Getting rid of a smartphone - my own little personal experiment

[Huntsman]

Hello there guys,

So, inspired by the video that will be linked below, I will try to ditch a smartphone in a favor of an old, Nokia X2-01 phone:
.

I will keep you updated with how the experiment is going and if this wonderful brand is yet obsolete.
Now, first impressions after getting back on that phone.
It's still far from obsolete. I've discovered that the GPRS network still works fine, and it somehow manages to work faster than the 3G on my older smartphones. I've discovered that the app store is pretty much obsolete since Nokia shut it down, however, it's replaced by an intergrated appstore of the Opera mobile browser, which comes as a default browser with the phone. There you can install any apps that Symbian supports. I've managed to successfully install Messenger and Facebook on it and it works relatively fine. I noticed that all the new features available in smartphones were ported to the Symbian versions as well. I guess that's because a lot of people in third world countries still use symbian phones due to their affordable pricing. Also, WhatsApp is also still available for this phone, it's that I don't use it so I didn't install it. No Skype for it, tho.
As I said, I am still astonished by how well the GPRS service still works in our country.

Now this is one of the reasons I loved Nokia phones - the music quality.
For such an old phone, it produces unbelievable music quality, especially if you use headphones. I was never able to get this kind of quality and bass out of any of the previous smartphones I owned. This is a great pro for me as when going for a run, music is my best friend. I had problems getting decent audio quality through my headphones when using my old Android device.

Messaging. Oh man I miss physical keyboards. As you see, this one has a full one. And the texting expierence is a lot better. I never got accustomed to the touch screen keyboards. Maybe because I grew up with an old Nokia X6 that was a touch screen phone, but it had the oldschool numerical keyboard when it came to texting.

The camera? Well, it has a 0.3 MP camera. It's a joke compared to todays standarts. You wouldn't do any professional photography with this thing. However, I find it that if you see something that you really need to take that pic of, the quality is still bearable. Here is my hipster food pic made with the phone:
.

Battery life after so many years is still great. It was used by my mother before for like five years, and then laid in the closet untouched for another five. I took it out - fired it up, and it still has two bars of battery! That's Nokia phones for you! If only Nokia wouldn't have sold themselves out to Microsoft and decided to switch to Android...

Oh, this phone has a SD card slot. I can still use my 7GB music library in this , which is cool.

The particular reason why I decided to take part in this is because of reliability of the old phones when it comes to texting or making calls (even the most high end smartphone can start misbehaving when you really need to make that call) and a moral side. I am very saddened when during breaks in our school, most people are burried in their phone screens instead of socialising. Also, I've noticed just how much of the smartphone functionality I simply do not use..

So, I'll be using this for a while. If you got any questions, ask. I'll keep you updated on how it's going.
Oh, and if you're gonna start commenting smartass BS on how stupid this is and such, just stay away. If you have nothing constructive to add, keep it to yourself.

Now, the video I talked about.

[Huntsman]

Another picture quality update. Ofcourse, not something you'd upload to your Instagram feed to satisfy your hipster-needs, but still, pretty usable for FB Messenger interactions I'd say.
A picture of my beloved Opel:

[Que]

I usually leave my smartphone at home while I work or when I'm out and the true thing is that you get so much more done. The only time I use my phone is when I'm home doing nuddin' and pretty much browsing around. If more people actually let their phone be off or home while working or interacting with one another, things'd be much more ambitious and open-eyed.

The only thing I rather need my smartphone for is the GPS system while traveling. Other than that I only bring my camera along.

Nice topic, Ry!

[Sweeper]

If more people actually let their phone be off or home while working or interacting with one another, things'd be much more ambitious and open-eyed.

It's 2016 Que.

[Fuzzy]

It's 2016 Que.

[Que]

It's 2016 Que.

COME ON, LEAVE YOUR CELLY!

I feel so old. I even started to like crossword puzzle. 

[Huntsman]

Thank you for your replies guys.
Anyhow, Day 2 with a Dumb Phone: The urge to constantly check my phone still exists, despite the fact that there's nothing there! It has no snapchat, no instagram, no twitter! Come on!
I almost had an urge to go ahead and shove my simcard back into my smartphone, but then I stopped and asked myself - and why exactly do I need it ? What is there mendatory that I use apart from pointlessly scrolling through instagram or facebook to stalk my friends or celebrities? I already spend a lot of time infront of my computer as it is, do I really need another screen to look at after I get up from my computer?

