might be kinda goofy, but it can be done lol.

[Smithfield]

10 minutes ago, Schnoz said:

 

"Android sucks" says the person trying to run an .exe file on Android.

 

Seriously, take a deep breath and step back. You're trying to run something that Andorid was never designed to do. Circumventing privacy and security restrictions to write data to folders you have no legitimate reason to write to? Running an effing Windows executable on Android?!

 

Don't say Android sucks because you're trying to do the equivalent of using a hex wrench to tighten a Philips-head screw. If you use something for what it was designed to do, then you won't have bizarre issues like these.

It was a "self-extracting" archive. Basically, they are archives but with a 7-zip header with the idea that you extract them buy running the executable normally. These should also be able to be extracted by using file managers that can extract archives. By the way, I actually did solve this issue without needing a computer!

 

What I was trying to extract wasn't even a Windows application. Also, how do I convince you all that it is actually the phones themselves that pissed me off, not my parents?

Edited January 17 by Smithfield
Added some more detail.

[Dedayog]

55 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

Honestly, the real reason this thread exists is because of a problem that was the last straw. I had trouble figuring out how to extract "self-extracting" .exe files (self-extracting my ass!). That issue has been resolved before I created this thread, but it was a problem that would have never occurred on a laptop and made me realize how much time and money I wasted on trying to learn how to use smartphones. It turns out, Android just sucks and is inferior to not just Windows or Debian, but at times, even my modded 3DS.

 

Also, my parents making me pay for my own phone plan was the perfect excuse to stop using cell phones.

May be the silliest and most around the elbow self argument I have heard in a damn long time.

 

You don't seem to grasp what a cell phone, smart phone, or whatever you want to call the device is supposed to be.

 

You don't learn how to use a smartphone, it's intuitive and "just is".  You don't learn how to treat them like laptops, or how to code Android, or all that.  You use them, for the phone, texting, video watching, easy ass laptop they are.

 

All I am seeing is how you want a smartphone to be something it isn't, and when it isn't... it sucks.  And of course you are the hero of your own story as well as the victim.  My parents make my pay, Android isn't as good as my skills, etc etc etc.

 

Do you know what you have in common with Gates, Job, Musk, etc?  You have the potential to actually walk the walk, cuz all you're doing is talking the talk.  They had an issue and made a solution.  So far you're just whining. DO something, kid.

[Falkentyne]

This is the biggest troll thread I've seen in quite awhile.

Phones are essential now.

Not just for being able to CONTACT people when you need to contact someone (however, discord, SMS/call, whatever), sometimes you *need* to reach someone quickly.

GPS is also invaluable.  You can look where something is and know where you're going live.  If you have a car, you can have the maps update.  If you're riding a bicycle or on the bus, same thing.  Now you tell me right now you're going to be HOLDING a laptop on your bicycle while trying to ride and find a location and I'll gladly sell you some land in Florida, alligator and mosquito free.

Many places also require you to have a phone# as contact or security.  Not having one can make it difficult if they don't have a system for only email or "landline" voice calls.

I got my first ever phone (on low income support) in 2017.  Once I finally had one, I realized they are extremely valuable because that's how life is these days.  Comparing to how tedious things were in the 1990's for example, I'm very happy I have it.