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Uses for Java Phones
- Thread starter Windroid
- Start date
target practice?
Use it as a paperweight, or sell it on Ebay, some hipster may buy it for their retro man-cave. Same thing for your old Blackberry, Symbian, and Brew phones.
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Windroid
Android Enthusiast
Come on folks, most Java phones have push-buttons! Now, a G3 Java phone will be useless as a phone in the United States. But there's still old Java games that can be played on it, and apps such as calculators which can make good use of those push-buttons. The question is: Where on the Internet can we find those apps, what's a safe place to download old Java apps?
There's a few repos of old Java phone games and apps, e.g. https://phoneky.co.uk/games/?p=select-version That also has games and apps for old Symbian phones as well. Although this isn't something that really interests me these days, also the last Java or Symbian phone I had was in 2010, a Nokia e71.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
IIRC none of them ever had Wifi and 3G/2G is dead so they're pretty useless. A shame as I'd love to have a Nokia N95 as my main phone. Curse you carriers! Don't they realize unnecessary network shutdowns create a TON of e-waste? Much less limit one's choice of phone they can use? Pretty soon I guess LTE will be shutdown in favor of 6G or 7G and all that'd be left to use are boring, tablet-sized unpocketable bricks without any features.
Shutting down 3G/2G. That's another thing the market had NO SAY IN. Companies are supposed to respond to OUR Demand! That's how the market concept actually works! The free market concept has become more akin to they demand we please them and we ask 'where do you want to stick it?'
For the record, where was the market demand for shutting down AMPS? Analog Televison? In case you're unaware, digital TV still sucks balls.
Shutting down 3G/2G. That's another thing the market had NO SAY IN. Companies are supposed to respond to OUR Demand! That's how the market concept actually works! The free market concept has become more akin to they demand we please them and we ask 'where do you want to stick it?'
For the record, where was the market demand for shutting down AMPS? Analog Televison? In case you're unaware, digital TV still sucks balls.
Windroid
Android Enthusiast
To be fair: There's only so much space on the light spectrum. 3G/2G using frequencies means less room for everything else. Not to mention the extra equipment required to run 3G/2G, the matainence that equipment requires, etc.
That's the real problem here, if you ask me. The 3G/2G shutdown: Sad, but I can see some good arguments for it. Companies being trendy, trying to make their products be just like everyone else's: That is a childish way to do business. Fortune 500 companies should not be stereotypical high schoolers. Heck, even high schoolers should not be stereotypical high schoolers!
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
Actually 5G/LTE/3G were coexisting perfectly fine until February 2023. Obviously there was plenty of spectrum. They just wanted to give people a reason to upgrade and they knew a lot were holding out on older phones (they don't make money off that!)
That's the real reason, but it's wrong nonetheless. Does the savings on the grid from the shutdown of the equipment compensate for the increased e-waste? If I remember, a similar argument promoted Cash for Clunkers and in the end, even the EPA knew it was nothing short of harmful to the planet in the long run.
I still think it's a conspiracy to get everyone into the homogenized boring landscape that's the modern era. It only took threats to security from Microsoft to get people to toss their perfectly working laptops into the trash and buy new ones, but with phones it took a bit more of a nudge. After all, free thinkers with variety in their lives are harder to herd up with the rest of the sheep, am I right?
Either that or they had a quota to sell so many modern phones, as with any corporation, the board of directors don't like when they can't make enough money, enough to fire CEOs over it, so if there's not much to upgrade to, and you got millions of holdouts on old phones, how do you move the boring modern phones and make more $$$? By forcing people to give up their beloved old ones and making them buy new ones. Just another reason I feel corporations are unnecessary. They are unethical and far too greedy.
Of course, they could have just made better phones that were worth upgrading to, with more features than the ones they're replacing, but nope. Got to stop progress there and make boring since 2015 with no end in sight.
That's the real reason, but it's wrong nonetheless. Does the savings on the grid from the shutdown of the equipment compensate for the increased e-waste? If I remember, a similar argument promoted Cash for Clunkers and in the end, even the EPA knew it was nothing short of harmful to the planet in the long run.
I still think it's a conspiracy to get everyone into the homogenized boring landscape that's the modern era. It only took threats to security from Microsoft to get people to toss their perfectly working laptops into the trash and buy new ones, but with phones it took a bit more of a nudge. After all, free thinkers with variety in their lives are harder to herd up with the rest of the sheep, am I right?
