Re: Disabling answering the phone.

On 2024-04-08, Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> wrote:

How did we get to the point where one has to do a web search just to be
able to answer the infernal device?

I hear you!

My latest phone has several annoying anti-features.  One is that it
hides the virtual keypad by default.  So when i make a call, i have
to go through the screen menu to open the keypad before i can press
numbers to navigate a robotic phone tree menu.

But i have to be quick because the display has a surprisingly short
timeout.  If i wait 5 seconds while listening to a phone dial,
greeting, and finally realize it is a robotic prompt, my screen has
gone dark and i have to unlock it, then "open the keypad", and
finally i can press a number.  Usually the robotic prompt hasn't
timed out yet.

Likewise, when i press the dialer button, it hides the virtual keypad by
default and instead shows me recent calls or contacts.  I have to press
another button to open the virtual keypad to actually key in a phone
number.  Even here it defaults to the most recent phone call as the
"suggested number".  So it is all too easy to accidentally dial someone
else before i key in a phone number.

This phone is running "Android Go Edition", which was designed to run on
reduced memory phones for poor people.  It has all kinds of
not-so-helpful restrictions.

The physical volume control buttons are limited to 10 possible volume
settings 1-10.  Volume level 5 is too quiet.  Volume level 6 is way too
loud.  It doesn't help to use a bluetooth headset.  Those too are
restricted to 10 possible volume levels by Android Go Edition.

It is restricted to running approximately 4 processes at once.  This
means that if i am playing an mp3, Android kills/suspends background
processes for other apps including their notifications.  Consequently, i
pretty commonly miss notifications for text messages, WhatsApp, and the
like.  It's a bit of a roulette.  It doesn't normally kill the media
player while it is playing, but sometimes if i put it on pause, it will
"forget" what and where it was playing when i re-open it.

I am not inclined to trust this device with anything important.  I'll
keep my important stuff elsewhere.