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https://9to5google.com/2019/09/11/google-scrapped-touchless-chrome-android-feature-phones/
For the past six months, we've been tracking Google's progress on introducing feature phones as a new form factor for both Android and the Chrome browser. Now it seems plans may have changed, as Google seems to be removing all of the code for Chrome's Android-based touchless mode.
Early this year, we discovered that Google was working on a version of Chrome that was designed to be used by feature phones without a touchscreen, a form factor that still sees significant usage in emerging markets. This "touchless" Chrome even included a bonus standalone version of the Dino Runner mini-game reworked for the new screen size.
This morning, reader Kawshik tipped us off to a new work-in-progress commit with the straightforward title, "Remove touchless* with the exception of Blink code." In the code change, we see Google removing all references to touchless Chrome and deleting the hundreds of files within the "touchless" folder.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 13 2019, @01:48PM (2 children)
You can find cheap smartphones (better form factor than feature phones for web browsing) and cheap data plans, and add an adblocker to stop a lot of the waste.
Navigation apps are probably the killer app for many people, and you can download offline maps if you have enough storage.
(Score: 4, Touché) by barbara hudson on Friday September 13 2019, @01:58PM (1 child)
Better form factor? I dug out my old LG flip phone to show a neighbour because he was fed up with his complicated smartphone.
It's amazing how much better the flip phone is as many tasks than an iPhone 6. And a lot smaller. With 500 hours of standby time. And an fm radio that works all day, no streaming required. Ended up bringing it to where I volunteer to listen to music.
It has a browser, text messaging, email, takes and plays videos, takes pictures, etc., and cost $65 more than a decade ago.
Now, I can sell it used for what I paid for it. But I'm keeping it - it's my fallback in case I lose all vision. The tactile keypad and just flipping it open to turn it on, or closing it to hang up, are features that I really miss.
And it's not that much thicker than an iPhone even when it's closed.
Of course, there's less opportunity to show ads, so that market is something Google and Facebook and Twitter want to discourage. Same as they don't want people to use links or lynx to browse the web because no javascript==harder to track.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 13 2019, @04:56PM
Yes. Better form factor than feature phones for web browsing.