Either that or they had a quota to sell so many modern phones, as with any corporation, the board of directors don't like when they can't make enough money, enough to fire CEOs over it, so if there's not much to upgrade to, and you got millions of holdouts on old phones, how do you move the boring modern phones and make more $$$? By forcing people to give up their beloved old ones and making them buy new ones. Just another reason I feel corporations are unnecessary. They are unethical and far too greedy.
Of course, they could have just made better phones that were worth upgrading to, with more features than the ones they're replacing, but nope. Got to stop progress there and make boring since 2015 with no end in sight.
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Davdi
Android Expert
My next phone will probably be either a Vollaphone X23 (removable battery, pure AOSP without Google services and the option to dual-boot Ubuntu, Or maybe a Pinephone Pro Also with a removable battery ans most things are user replaceable - just no Android only Linux (and there are quite a few mobile Linux distros for it now.)
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
I thought all the mobile Linux distros died with Symbian and haven't been developed (such as Meego) since like 2010.
Windroid
Android Enthusiast
Here's a thread for discussing mobile Linux: Linux for Mobile?
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
I already posted to that.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
How are you able to get service with 2G/3G being dead? If you know a way to override the carriers you might actually save my HTC Thunderbolt! Or possibly, make it possible for me to use a Nokia N95.
The AMPS phones had literally the best reception, but you can thank the FCC for ending that era for again, no real reason that makes sense. Did emergency services ever end up using that spectrum?
The AMPS phones had literally the best reception, but you can thank the FCC for ending that era for again, no real reason that makes sense. Did emergency services ever end up using that spectrum?
Windroid
Android Enthusiast
He's probably not American. There are some countries that still have 2G and 3G. That said: I have heard of adapters that allow 2/3G securty systems, medical devices, and the like to work with 4/5G cellular networks. But if you used those adaptors for a cell phone, they'd probably just become cordless home phones.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
I thought the UK already got rid of 2G and 3G is on its way out? I know from watching Smoorez that 2G is already dead in AUS, and I am thinking the 3230 was a 2G GSM device?
I'm still upset though that ending 2G and 3G in U.S. has left us with even less variety for phone choices. I'd love to use a ton of old models but they're all paperweights today. Pretty much any phone prior to 2015 no longer functions as a cellular phone. If it doesn't even have Wifi, it's entirely useless. They just created more e-waste in some lame attempt to force holdouts who were happy with what they owned to upgrade against their will.
I mean who was the person who loved to keep their Galaxy ACE harming anyway?
I'm still upset though that ending 2G and 3G in U.S. has left us with even less variety for phone choices. I'd love to use a ton of old models but they're all paperweights today. Pretty much any phone prior to 2015 no longer functions as a cellular phone. If it doesn't even have Wifi, it's entirely useless. They just created more e-waste in some lame attempt to force holdouts who were happy with what they owned to upgrade against their will.
I mean who was the person who loved to keep their Galaxy ACE harming anyway?
A couple of years ago in France I had an AT&T SIM and a French Bouygues Telecom SIM in my phone. I turned the AT&T Data off and used only Bouygues Telecom for Data. After 2 weeks in France I returned home and AT&T charged me $60 for Data. I called AT&T and told them I used -0- AT&T Data. They later said i used 2G data, which I think was BS. I did double check on 2G and Bouygues Telecom will turn off 2G in 2026 and 3G in 2029.
Maybe he's not in America?
I can still use 3G, even 2G/GSM with an ancient Java phone I really wanted...Although CMCC seems to be the only carrier still operating 2G/GSM here now. Most likely for legacy devices that are still out there, like remote telemetry, ATMs, vending machines, etc.
I can understand the carriers, FCC, etc. wanting to get rid of AMPS/ETACS analogue phones and networks, as that was completely insecure, and anyone could listen in to calls with commonly available scanners Along with rampant ESN cloning. I remember at one time with ETACS ESN cloning it got so bad, one only had to drive along the M4 near Heathrow Airport in London, and you were guaranteed your analogue phone would be cloned. And you would only know it had been cloned, when you received your phone bill for hundreds of pounds of international calls to Pakistan and India, or when you found your phone could no longer make or receive calls.
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nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
AMPS had one benefit though, and that was better coverage for longer distances. There are still holes of 'no service' where AMPS once covered, mainly in rural areas. Even 2G, 3G didn't cover the gap as well and with it being gone now, that's even worse.
The reason U.S. got rid of AMPS was from fear mongering about getting brain cancer from AMPS EM effects, though that had been debunked many times prior to the shutdown date. The reason the FCC gave was 'repurposing the spectrum for emergency services' but I don't believe anything the government says anyway, plus whenever I asked the fire and police about it, they say 'nope we never used the spectrum' so the entire thing was stupid.
I don't know what the excuse for ditching analog TV was, but all I can tell you is that today digital TV still sucks. It's like watching a satellite TV signal in the rain. The only method left to reliably keep track of a tornado or severe storm today is via AM radio, which they are trying to kill as we speak. Sure, you can fit more channels in the space of one analog TV channel, but all the 'extra' channels are just garbage, like infomercials 24/7 to religious programming to political conservative nuts. It's become the shortwave of today, with all the 'unpopular' folks getting airtime on all those extra sub-channels.
The reason U.S. got rid of AMPS was from fear mongering about getting brain cancer from AMPS EM effects, though that had been debunked many times prior to the shutdown date. The reason the FCC gave was 'repurposing the spectrum for emergency services' but I don't believe anything the government says anyway, plus whenever I asked the fire and police about it, they say 'nope we never used the spectrum' so the entire thing was stupid.
I don't know what the excuse for ditching analog TV was, but all I can tell you is that today digital TV still sucks. It's like watching a satellite TV signal in the rain. The only method left to reliably keep track of a tornado or severe storm today is via AM radio, which they are trying to kill as we speak. Sure, you can fit more channels in the space of one analog TV channel, but all the 'extra' channels are just garbage, like infomercials 24/7 to religious programming to political conservative nuts. It's become the shortwave of today, with all the 'unpopular' folks getting airtime on all those extra sub-channels.
I did read that AMPS suffered a similar sort of widespread ESN cloning and criminal fraud that ETACS had in the UK, especially in the larger cities. AMPS and ETACS were very similar in how they worked. In the UK and Ireland, the 900MHz band that was used for ETACS became used for 2G/GSM.
I've not really watched much terrestrial TV since 2008, either analogue or digital.
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Davdi
Android Expert
According to ofcom : Switching off the UK’s 3G mobile networks: what you need to know 3 G will start to go later this year (Vodafone) and the others by the end of next year.
nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
3G shutdown is just carriers wanting to force folks to upgrade even if they're perfectly happy with what they have. If you're paying your bill on time, that's a crime known as denial of service. There is ZERO customer demand for shutting down 3G. and obviously 3G, 4G/LTE, and 5G coexist fine still in some countries (and did in the U.S.) so the whole 'we need the spectrum' just isn't true. Plus, it's nice to have more to fall back on. There are many areas that only got 1xRTT that are now dead zones.
Just leave it all up and let people use what they're perfectly happy with, and keep more phones from becoming e-waste. It's a win win for the planet, for people's wallet, and good reputation for the carriers.
In the end, the companies are supposed to serve us, not us serve them.
Just leave it all up and let people use what they're perfectly happy with, and keep more phones from becoming e-waste. It's a win win for the planet, for people's wallet, and good reputation for the carriers.
In the end, the companies are supposed to serve us, not us serve them.
1xRTT is specific to CDMA2000 networks. So unless one is in the US, Canada, China, and maybe a few other places....
Isn't there a case for diminishing returns though? Carriers still having to operate and maintain legacy networks, consuming energy(destroying the planet), for a minority that still want to use decade old smart-phones and ancient Java phones. It some cases carriers might be mandated to maintain old technology networks, for things like remote telemetry, etc. some of which could be in service for decades, e.g. utility meters.
"SERVE THE PEOPLE 为人民服务
Mao Tse-tung (1944)
And that's still the official slogan of the Chinese Communist Party.
Really companies exist to make $$$, and to serve their shareholders.
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nickdalzell
Extreme Android User
They're supposed to cater to customer demand. Supply/Demand. Simple free market economics. Shareholders shouldn't even enter the equation since they're not the customers.
Either that or everything I was taught in Economics 101 was a lie...
Companies are supposed to satisfy their customers as well. Otherwise they leave, and the company goes bankrupt. Reputation is important. Make enough mistakes, no one will buy your brand. Reputation is as important as the $$$ to a company. You can't have one without the other.
How about making phones worth upgrading to instead of rehashing the same bad decisions since 2015? I mean enough of flat UI, enough of removing useful features (headphone jacks, removable batteries, etc) enough of this incremental crap. If a company/carrier wants to make $$ make a phone worthy of calling an 'upgrade' You know, like all those massive improvements we had in 2010-14, such as the major jumps from a Galaxy SII, to SIII to S4, or a Droid to Droid X or Nexus One to Nexus 4 to Nexus 5 and so on. The whole idea of diminishing returns began the day iOS 7, removing features and Android 5 started. It's not been any different since. Keeping 3G up would have allowed far more variety, reusing older phones is better to avoid e-waste, and having a decent used market for those who want cheap secondhand phones. I would still love to use a Nokia N95 if I could, or a Palm Pre, but I cannot thanks to the unnecessary shutdowns. Actually, as I've said before, they're not entirely shut down (mainly because of the very things you mentioned, such as smart meters, IoT, security and alarms, 3G car connectivity, etc. I mean there's 3G now, but carriers refuse to allow anyone to use it for a smartphone, or basic phone, so it's not like they shut anything down, they just barred anyone from using it, so the argument for consuming energy is invalid as well)
I would love to see more choices personally. Not the same 6.5" slab without buttons and stupid USB type C (again, who demanded Type C?). I want to see more than two mobile OSs, more than Apple vs. Samsung, more than Google vs. Microsoft. I want WebOS, Meego, Symbian, BlackBerry, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, etc. Choices, variety, competition. Without competition you get no innovation, only stagnation. Having everything becoming a homogenized corporate mess is something known as a monopoly, and is a crime.
I'm also sick of anyone calling something that's old bad. I mean an old phone isn't harming anyone. It does what someone wants or needs it to do. Why should age dictate the usability of something? Why artificially reduce something that still works to a brick? I just don't understand this fear of old things from all the futurists out there, and some are on this very forum. It's like everything over 5 or so years old is deserving of being tossed. I wish people cared more about vintage. There ain't anything wrong with it.
Either that or everything I was taught in Economics 101 was a lie...
Companies are supposed to satisfy their customers as well. Otherwise they leave, and the company goes bankrupt. Reputation is important. Make enough mistakes, no one will buy your brand. Reputation is as important as the $$$ to a company. You can't have one without the other.
How about making phones worth upgrading to instead of rehashing the same bad decisions since 2015? I mean enough of flat UI, enough of removing useful features (headphone jacks, removable batteries, etc) enough of this incremental crap. If a company/carrier wants to make $$ make a phone worthy of calling an 'upgrade' You know, like all those massive improvements we had in 2010-14, such as the major jumps from a Galaxy SII, to SIII to S4, or a Droid to Droid X or Nexus One to Nexus 4 to Nexus 5 and so on. The whole idea of diminishing returns began the day iOS 7, removing features and Android 5 started. It's not been any different since. Keeping 3G up would have allowed far more variety, reusing older phones is better to avoid e-waste, and having a decent used market for those who want cheap secondhand phones. I would still love to use a Nokia N95 if I could, or a Palm Pre, but I cannot thanks to the unnecessary shutdowns. Actually, as I've said before, they're not entirely shut down (mainly because of the very things you mentioned, such as smart meters, IoT, security and alarms, 3G car connectivity, etc. I mean there's 3G now, but carriers refuse to allow anyone to use it for a smartphone, or basic phone, so it's not like they shut anything down, they just barred anyone from using it, so the argument for consuming energy is invalid as well)
I would love to see more choices personally. Not the same 6.5" slab without buttons and stupid USB type C (again, who demanded Type C?). I want to see more than two mobile OSs, more than Apple vs. Samsung, more than Google vs. Microsoft. I want WebOS, Meego, Symbian, BlackBerry, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, etc. Choices, variety, competition. Without competition you get no innovation, only stagnation. Having everything becoming a homogenized corporate mess is something known as a monopoly, and is a crime.
I'm also sick of anyone calling something that's old bad. I mean an old phone isn't harming anyone. It does what someone wants or needs it to do. Why should age dictate the usability of something? Why artificially reduce something that still works to a brick? I just don't understand this fear of old things from all the futurists out there, and some are on this very forum. It's like everything over 5 or so years old is deserving of being tossed. I wish people cared more about vintage. There ain't anything wrong with it.
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