• Mobile Phones

    From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to All on Fri Nov 17 13:47:25 2023
    Any of you come across a smartphone without a camera?

    I want phone/text/email/app store but I have 2 excellent cameras and don't
    want another. I expect it's a bit like laptops where I'd like one with no
    touch pad but seems I am the only person in the world who wants that!

    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or more
    only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual memory?

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    If you ever find something you like buy a lifetime supply because they
    will stop making it

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Abandoned Trolley@21:1/5 to All on Fri Nov 17 14:59:55 2023

    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or
    more only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual memory?


    Or filled up by Android ?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From IanJ@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Fri Nov 17 17:12:24 2023
    Jeff Gaines <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:

    Any of you come across a smartphone without a camera?

    I want phone/text/email/app store but I have 2 excellent cameras and don't want another. I expect it's a bit like laptops where I'd like one with no touch pad but seems I am the only person in the world who wants that!

    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or more only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual memory?


    A modern smart phone would be expected to have a camera. I haven't
    personally seen any without.

    Honestly the android/iphone treadmill is something you would be better
    to get off, if you can. I still use an old nokia s60 (e72), with real
    buttons, and I plan to use it until either it or I expire.

    With the imminent decomissioning of 3g everywhere, it's likely the phone functionality will expire before my own. In which case, when GSM also
    goes the same way, I will buy the cheapest 4G nokia feature phone I can
    find.

    I do have an android motorola g5 with 16gb memory, last one you could
    remove the back and change the battery. I have practically no extra apps installed (line, eurosport and strava), yet for almost a year it
    frequently tells me that it is running out of storage. I don't use it as
    a phone ...


    You are not alone regarding touch pads, I hate them. You want a nice
    quality retro thinkpad with trackpoint, I love my x61.

    The problem I'm afraid is that we are getting old and technology is
    becoming ever more user hostile. We are nolonger the owners of our
    hardware, we pay for it but these devices are largely for the benefit of
    their corporate masters and outside of our control.

    Designed for the dustbin at ever increasing speed so we can purchase
    another one ...


    Have a nice day an good luck on your perilous purchasing journey! :D

    --

    IanJ

    gopher://gopher.icu

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Abandoned Trolley@21:1/5 to All on Fri Nov 17 20:57:05 2023

    You are not alone regarding touch pads, I hate them. You want a nice
    quality retro thinkpad with trackpoint, I love my x61.

    I hate those touchpad things as well, but the only thing I have
    personally experienced which I found even worse ....

    was a wobbly red button thing in the middle of the keyboard on an IBM
    Thinkpad which an employer "blessed" me with some 25 years ago. After a
    while I got a REALLY sore finger, and I believe that at the time there
    may have been no USM mouse option :-\


    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From IanJ@21:1/5 to Abandoned Trolley on Fri Nov 17 23:00:41 2023
    Abandoned Trolley <fred@fred-smith.co.uk> wrote:

    I hate those touchpad things as well, but the only thing I have
    personally experienced which I found even worse ....

    was a wobbly red button thing in the middle of the keyboard on an IBM Thinkpad which an employer "blessed" me with some 25 years ago. After a
    while I got a REALLY sore finger, and I believe that at the time there
    may have been no USM mouse option :-\


    I think they must have given you a broken one. I've never had a wobbly trackpoint, even the ones I've used for years with worn down caps have
    never wobbled and I've owned a few:

    760ED
    560
    R31
    x61
    and two USB trackpoint keybords that I've used on desktops (including
    the one I'm now typing this on!).

    Though of course, YMMV. :)

    Best wishes,

    Ian

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From SH@21:1/5 to Abandoned Trolley on Fri Nov 17 22:41:50 2023
    On 17/11/2023 20:57, Abandoned Trolley wrote:

    You are not alone regarding touch pads, I hate them. You want a nice
    quality retro thinkpad with trackpoint, I love my x61.

    I hate those touchpad things as well, but the only thing I have
    personally experienced which I found even worse ....

    was a wobbly red button thing in the middle of the keyboard on an IBM Thinkpad which an employer "blessed" me with some 25 years ago. After a
    while I got a REALLY sore finger, and I believe that at the time there
    may have been no USM mouse option :-\


    I remember that red button in the middle of the KB... i could not get on
    with this or with touchpads either.

    Only solution I found was to carry a spare USB mouse with me to use with
    any laptop.

    I also use an Apple Mac and I can't get on with their touchpad either so
    its back to a pukka optical mouse with the Apple Mac.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From David@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Sun Nov 19 13:22:06 2023
    On Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:47:25 +0000, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    Any of you come across a smartphone without a camera?

