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I'm just back from a holiday which included dropping my phone and cracking the screen. The phone is a UMI Super which has served me very well, with the exception of a spotty GPS. However I found myself with a very real problem. The crack was across the top right corner of the screen about 1/2 an inch in from the top. It had the unfortunate side effect rendering the whole right hand side of the screen 1/2 an inch in unresponsive. This prevented me from unlocking the phone with the PIN (the fingerprint scanner on the back worked fine, however I forgot that I had set the phone to shut down during the night and it requires the PIN when the phone wakes up).
This effectively left me without a phone for the remainder of the trip and while I will get the screen replaced and continue to use the phone, I'm also considering getting a backup feature phone, or another smartphone, or when I change phone in the future move to a feature phone entirely.
In examining what I was missing out with the loss of the phone, I realise I only use it to message (the very odd call), Internet, Navigation and Netflix. However, with Netflix now allowing downloading of many shows, I can use a tablet better for this, and I can consider using a phone with hotspot for streaming and messaging.
What feature or smartphones do you suggest as a move away from large flagship devices? I have unlimited 4G data and am living in Ireland. My understanding is that most feature phones are aimed at the older generation (large buttons, loud speakers etc) and not for "I just don't want something that breaks easily" people. Budget is in the 100-150€ range, though I will entertain more expensive devices if the recommendation comes with good reasons.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 10 2017, @03:18PM (5 children)
Erm... If you have a Samsung Galaxy S4, what do you gain by buying another phone? The Galaxy S4 is easy as hell to flash new firmware on and it runs the latest LineageOS peachy keen.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Thursday August 10 2017, @03:53PM (4 children)
Yes, it also has a replaceable battery. I'm working on doing exactly as you say, putting LineageOS on it, and in the end that may suffice. However, I don't know if it safeguards against the problem I ran into on holidays, that is, if dropped and the screen cracks, the phone may become unusable. A decent 20-30€ feature phone as a backup that isn't "big buttons and extra loud speaker for grandpa" is kinda what this submission is about, and also if there were any really really cracking smartphones that I could be tempted into getting.
Also I'm a bit of a novice at flashing ROMs and was waiting to see if they could repair my UMI before I did something to the backup phone that I might be unable to undo (ie brick).
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 10 2017, @06:02PM (3 children)
It's really pretty easy. Heimdall and the builds here [lineageos.org] won't let you flash the wrong model's image. If you need an image for the Sprint model or a little more responsiveness and control, the guys over here [androidfilehost.com] built an optimized version.
Just keep in mind that all your contacts, history, apps, etc... will be wiped, so you'll need to back them up first.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 10 2017, @06:03PM (2 children)
Oops, forgot instructions for the optimized build are here [xda-developers.com].
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Friday August 11 2017, @09:23AM (1 child)
Thanks for your links, I was able to successfully flash and install the OS and GApps. I only had one issue where the WiFi would not turn on, but I was able to solve that by rooting the phone. Odd that I could wipe the OS and install without first having rooted the phone though. Lets see how this holds up for me. I'm planning a trip to China next Spring, and if this phone lasts me until then I may pick up one while I'm there.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday August 11 2017, @11:21AM
Sounds like a plan. Just don't go searching for/browsing non-approved topics while you're there. We'd have to take up a fund to bribe you out of prison and I don't trust people to stay bribed unless someone's physically there doing the bribing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.