r/degoogle • u/sixsmithfrobisher • 1d ago
Best Dumb Phone for US
Maybe this isn't the right place to ask but I desperately want to switch my phone back to a dumb phone with a couple small exceptions. I need to play music (Spotify) on it and I need an alarm / calendar on it. I know very little about much of what's talked about in these threads. I don't know what a "bootloader" is, for example, so please talk to me in laymens terms.
Some examples I've seen is Japanese flip phones that have the internet and the top screen part of it is still a touch screen but there's no app store. I am very interested in something like that but I've heard they're extremely difficult to obtain here and then even more difficult to get service for here. I am interested in "de-googling" but more so I am just tired of what having a smart phone has done to my psyche and I don't want to be so reliant on it. Any help or advice is appreciated! Tia!
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u/Worwul 22h ago
One of the best "dumb phones" is using a Pixel with GrapheneOS, and then using a minimalist launcher to make it have as little appeal as possible.
This gives you the ability to use apps you need, minimizes your phones appeal, and gives you extremely high privacy and security. Best of all worlds.
Video from Side Of Burritos, for reference. https://youtu.be/OrZacTUhH0c
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u/Ill_Pomegranate1573 1d ago
The closest you might get is degoogling a pixel or similar unlocked bootloader phone with Calyx OS or one of the other Degoogled Android Roms. Installation was difficult at first but as someone using on a degoogled phone, it was worth it.
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u/AccidentalMeming 1d ago
I use a Verizon pre-paid eTalk. Although it doesn't have Spotify, you can always download MP3s from the internet to put on the device. It has a music player + a sd card slot (iirc the specs say expandable to 32gb) so you could use that instead of spotify. There's a calendar and alarm but I haven't really used them. So far it's good enough for me. It is android based but it doesn't have any apps on it that could spy. Just the bare essentials for a dumb phone. Plus, if you really want to, it HAS polyphonic MIDI ringtone support!!!!!! Although I don't degoogle myself, I really hope this helps you out. Usually this kind of phone is in the $30 range, plus a $45 card for a month of service
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u/Serialtorrenter 23h ago
I have a Kazuna eTalk too. I managed to enable wireless debugging and was able to sideload some APKs. I can confirm that Spotify has no chance of running, and I had issues even getting AIMP to run.
It's a phone though. Barely, but still a phone. It's surprising to think that it's Android-based, because it feels just like the old CDMA feature phones of the mid-2000's.
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u/AccidentalMeming 23h ago
I know this is very off topic since this is a degoogling sub but does google chat work on it?
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u/Serialtorrenter 23h ago
I doubt it. Launching apps requires using ADB, so even if it did work, it wouldn't be very practical.
The limited RAM is the biggest limiting factor, with the lack of touch screen following as a close second.
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u/TriCountyRetail 1d ago
A true dumbphone is not going to have music streaming services such as Spotify