[Khm]

The bad thing in using old phones is if your battery for example breaks, you can not find anyone selling a replacement for it, you will have to buy another phone with its battery.

[Huntsman]

The bad thing in using old phones is if your battery for example breaks, you can not find anyone selling a replacement for it, you will have to buy another phone with its battery.

Yes, but that's very unlikely, because there isn't much that can drain your battery in the first place. After all, this is Nokia we're talking about, I don't think that'd be much of a problem.
But even in case you're right, I am set - I have 5 old phones laying around in my closet: an old flip-phone samsung, a Nokia 3310, some other Nokia and the one I'm using right now. So I'm all set.

[Lionel Valdes]

Seems entertaining enough, keep us updated Ry.

[arifaiman]

You might die after a week hahaha. This looks cool mate!

[Huntsman]

Update:
Ease of calling or texting someone.
I had almost forgot how convenient it was to text or call someone on a simple phone due to their primary design being exactly that. smartphones nowadays seem to be designed for everything but calling or texting, and in an emergency they can really screw you up. I remember the problems I had with iPhone 4S when it would suddenly get stuck on a call screen and become completely unresponsive. If I was somewhere far from home and I needed an emergency, or let's say a ride, I'd be fucked. Now with these simple phones, not only do I have a week+ of battery life, but reliability for the phone to do what it's intended to do.

Absence of constant ding ding annoyances.
When on my smartphone, I'd keep receiving all those irrelevant notifications I really do not care about, such as all the GMAIL spam (I only get emailed by Nigerian prince and Apple wanting to tell me that I won an iPhone) or somebody replying to my sarcastic youtube comment. These distractions are not present on my trusty  Nokia.

[Huntsman]

Day 4.... The phone is still on full battery 

[Kaze]

Update:
Ease of calling or texting someone.
I had almost forgot how convenient it was to text or call someone on a simple phone due to their primary design being exactly that. smartphones nowadays seem to be designed for everything but calling or texting, and in an emergency they can really screw you up. I remember the problems I had with iPhone 4S when it would suddenly get stuck on a call screen and become completely unresponsive. If I was somewhere far from home and I needed an emergency, or let's say a ride, I'd be fucked. Now with these simple phones, not only do I have a week+ of battery life, but reliability for the phone to do what it's intended to do.

Absence of constant ding ding annoyances.
When on my smartphone, I'd keep receiving all those irrelevant notifications I really do not care about, such as all the GMAIL spam (I only get emailed by Nigerian prince and Apple wanting to tell me that I won an iPhone) or somebody replying to my sarcastic youtube comment. These distractions are not present on my trusty  Nokia.

You have the iPhone 4S, the answer to unresponsive screen is there. Apple 'slow' down old phones to encourage consumers to buy their next big thing. You most likely upgraded to iOS 9 hence your issues with your phone.

Notifications? Lol. Simply disable them. The only notifications I have that 'ding dong' my phone is whatsapp. Everything else is manual.

[Khm]

Update:
Ease of calling or texting someone.
I had almost forgot how convenient it was to text or call someone on a simple phone due to their primary design being exactly that. smartphones nowadays seem to be designed for everything but calling or texting, and in an emergency they can really screw you up. I remember the problems I had with iPhone 4S when it would suddenly get stuck on a call screen and become completely unresponsive. If I was somewhere far from home and I needed an emergency, or let's say a ride, I'd be fucked. Now with these simple phones, not only do I have a week+ of battery life, but reliability for the phone to do what it's intended to do.

I have no problem in my Android, it's 4 years old and still works like I just got it.

Absence of constant ding ding annoyances.
When on my smartphone, I'd keep receiving all those irrelevant notifications I really do not care about, such as all the GMAIL spam (I only get emailed by Nigerian prince and Apple wanting to tell me that I won an iPhone) or somebody replying to my sarcastic youtube comment. These distractions are not present on my trusty  Nokia.

You can just disable the notifications.
Just don't download heavy stuff and make the phone full so it doesn't get slow, it's too normal for a smartphone to be slower if you overload it with stupid stuff like candy crush and color switch.. It's the same as a pc in that case..