    I want phone/text/email/app store but I have 2 excellent cameras and
    don't want another. I expect it's a bit like laptops where I'd like one
    with no touch pad but seems I am the only person in the world who wants
    that!

    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or
    more only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual memory?

    I think this is a bit like saying "I never listen to the radio. Why can't
    I buy a new car without one?".

    So much is integrated these days that it is probably most cost efficient
    in manufacturing to just put everything on the phone.

    You aren't obliged to use the camera, and I doubt it would save you money
    if you managed to buy one without a camera.

    Cheers



    Dave R

    P.S. I almost always use a USB mouse with laptops.

    --
    AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 10 x64

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to David on Sun Nov 19 15:00:14 2023
    David wrote:

    I think this is a bit like saying "I never listen to the radio. Why
    can't I buy a new car without one?". So much is integrated these days
    that it is probably most cost efficient in manufacturing to just put everything on the [...]

    But if it's a BMW you'll probably have to pay a monthly fee to use the
    radio ...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SH@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Sun Nov 19 19:56:22 2023
    On 19/11/2023 15:00, Andy Burns wrote:

    David wrote:

    I think this is a bit like saying "I never listen to the radio. Why
    can't I buy a new car without one?". So much is integrated these days
    that it is probably most cost efficient in manufacturing to just put
    everything on the [...]

    But if it's a BMW you'll probably have to pay a monthly fee to use the
    radio ...


    LOL.... So True!

    (remembers the press reporting arounf a heated steering wheel only being enabled and available once you pay a month subscription!)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daniel James@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Sun Nov 19 19:40:58 2023
    On 17/11/2023 13:47, Jeff Gaines wrote:
    Any of you come across a smartphone without a camera?

    A quick web search suggests that there are one or two phones from brands
    I've never heard of that don't have cameras. I don't know anything about
    them.

    I want phone/text/email/app store but I have 2 excellent cameras and don't want another.

    I resisted camera phones for many years ... but nowadays the phone can
    use the camera for so much more than taking pictures that it doesn't
    really make sense to leave it out. You can carry a decent camera for photography as well, of course.

    I was amazed at the utility of being able to point my phone's camera at
    some text in Korean and have a translation app replace it with English
    text that seemed to be a half-decent translation. I wouldn't have known
    where to start looking the Korean up in a dictionary.

    I expect it's a bit like laptops where I'd like one with no touch pad
    but seems I am the only person in the world who wants that!

    Laptop scratch-n-sniff panels have been getting better, There was a time
    when I couldn't make them work at all, but the one in my Thinkpad works
    almost as well as the trackpoint ... and better for scrolling. It's nice
    that one can disable the pad when typing so that resting the side of a
    thumb on it doesn't teleport the pointer to another part of the
    galaxy^Wscreen mid-sentence, though.

    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or
    more only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual
    memory?
    No ... what models do that? Do tell!

    --
    Cheers,
    Daniel.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to Daniel James on Sun Nov 19 20:21:09 2023
    On 19/11/2023 in message <ujdob7$3u94v$1@dont-email.me> Daniel James wrote:

    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or
    more only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual
    memory?

    No ... what models do that? Do tell!


    https://www.amazon.co.uk/OUKITEL-C33-Expandable-Smartphone-Fingerprint-grey/dp/B0CF9P73VN/ref=sr_1_21?crid=2EEEC6OLIOPCO&keywords=smartphone&qid=1700233575&sprefix=smartphone%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-21&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.23648568-4ba5-49f2-9aa6-31ae75f1e9cd&
    th=1

    and


    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blackview-Tab60-Tablet-Bluetooth-Headphone/dp/B0CHML4ZDJ/?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=dlx_deals_sc_dcl_img_dt_dealz_ic&pd_rd_w=l8G17&content-id=amzn1.sym.a2d9d1cf-9afa-45a5-89d6-0379ea7f5e04&pf_rd_p=a2d9d1cf-9afa-45a5-89d6-0379ea7f5e04&
    pf_rd_r=F7HNA65141KFHY7PCYXV&pd_rd_wg=G3eo9&pd_rd_r=fa69dd73-fcce-424e-a133-a551d07b1b81&th=1

    I've just bought the latter and been setting it up, it's very good so far
    and a tenth the price of an iPhone!

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    George Washington was a British subject until well after his 40th birthday. (Margaret Thatcher, speech at the White House 17 December 1979)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daniel James@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Sun Nov 19 23:57:55 2023
    On 19/11/2023 20:21, Jeff Gaines wrote:
    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or
    more only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual
    memory?

    No ... what models do that? Do tell!

