low-tech cellphone recs for someone in the US?
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housemate and I are sick of smartphone AI and spyware!! looking for cheap, refurbished cellphones from the 00s
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
desired features: basic call and text functionality, durability, physical buttons, fits in pocket
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
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System shared this topic on
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housemate and I are sick of smartphone AI and spyware!! looking for cheap, refurbished cellphones from the 00s
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
desired features: basic call and text functionality, durability, physical buttons, fits in pocket
Look at the Nokia 2780, Nokia 110, and/or the Nokia 3210.
They’re modern equivalents to their predecessors of yore and run a simple non-smartphone OS (Kai OS) and use VoLTE so are compatible with modern networks. Bonus is they can do things like hotspot.
I was looking at those and similar about a year and a half ago when I wanted to switch to a dumb phone. I ended up compromising with the CAT S22 Flip which is a low-end Android phone in a flip phone form factor. Wasn’t difficult to de-Google and was able to root it. Unfortunately, they’re not made anymore so what’s left is what’s left. They’ve also jumped quite a bit in price since I got mine for $69.99 back in 2024.
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
-
housemate and I are sick of smartphone AI and spyware!! looking for cheap, refurbished cellphones from the 00s
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
desired features: basic call and text functionality, durability, physical buttons, fits in pocket
There are some 4g ones but idk of any that don’t suck. It might be possible to put a minimal launcher on a cheap android phone.
BIFL doesn’t exist for phones. A physically indestructible titanium phone from 2015 would be useless today because it would be 3g and those networks are gone. Phones are consumables.
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
-
housemate and I are sick of smartphone AI and spyware!! looking for cheap, refurbished cellphones from the 00s
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
desired features: basic call and text functionality, durability, physical buttons, fits in pocket
As Admiral Patrick said, KaiOS phones are a viable alternative to traditional smart-phones, and tend to fill a space between a dumb phone and an android phone.
However, a downside of Kai OS is limited application support, which can be a particular downside when it comes to privacy-respecting encrypted texting apps. From what I can see, KaiOS does not offer any options there on their store.
SMS is now a pretty insecure way to communicate due to the infrastructure being compromised. Having access to a reliable encrypted chat application, like Deltachat or Conversations is a big plus for Android phones.
The downside of Android phones is that it the OS is controlled by Google, and many manufacturers force bloated software or offer fairly short lifetimes for security updates, making the phone insecure to use past the End of Life date.
Personally I would suggest getting a Google Pixel phone, which is ironically the most open to having its OS replaced with a privacy respecting OS like GrapheneOS (which is quite easy to install). GrapheneOS is the only OS that can you can really trust to completely turn off the radio chip when you turn on airplane mode, cutting any and all communication with cell towers (but GPS will continue to function).
This would also give you access to F-droid, which only contains open-source software with no paywalls or malware, a completely locked down and malware/spyware free phone, and access to the best possible privacy communication apps.
Google Pixel phones offer some of the longest support timelines for security updates, which is 7 years from the date of release. A Pixel 9a, as an example, would lose support 6 years from now in 2032. You could continue to use the phone past that point if you stay offline most of the time and don’t log into any sensitive accounts.
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
-
housemate and I are sick of smartphone AI and spyware!! looking for cheap, refurbished cellphones from the 00s
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
desired features: basic call and text functionality, durability, physical buttons, fits in pocket
It is worth it to note that SMS should not be used for any personal communication. Literally every message you send is stored by the carrier and handed over to anyone that pays them including LEOs, who in the past have used them to incriminate innocent people, and if you live in america, they will use them to justify shooting you apparently…
Not to mention anyone in the area can intercept all messages with some cheap equipment.
Dumb phones are such a draw compared to stupid smart phones, but they don’t have any secure messaging (at least the ones I have looked at)
- the problem: all models we have found run on 2G, which is rapidly being phased out by all US carriers
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Look at the Nokia 2780, Nokia 110, and/or the Nokia 3210.
