this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
1096 points (90.8% liked)

Technology

68495 readers
4003 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 92 points 2 years ago (5 children)

I've come to the realization that the phone I want is a Nokia 3310 "brick".

  • Infinite battery life
  • compact size
  • headphone jack
  • indestructible
  • no spyware
  • no social media
  • T9 texting
  • no software updates
  • Snake
  • Brick Breaker
[–] elbarto777@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 years ago (4 children)

You mean like a 20 year old one? Would it even work?

[–] Thrift3499@lemm.ee 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Yeah. It'd probably still have charge too.

[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I found one in the back of a drawer a few weeks ago, it turned on straight away. I didn’t have the right size SIM card to try and use it fully sadly.

Come the apocalypse there will just be cockroaches and old Nokias.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You cold dredge one up from the bottom of the ocean and it would still pick up a signal.

[–] RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

If a signal exists. Those blazing fast 2g towers ain't super common nowadays

[–] Smokeydope@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Don't forget the twinkies!

[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] Noerttipertti@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Many operators around the word are ditching 3g but still keeping 2g.
It is main/backup connection in so many iot and older automation devices that it won't be going away anytime soon.
And yes, both my 2110 and 3310 I alternate in my cars glove compartment can still call emergency services number without sim card.

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 2 points 2 years ago

Even when they shut down 2G access it will probably just be commercial use but they'll keep it for emergency service. It still has excellent coverage and the infrastructure is more trouble to remove than it's worth.

[–] tehfishman@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I mean how many g's are strictly necessary

[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

I mean as many gs as the network still strictly supports...

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 2 years ago

In the US we recently shut off the 3g network so, at least 4.

[–] Jahuffine@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The device itself is not the concern as much as the network connectivity

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Depending on where they are in the world 2G networks might still be active. In Europe they're still on for a few more years in most countries.

[–] macrocephalic@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

No. I don't know of anywhere that a 2G network is still available to use. Some still operate it for emergency calls but that's it.

[–] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You can deploy your own 2g base station with openbts and some cheap software-defined radio hardware. Don't crank up the signal though so you won't run afoul with the government agencies that regulate radio spectrum in your country.

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 3 points 2 years ago

It's anybody's guess but if the battery hasn't crapped out it probably would.

I have a bunch of old Nokia's whose batteries puffed up and I can't use them anymore but I also have some that are still ok.

Oh and they'd have to also find the charger for it.

[–] Buttons@programming.dev 10 points 2 years ago

Everyone talks about how great Nokia bricks are, but you actually do have to be careful not to drop them or you might damage the floor.

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

T9, back when you could text and drive without ever taking your eyes off the road.

[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml -2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Oh you still can with Swype 🙂

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 years ago

You still can, and nowadays we even have a word for it: distracted driving.

[–] CoderKat@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Some of these I get, but I don't get the T9 thing. T9 was so bad! It took ages to type many words. Today's predictive keyboards are miles better.

Also, no software updates? Sure, every now and then there's a shitty update, but most updates are great. New features and especially bug fixes are amazing. Used to be that if something had a bug, you just had to deal with it. There's no guarantees it'll be fixed today, but many companies do fix their bugs at least eventually. The ability to iteratively develop is huge for software quality. These days, unless you're developing something that absolutely cannot fail (like a mars prober or radiation therapy machine), it's widely agreed upon that iterative design is superior to "waterfall" design of trying to plan it out all ahead of time. Part of why is so you can get feedback continuously instead of only after you've committed to months of tech debt.

[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

When T9 was all we had, we got real good at it.

No software updates mean they have to get it right the first time, which they always seemed to manage.

[–] PsychedSy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

Dr Who vs Daleks. I think it's krobot on linux.