    [snip two Amazon links]

    I don't know why those product descriptions lead you to understand that
    those two phones use virtual memory?

    Android can support in-memory compression, effectively giving extra RAM capacity at the cost of a computation overhead compressing and
    uncompressing memory contents (which is likely to be more noticeable in increased power drain than any slowness) ... and a comment on at least
    the second of those phones does seem to suggest that that is going on here.

    Using virtual memory to increase effective RAM would mean that program
    data was being copied out of RAM to 'disk' (flash memory, in a phone) so
    that the RAM could be used for something else. Android uses the Linux
    kernel, and Linux certainly can support swapping ... but I doubt it's
    enabled on phones as flash memory supports a limited number of write
    cycles (i.e. it will 'wear out' and become useless after a large number
    of writes). (Android does use virtual memory management techniques, but
    that doesn't imply that it uses swapping.)

    I don't really see the point ... even 6GB is a huge amount for a phone.

    --
    Cheers,
    Daniel.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Chris@21:1/5 to i.love@spam.com on Mon Nov 20 08:33:05 2023
    SH <i.love@spam.com> wrote:
    On 19/11/2023 15:00, Andy Burns wrote:

    David wrote:

    I think this is a bit like saying "I never listen to the radio. Why
    can't I buy a new car without one?". So much is integrated these days
    that it is probably most cost efficient in manufacturing to just put
    everything on the [...]

    But if it's a BMW you'll probably have to pay a monthly fee to use the
    radio ...


    LOL.... So True!

    (remembers the press reporting arounf a heated steering wheel only being enabled and available once you pay a month subscription!)

    More like a Tesla where any upgrades paid for by an owner are removed when
    sold second hand only for the next owner to pay full whack for them again.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to Daniel James on Mon Nov 20 08:35:05 2023
    Daniel James wrote:

    Jeff Gaines wrote:

    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or
    more only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual
    memory?

    No ... what models do that? Do tell!

    [snip two Amazon links]

    I don't know why those product descriptions lead you to understand that
    those two phones use virtual memory?

    The first one says ...

    "15GB RAM (8GB RAM + 7GB Extra Virtual Memory)"

    The second one says

    "New memory expansion technology can expand the 6GB memory to 12GB RAM"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Chris@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Mon Nov 20 08:33:04 2023
    Jeff Gaines <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:
    On 19/11/2023 in message <ujdob7$3u94v$1@dont-email.me> Daniel James wrote:

    Have you noticed how many smartphones now advertise with 12 GB RAM or
    more only to discover in the small print half of it is virtual
    memory?

    No ... what models do that? Do tell!


    https://www.amazon.co.uk/OUKITEL-C33-Expandable-Smartphone-Fingerprint-grey/dp/B0CF9P73VN/ref=sr_1_21?crid=2EEEC6OLIOPCO&keywords=smartphone&qid=1700233575&sprefix=smartphone%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-21&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.23648568-4ba5-49f2-9aa6-
    31ae75f1e9cd&th=1

    and


    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blackview-Tab60-Tablet-Bluetooth-Headphone/dp/B0CHML4ZDJ/?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=dlx_deals_sc_dcl_img_dt_dealz_ic&pd_rd_w=l8G17&content-id=amzn1.sym.a2d9d1cf-9afa-45a5-89d6-0379ea7f5e04&pf_rd_p=a2d9d1cf-9afa-45a5-89d6-0379ea7f5e04&
    pf_rd_r=F7HNA65141KFHY7PCYXV&pd_rd_wg=G3eo9&pd_rd_r=fa69dd73-fcce-424e-a133-a551d07b1b81&th=1

    I've just bought the latter and been setting it up, it's very good so far
    and a tenth the price of an iPhone!

    No idea why you're comparing a tablet to an iphone? It's certainly cheaper
    than a base ipad and I'd expect so given the specs are so bad. Particularly
    the screen.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to Chris on Mon Nov 20 09:04:52 2023
    Chris wrote:

    SH wrote:

    (remembers the press reporting arounf a heated steering wheel only being
    enabled and available once you pay a month subscription!)

    More like a Tesla where any upgrades paid for by an owner are removed when sold second hand only for the next owner to pay full whack for them again.

    Ouch, hadn't heard about that practice.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to Chris on Mon Nov 20 09:42:42 2023
    On 20/11/2023 in message <ujf5k0$8av6$1@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

    I've just bought the latter and been setting it up, it's very good so far >>and a tenth the price of an iPhone!

    No idea why you're comparing a tablet to an iphone? It's certainly cheaper >than a base ipad and I'd expect so given the specs are so bad. Particularly >the screen.