They’re modern equivalents to their predecessors of yore and run a simple non-smartphone OS (Kai OS) and use VoLTE so are compatible with modern networks. Bonus is they can do things like hotspot.
I was looking at those and similar about a year and a half ago when I wanted to switch to a dumb phone. I ended up compromising with the CAT S22 Flip which is a low-end Android phone in a flip phone form factor. Wasn’t difficult to de-Google and was able to root it. Unfortunately, they’re not made anymore so what’s left is what’s left. They’ve also jumped quite a bit in price since I got mine for $69.99 back in 2024.
I have the HMD variant of Nokia 110 and it calls ambulance on it’s own if I put it into the backpack because the keyboard lock is dogshit (you can still press numbers which are part of emergency numbers like 112, 911 etc. even if the keyboard lock is enganged). It did it twice now, so I switched to HMD 2660 which is a flip phone, so it can’t have its buttons be pressed if it’s folded closed.
S30+ is a good OS, I’m impressed by the features it has, even though it didn’t strictly need to. I guess it’s because it’s been around forever Nokia could polish it. For example:
- You can pick up a call with 3.5mm jack headphones center button (if your headphones have media controls).
- You can add your own words to the T9 dictionary.
- You can have two separate languages for the T9 dict (one comes from the phone UI language, second from keyboard language).
- You can put the call into the background and use the phone as you speak - this is useful if you call your bank and they ask you for a code send to your phone for verification.
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As Admiral Patrick said, KaiOS phones are a viable alternative to traditional smart-phones, and tend to fill a space between a dumb phone and an android phone.
However, a downside of Kai OS is limited application support, which can be a particular downside when it comes to privacy-respecting encrypted texting apps. From what I can see, KaiOS does not offer any options there on their store.
SMS is now a pretty insecure way to communicate due to the infrastructure being compromised. Having access to a reliable encrypted chat application, like Deltachat or Conversations is a big plus for Android phones.
The downside of Android phones is that it the OS is controlled by Google, and many manufacturers force bloated software or offer fairly short lifetimes for security updates, making the phone insecure to use past the End of Life date.
Personally I would suggest getting a Google Pixel phone, which is ironically the most open to having its OS replaced with a privacy respecting OS like GrapheneOS (which is quite easy to install). GrapheneOS is the only OS that can you can really trust to completely turn off the radio chip when you turn on airplane mode, cutting any and all communication with cell towers (but GPS will continue to function).
This would also give you access to F-droid, which only contains open-source software with no paywalls or malware, a completely locked down and malware/spyware free phone, and access to the best possible privacy communication apps.
Google Pixel phones offer some of the longest support timelines for security updates, which is 7 years from the date of release. A Pixel 9a, as an example, would lose support 6 years from now in 2032. You could continue to use the phone past that point if you stay offline most of the time and don’t log into any sensitive accounts.
The only downside is Pixel 10 support is coming via alternative methods from standard, as Google stopped shipping the binary blobs to run the hardware. Pixel 9 series may be the last to have truly native Graphene support. Graphene is looking into long-term solutions though, although last I heard they were looking at Qualcomm-based chipsets which is bad news on some level, as they’re a US military contractor.
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The only downside is Pixel 10 support is coming via alternative methods from standard, as Google stopped shipping the binary blobs to run the hardware. Pixel 9 series may be the last to have truly native Graphene support. Graphene is looking into long-term solutions though, although last I heard they were looking at Qualcomm-based chipsets which is bad news on some level, as they’re a US military contractor.
I agree, that is a concern long-term.
I think the best path for the future is supporting Linux Phone alternatives like PostMarketOS so they become polished enough to daily for the average user. That likely won’t be as secure as GrapheneOS with specialized hardware for quite a while, but should be good enough for most use cases, and would give us a platform that can’t be rug pulled out from under us as we slowly improve it.
