Reply With QuoteAbove my pay grade, but very interesting.
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My screen is bigger than yours
So I finally got the phone unlocked and have been playing with it A LOT.
Firstly, to call this a dumb phone is unbecoming. It's a button-press smartphone lite. (or mine is now LOL)
The stock apps are mostly limited. (and therefore crap.) That's fine, just head over to github: neutronscott - flip 2. He has a whole wiki (as well as an img file) set up to be able to unlock the phone so you can load apk files. (Note: you do need to know/understand fastboot as well as adb commands, so if you have no programming experience, best to stay away.)
After doing all of that, head over to apps4flip and download their "necessary" apps. Voice-Access (and their accessibility app) is a MUST to use most of the apps out there today since they’re set up for touch screen. But beyond that, look through all of them and see what suits you. I recommend quick office as well to read pdfs and other files that people might email to you.
Having said that: apps4flip put all kinds of warnings "if you want to uninstall apps, you have to do a fresh reinstall" and the like. They also say "you can't load any 'unapproved apps' on the phones." Hogwash if you only use neutronscott's img and then mod everything else yourself. If you know ADB commands, those are all functional and the phone responds accordingly.
Once I had the phone unlocked by Neutronscott's methods, the REAL FUN began.
Remember this IS a flip phone and it's running AOSP rather than the full Android - if you're a regular Android user, this might take some getting used to. As I'm moving from an iPhone and I wanted something I could mod, I'm having a lot of fun with it.
That said: most of the 'lite' versions of apps work REALLY well on the phone (MUST USE VOICE-ACCESS for most features!!! No screen to touch but the voice access will touch those areas at your command). And you might be surprised what can be installed on the phone.
Examples of what I suppressed (permissions won't allow deletion of these specific programs):
Calendar
Music
Browser
What I replaced them with:
Outlook Lite. (replaces both Email and Calendar)
Maple Music (because I personally need to control the playback speeds - VLC full didn't work right on the phone and VLC lite didn't have speed control)
Opera Mini (firefox Lite didn’t work right and Brave just crashed each time)
Other apps I was surprised to find they worked:
Slack (full)
Proton VPN
Weather&Radar (full)
Sygic navigation (full)
What I didn't install? Google Play or other Google specific apps. (I'm coming from an iPhone, I'm actually kind of glad to have a brand-free phone.). Some might count the Voice-Access app as "google", downloading the stripped down version from apps4flip has made it 'safe'-ish.
Other things:
Mobile Hotspot DOES work I have mine routed through my Wi-Fi extender and it supports at least three devices this way.
Hotspot burns the battery down like no one’s business (expected, but still shocked at just how fast!)
It can’t run without the battery installed. This disappointed me - especially while doing all the setup, but also since I plan to run the hotspot often.
I installed 'show battery percent' because I missed not having that from my iPhone. (Sadly it goes in notifications rather than up in the icon bar, but it’s easier to find than going through settings)
Since changing the Music app, I haven't had the issues with selecting ringtones and the like that are discussed in other places, but I haven't tested it extensively yet.
If you enjoy modding phones and playing with which apps work or don't, then seriously, give it a go. I'm not big into writing programs myself, but this has fed my inner computer nerd.
_______________________________
TCL Flip 2 on Visible (Primary)
Backup sim -TruPhone (ATT)
Backup sim - Tracfone - VZ
Retired Phones: iPhone 6 & SE2
Radiation is good
Above my pay grade, but very interesting.
Post Machine
Same, and I agree!
Mobile Pro
very interesting indeed. wonder if there's anything like this for Orbic flip phone as it has twice the Ram and storage.
My screen is bigger than yours
I can’t remember the RAM but my Flip 2 had 8gb storage with expandable to 256. So that part IIRC is the same.Originally Posted by mango3
The orbic may not be as locked down on the backend, I’m sure if you search the apps4flip site, someone has tried something and can give suggestions.
Mobile Pro
see no modd for Orbic Journey V Flip (RC2200DL)
https://forums.apps4flip.com/?q=orbic
I've climbed a cellphone tower
I love flip phones, and I love hacks of all kinds, so I really enjoyed reading your OP, minij! Thanks for posting it!
I'll be following this thread with interest. I've wondered if it's possible to load the TextNow app and use the Flip on the TextNow free plan. Now that would be really cool if it can be done! I wish I had my Flip 2 with me to play around.
(TextNow's website says dumb phones don't work with their app, but maybe like you said in the OP, this particular not-so-dumb phone may work?!)
My screen is bigger than yours
The Flip 2 has several models and not all of them are listed. Could Orbic be something like the difference between HP and IBM? (Ie both computers are similar enough that hacks for IBM worked on HP). I only offer that as another way to search for info about your particular phone. Also, search functions on websites aren’t always the best. Try a search via a web browser too.
My screen is bigger than yours
I’m pretty excited to be going back to a flip phone. Since this will be my main device, I’m not going to test it for apps I don’t use or apps I plan to mainly access via the desktop (outlook and slack being exceptions due a volunteer org I’m in.)
I think MOST flip phones that run AOSP 11 and higher are “not dumb” due to the OS. But, as with modding anything YMMV.
Word of warning: I got greedy and tried to load a Do Not Disturb app which ended up being malware, so now I DO have to do a fresh install. Oops.
So if I could offer a word of advice: know the phone functions, REALLY well and make sure you add new apps SLOWLY. (For instance: I know all the nonessential apps that DO work, so this time, I’ll only add the “unknown/tested apps.”
Like I said, modding phones in this way is not for the faint of heart. It takes patience and being okay with starting over if you make mistakes.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My screen is bigger than yours
I like flip phones. I have a couple of Alcatel myFlips, a myFlip2 and a couple of Nokia N139's. Looks like it is time to get a couple of TCL Flip 2's to play with. Do you know off-hand if ASOP 11 would run the Google Voice app.? Thanks.
My screen is bigger than yours
It does! But I recommend the voice access app from apps4flip. They modded it to be a little lighter to run better on the smaller system.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Has a car phone
I tried the google voice app but it doesnt seem to function properly?
My screen is bigger than yours
From the apps4flip website's description I think the voice access app. is used to control the phone by using voice. Not a phone call/text app like Google Voice. I could be wrong and hope I am.
My screen is bigger than yours
So the modded flip phone can load Google Voice. Maybe the Google Voice app needs some functions not in the open-sourced AOSP but in Google's proprietary code.
My screen is bigger than yours
Edit: because it's too late at night and i'm having reading comprehension problems.
You might need to load an older/lighter version of the app for it. Remember it's not a full-on smartphone and you must have voice access or something to control the touch screen aspects. Also, since you're on a non-touch screen phone, some functions are difficult to find and navigate properly in general. It's been an adjustment.
For a $20 phone, I'm not complaining. I don't use all the features of a smartphone, so it's silly for me to spend $100s on a new one every few years.
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