    It's a "phablet", i.e. a mobile 'phone with an 8" screen.

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    Indecision is the key to flexibility

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daniel James@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Mon Nov 20 11:53:27 2023
    On 20/11/2023 08:35, Andy Burns wrote:
    Daniel James wrote:
    [snip]
    I don't know why those product descriptions lead you to understand
    that those two phones use virtual memory?

    The first one says ...

    "15GB RAM (8GB RAM + 7GB Extra Virtual Memory)"

    Oops! I missed that.

    The second one says

    "New memory expansion technology can expand the 6GB memory to 12GB RAM"

    Yes, I saw that ... but it looks to me more like in-memory compression
    than virtual memory (in the usual sense of a swapfile).

    My current phone (as of about five years ago) has 4GB. It it certainly
    more capable than my previous phone that had only 1GB ... I'm not sure
    that 6GB or 8GB would offer any improvement, and I don't see any
    advantage in doubling it. Android tells me that on average I use only
    61% of the available RAM.

    Your mileage may vary, of course.

    --
    Cheers,
    Daniel.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Chris@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Tue Nov 21 08:11:11 2023
    Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
    Chris wrote:

    SH wrote:

    (remembers the press reporting arounf a heated steering wheel only being >>> enabled and available once you pay a month subscription!)

    More like a Tesla where any upgrades paid for by an owner are removed when >> sold second hand only for the next owner to pay full whack for them again.

    Ouch, hadn't heard about that practice.

    That's the "advantage" of having everything controlled by software, it can
    be controlled remotely. All Teslas have the same hardware.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Chris@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Tue Nov 21 08:16:14 2023
    Jeff Gaines <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:
    On 20/11/2023 in message <ujf5k0$8av6$1@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

    I've just bought the latter and been setting it up, it's very good so far >>> and a tenth the price of an iPhone!

    No idea why you're comparing a tablet to an iphone? It's certainly cheaper >> than a base ipad and I'd expect so given the specs are so bad. Particularly >> the screen.

    It's a "phablet", i.e. a mobile 'phone with an 8" screen.

    Are you sure it can make actual phone calls? Most tablets with SIM cards
    can only make internet calls via a separate service e.g. WhatsApp. So you
    can't use it to ring the GP, for example.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to Chris on Tue Nov 21 09:19:19 2023
    On 21/11/2023 in message <ujhp0e$oj1i$1@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

    Jeff Gaines <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:
    On 20/11/2023 in message <ujf5k0$8av6$1@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

    I've just bought the latter and been setting it up, it's very good so >>>>far
    and a tenth the price of an iPhone!

    No idea why you're comparing a tablet to an iphone? It's certainly >>>cheaper
    than a base ipad and I'd expect so given the specs are so bad. >>>Particularly
    the screen.

    It's a "phablet", i.e. a mobile 'phone with an 8" screen.

    Are you sure it can make actual phone calls? Most tablets with SIM cards
    can only make internet calls via a separate service e.g. WhatsApp. So you >can't use it to ring the GP, for example.

    Yes I am!

    I always buy these cheap Chinese 'phones, they are very popular in Asia
    but eventually make their way here. Low quality cameras so lower cost (not
    a problem for me as I said up thread) but a good sized screen so I can
    read texts/emails etc. I don't live on my 'phone, I use my laptop for most things, with Pushbullet I can even use it for texts and copying and
    pasting 2FA codes into a browser.

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    Every day is a good day for chicken, unless you're a chicken.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Chris@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Tue Nov 21 15:38:19 2023
    Jeff Gaines <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:
    On 21/11/2023 in message <ujhp0e$oj1i$1@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

    Jeff Gaines <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:
    On 20/11/2023 in message <ujf5k0$8av6$1@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

    I've just bought the latter and been setting it up, it's very good so >>>>> far
    and a tenth the price of an iPhone!

    No idea why you're comparing a tablet to an iphone? It's certainly
    cheaper
    than a base ipad and I'd expect so given the specs are so bad.
    Particularly
    the screen.

    It's a "phablet", i.e. a mobile 'phone with an 8" screen.

    Are you sure it can make actual phone calls? Most tablets with SIM cards
    can only make internet calls via a separate service e.g. WhatsApp. So you
    can't use it to ring the GP, for example.

    Yes I am!

    I always buy these cheap Chinese 'phones, they are very popular in Asia
    but eventually make their way here. Low quality cameras so lower cost (not
    a problem for me as I said up thread) but a good sized screen so I can
    read texts/emails etc. I don't live on my 'phone, I use my laptop for most things, with Pushbullet I can even use it for texts and copying and
    pasting 2FA codes into a browser.

