No more dumbphone

2025-Dec-01

I’ve given up: I’m back on the Jelly Star, albeit with a custom ROM that has no Google Play library.

I didn’t need much from the phones: I wanted to reliably make and recieve calls, and to reliably send and recieve SMS/MMS. The Nokia 2780 and 225 phones could only do half of that: their texting was unreliable to the point of forcing me back to the Jelly Star.

But the Jelly Star with no Google Play library is pretty good! It’s got the sensors and interfaces of a compelling smartphone, the ability to run (some) Google Play Store apps (sort of: through Aurora store), great SMS, and a CPU capable of playing video files. But it’s also not trying to suck in my attention. In fact, it’s got “get out of your way” features that most Android phones have dropped, like the little notification LED, the MicroSD card slot, the headphone jack, and the 2-day battery.

With the factory OS, you basically have a fully functional tiny smartphone. If you can decouple your personal information from your telephone (move all your photos and docs off Google, do banking somewhere else), I recommend this device. If you can’t decouple, you had better stick with an OS that gets security updates.

It’s got a good camera, does SMS/MMS, has a good selection of helpful apps (F-Droid), can play movies and MP3s, has a MicroSD card, and a 2-day battery.

Despite its functionality, I’m hardly using this thing. I just got back off a 10-day vacation and I don’t think I took the phone off my desk more than a dozen times. I just didn’t want it for anything. The lack of use means the phone’s shortcomings (mostly the tiny screen) don’t irritate me. It checks the 2025 phone box.

I like it.

Here are the apps I have installed today: