tiny budget VZW Android models

[Mi An]

I'm probably not serious about this, but sometimes I'd love to just go back and get a dumb flip phone if only GV weren't such a pain (IMO). Before I used sms return numbers as my main contact numbers to dial out, but it doesn't work for landlines and can be a pain to keep up with and collect. GV on android is nice and pain free. I still love Syd, but her phone skills are iffy.

I'm thinking of looking for a 3"ish or less, the smaller the better, native android VZW device. A manufacturer released froyo/gb rom would be a nice perk, but I could care less how fast it is, how much memory it has etc. It's for making calls only. If it's old enough that people are dumping their scratched-up hand-me-downs on ebay, all the better. Like a wildfire s, galaxy pocket or xperia mini, except older and verizon. The aria is a little too old (no official froyo) and a little too big, but I could maybe go down that road since the price is throwaway territory. I've been searching pdadb and ebay but so far I'm coming up empty.

Any suggestions? Including easier ways to manage GV on a dumbphone in case I do get a flip phone...

[jigwashere]

What's wrong with Syd's phone skills? Syd has the best reception and sound quality, not to mention awesome speakerphone. I am shocked that you'd say such a thing!

On my TP2, I used Magicall to handle all my voice calls, especially to landlines. Unfortunately, Magicall isn't cheap (25 smackeroos). There is a free trail. I obtained mine through a Trialpay offer (the impetus of my Netflix addiction, so technically I paid WAY more than $25).

I have Magical set up to ignore 911, voicemail, and calls to 5 or 6 other numbers. Other than that, it intercepts all my calls, dials GV, 2, <contact number>, #. Yes, it takes a few seconds to go through all that, but in your case you'd only use if for landline calls. Mobile numbers could be ignored by Magicall and simply dial the SMS number directly.

This method isn't perfect, but it worked very well for me. Currently, I use a callback method with my E4GT, but I'm tempted to simply bite the bullet and integrate GV as my Sprint number since all mobile-to-any.network.mobile calls are free for me (and I have free calls to my choice of 5 landlines).

Here are some other methods for using GV with the TP2. Google Voice Incoming/Outgoing Options! Google Voice Incoming/Outgoing Options!

[jigwashere]

I remember trying iDialer and giving up on it for some reason. Maybe it didn't offer all the features I wanted, but as I read about it, it might be just the thing for you and Syd.

[Mi An]

It's a gingerbread beta issue. Today she got locked into a ring, rang endlessly and wouldn't let me pick up or hang up. Had to pull off the battery cover and reset manually. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but I've had really heavy call volume that I couldn't really avoid the past couple of weeks and the little things are grating on me more.

Syd's great, and I'm not looking to replace her, just maybe to move her to pure PDA duty and deconverge. I also don't desire going back to using her in winmo mode, or using any winmo device. Right now I'm just mulling between a dumb phone and an old android that will let me keep the google voice app employed.

[jigwashere]

I was thinking you could go back to WinMo strictly for calls, then pick up a tablet for your Android fix. I don't know what to suggest for a VZW phone. sorry.


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[Adama D. Brown]

I don't think there are any 3" or less native Android devices, for a simple reason. Android devices almost all run capacitive touchscreens, and said touchscreens are a little less accurate than resistive ones. Besides which, not having a stylus, the UI needs to be a little larger to be comfortable. So I doubt there's any native Android devices under 3.5 inches, probably more.

[RickAgresta]

Mi An, the HTC Droid Eris is pretty close to your specs, as far as the screen goes. my son's has 2.1 as the latest sysyem update, don't know if there are any unofficial 2.2/higher ROMs floating around

[jigwashere]

I don't think there are any 3" or less native Android devices....

The Samsung Galaxy Pocket will sport a 2.8" screen.

EDIT: Mi An, what about a Blackberry? I believe they have a GV app and you should be able to get a smaller used one fairly cheap.

[Mi An]

The Samsung Galaxy Pocket will sport a 2.8" screen.

EDIT: Mi An, what about a Blackberry? I believe they have a GV app and you should be able to get a smaller used one fairly cheap.

You know, there's actually a blackberry flip phone. I might look into that. I'd love to have a flip phone again. I wonder how hard it would be lock down the data -- that's probably not a popular crackberry feature. (looking into it now -- but predictably most forum posts say "why would you turn off data" or just "impossible you idiot" ) As to Syd and winmo, one reason I'm hesitant to do that is that she's such a great reader and winmo readerware sucks. I shifted towards android tablet/winmo phone while I had my nook tablet, and wasn't entirely fond of the arrangement.

And yeah, there are sub-3" android phones. I'm just having trouble finding older ones on verizon. The really small ones seemed to have been imagined about the same time the superphones started appearing (and I saw similar arguments about how those screens would be just too big to use -- 3.5" was the ideal, ideal, and anything else was just silly), and are mostly just now coming into being. ZTE and huawei et al have tiny models in addition to the ones I listed in the OP. For my purposes, if you can comfortably dial, the screen is too big. It's not a smartphone, it's just a phone with google voice integration.

@ Rick, I did look into the eris update situation, and there's omgb and omfgb roms for it, I'm just not sure how stable they are (the reason I'm looking for a phone is my current hack isn't treating me too kindly, so I'm wary to buy another hack). My main desire for at least froyo is to ensure the GV app works well, but perhaps 2.1 would be just fine.

I do appreciate all the advice, even the advice I dismiss. I am picky, but still grateful for all input. Brighthand always comes through for me

[Mi An]

The blackberry pearl flip 8230 is a verizon device. It does not have wifi and I haven't yet figured out for certain if it can run the google voice app or not, as it is a 2009 era phone that seems to have BB 4.something running and the page for the google voice app isn't very informative. Given the age of the phone, it is very much within my price range though

I'm not clear what my data hit might be, how much this would use in the background. GV for android only really needs data to send/receive texts without carrier charge or to dial new numbers -- it seems to remember how to dial old numbers after the first dial. I'm not 100% sure I can shut off data in the interim without also shutting off the phone radio. The link I posted above makes it sound like I can on 4.7, but I think the pearl flip has an older OS.

My googling makes it seem doable. I have some unanswered questions, but probably the easiest way to get answers is buy one and see. It's maybe $25, after re-ebaying it if it doesn't work for me, it's maybe a $10 mistake. And it's a flip phone, yay! I might get one. You da man jig.

If anyone does still recall a tiny vzw android handset though, I'm still all ears.