    OK, fair enough.

    It's not at all what anyone would have thought to suggest given your
    request in the OP, but glad you've found something suitable.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to Chris on Tue Nov 21 17:04:44 2023
    On 21/11/2023 in message <ujiitb$sn8q$1@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

    I always buy these cheap Chinese 'phones, they are very popular in Asia
    but eventually make their way here. Low quality cameras so lower cost (not >>a problem for me as I said up thread) but a good sized screen so I can
    read texts/emails etc. I don't live on my 'phone, I use my laptop for most >>things, with Pushbullet I can even use it for texts and copying and
    pasting 2FA codes into a browser.

    OK, fair enough.

    It's not at all what anyone would have thought to suggest given your
    request in the OP, but glad you've found something suitable.

    I'd be interested to know why you feel it doesn't meet my original spec?
    It does have a camera but a cheap, low resolution one, otherwise it's what
    I was looking for.

    It's just taken me half an hour to transfer my banking app to it, as
    usual I had the laptop on my lap setting out instructions and picking up
    one code by email and the 'phone balanced on top with a code coming in by
    text and switching back & forth between apps and machine. Needles to say
    the instructions bore no relationship to what the screen actually looked
    like.

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his
    life.
    (Jeremy Thorpe, 1962)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Chris@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Tue Nov 21 18:47:07 2023
    Jeff Gaines <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:
    On 21/11/2023 in message <ujiitb$sn8q$1@dont-email.me> Chris wrote:

    I always buy these cheap Chinese 'phones, they are very popular in Asia
    but eventually make their way here. Low quality cameras so lower cost (not >>> a problem for me as I said up thread) but a good sized screen so I can
    read texts/emails etc. I don't live on my 'phone, I use my laptop for most >>> things, with Pushbullet I can even use it for texts and copying and
    pasting 2FA codes into a browser.

    OK, fair enough.

    It's not at all what anyone would have thought to suggest given your
    request in the OP, but glad you've found something suitable.

    I'd be interested to know why you feel it doesn't meet my original spec?
    It does have a camera but a cheap, low resolution one, otherwise it's what
    I was looking for.

    As you say it's a phablet. If someone is looking for a "mobile phone" a
    phablet is not something that would come to my mind as a suggestion. The
    same for many I suspect. Especially where you're not wanting a camera. Has there ever been a tablet without a camera? Certainly the original ipad had
    one.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Daniel James@21:1/5 to Chris on Wed Nov 22 15:12:09 2023
    On 21/11/2023 08:16, Chris wrote:
    Most tablets with SIM cards
    can only make internet calls via a separate service e.g. WhatsApp. So you can't use it to ring the GP, for example.

    That's certainly true of all iPads, but most Android tablets I've come
    across do support phone calls -- especially Samsungs. My (2012 model)
    Galaxy Note did, and my newish Galaxy S8 does too.

    A problem I originally (in 2013) had with Three was that phone SIMs
    could detect that your tablet wasn't what Three considered to be a phone
    and they wouldn't let you use the internet (except Three's own site),
    and their data SIMs didn't allow calls. This kind of contractual
    jiggery-pokery may lead some people to think that their tablet doesn't
    'do' voice telephony, when it could with a different SIM.

    I didn't find the same problem with other providers but back then the
    Three 1-2-3 SIMs were a good deal for occasional use -- not any more,
    sadly. Some time later the rules changed and I could use a 1-2-3 SIM in
    the Galaxy Note, but then (before I got the S8) the pricing structure
    became unreasonable for occasional use.

    ... and, of course, the 1-2-3 SIM I had didn't get even occasional use
    during the Covid lockdowns, and expired.

    --
    Cheers,
    Daniel.

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  • From Daniel James@21:1/5 to Chris on Wed Nov 22 15:21:08 2023
    On 21/11/2023 18:47, Chris wrote:
    As you say it's a phablet. If someone is looking for a "mobile phone" a phablet is not something that would come to my mind as a suggestion.

    Then again, most of the phones available today would have been classed
    as 'phablets' by the press ten years ago. The fact that bezels around
    the screen have all but vanished in newer designs makes them look a
    little less silly pressed against the ear -- but they are huge compared
    with older phones. I remember upgrading from a 4.3" Sony thing to a Moto
    G4 Play and thinking the Moto enormous with its 5" screen, but you're
    hard pressed to find an Android phone below 6" these days.

    5" phones fit in a shirt pocket. 6" phones almost do. 6.4" (typical
    modern phone size) do NOT. That's why the yoof of today have their
    phones surgically grafted to their hands.

    --
    Cheers,
    Daniel.

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