Using old android phones without 3g service

[BassNJdotcom]

Hi all. Im new to the forums but a long time android geek. Im an IT guy so I like open source and loved android from the start. If this has been posted before im sorry but I did not see anything like it so I figured I would share.

I just upgraded from the original Motorola Droid to a Droid3 and love the new phone. Verizon only wanted to give me 7 dollars for my old Motorola Droid and the same for my wife's Motorola Droid so I decided to just keep them. Today I decided to turn on my old phone and try it with just wifi access (sorta like a itouch) . Guess what it works great !!!! Im so happy I did not give Verizon back the phone for 7 bucks off the new phone. I can now use the old phone to do anything while in a wifi access area. Just thought I would share this info with the community.

Is anyone else doing this with an old phone ?

I figure I can use it to stream music via pandora , use the camera or stream video via ustream , use voice over ip apps , play games , store mp3's , surf the web . Pretty cool if you ask me.

 

[NaterTots]

Hi BassNJ,
Here is a nice thread that was in the EVO 4G forum about how much you can use an Android with out a contract. Yours would probably even work as a GPS.

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g/199425-evo-no-contract-question.html

I thought it was interesting. I know when I upgrade I won't sell mine back for the paltry sum they will want.

Nater

 

[BassNJdotcom]

Thanks for the info Nater.

 

[Yeahha]

Root it and play around with roms if you haven't done so already. You really have nothing to lose, and you can get rid of the software you don't use to give you more memory, which I know is limited on the OG Droid.

Seeing as you are an IT guy I am assuming you like to tinker and the OG Droid is a fun device to play around with the different parts of the phone. Changing stuff in the build.prop and if you don't need the phone parts you can likely take out system apps like the dialer and SMS clients. You can make it a bare bones android device without the need to have phone apps on it, if you do something you don't like then just flash a new rom or restore a backup.