Touchscreen Flip Phone ? OR Dumbphone with Voice Texting & Whatsapp ???

[JimgB]

Trying to find any phones that fully work on Public Mobile from EITHER:

(1)  Touchscreen Flip Phone (with android other than Cat S22)

or

(2) Dumbphone (flip or even better, thinner Candybar style) WITH Voice Texting (to avoid keypad typing) & Whatsapp ........   whatsapp isn't crucial, but would be nice.

Basically, I want a smaller dumbphone where I don't need to use the T9 keypad typing.

My dream phone was the Qin F21 Pro but it doesn't have bands 2 or 4. And Nokia 6300 and 2780 seem to have dropped Whatsapp with the newer OS, and... it seems most Nokia also don't have bands 2 or 4

[hTideGnow]

hi @Chalupa_Batman from the Settings -> App , look for the T-Mobile apps.  You cannot uninstall them but you can disable them so they won't run

[Chalupa_Batman]

---

@JimgB wrote:

I think you will be pleasantly surprised then with the Cat !

---

I am very surprised with it. I love this thing. However I do have one concern. The T-Mobile app is on it and you have no choice but to allow T-Mobile to run diagnostics on your phone and monitor what you do on your phone. That isn't right. Not here in Canada. So I'm going to use ADB and see if I can remove a bunch of useless apps. 

The one amazing thing is using talk to text. That is going to be a HUGE advantage using this flip phone. Reception has been pretty good so far. I have only downloaded 2 apps so far. Text Now and Spotify. Spotify is giving away 4 months free right now so...   might as well try it. 

[hTideGnow]

hi @JimgB the market is small and not many choices, especially for bar phones 

[JimgB]

Yeah, there are a number of slimmer bar phones, just, missing the voice texting - its the one thing needed to at least make texting a real thing for me.

I'm really liking even this Artfone, but no voice texting

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CS341NLB/ref=sspa_dk_detail_6?pd_rd_i=B0CS341NLB&pd_rd_w=LgoPv&content-id...

I just dont get why these off brands work on PM, but the Nokias are so problematic ?

[hTideGnow]

hi @JimgB 

something like this?? But 3G only..would be good for another 3 to 5 years until 3G is retired 

https://www.jethroshop.com/product-page/sc318v2r-3g-bar-style

[JimgB]

I think I'd just be happy to find a PM working dumbphone (on the thinner "bar" shape) with Voice texting.

[JimgB]

I think you will be pleasantly surprised then with the Cat !

[JimgB]

Many Nokia phones have Whatsapp and Facebook built in their "dumb phones".  Problem is two-fold...

(1) KaiOS upgraded to 3 and 3.1 which apparently ditched Whatsapp and Facebook.  So, you need to find old versions of Nokia 6300 (my big want), or 2720/2780 flips.

(2) Although Nokia, and North American, they don't seem to have bands 2 and 4, so, problematic working.....

[Chalupa_Batman]

That red flip I linked you to...  that too says Telus on it too even though it's a Chinese flip that has never been on a network. I think it's just the phone reading the primary network over PM. Not a big deal to me.

I ordered the Cat S22 cause I want to use TextNow in the US while I'm there. I'm not worried about it being thick. As long as it works, that's what's most important. 

[hTideGnow]

hi @JimgB any phone with Whatsapp or those app means it is not a dumb phone.  I think it is hard to find what you looking for 

[JimgB]

Thanks.

I have the Cat S22. It's a beautiful flip. Android works great. But it's reallllly thick, and although it says unlocked, it keeps giving Telus I think it was, messages although it seems to work.

[Chalupa_Batman]

Well @JimgB  I ordered these two phones in the last few weeks and both work very well with Public Mobile. Sadly though, they don't have Voice to Text.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08D71WXYN?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CKT3S57M?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I did order the Cat S22 recently and waiting for it to arrive. Will be interesting to test it out. 

[JimgB]

Wow, PM doesnt even support a lot of "Senior" dumbphones?  That's really sad, and would explain why my mom keeps having dropped calls on here basic flip phone.

It shouldnt be this hard to get a basic "bar" dumbphone that has voice texting to avoid the keypad....

[maurelle]

Your main problem will be VoLTE capability / whitelisting.

The ZTE Cymbal 2 and the Sonim XP3 are sold by Telus, so there is a reasonable chance that they work with VoLTE here?

I have a friend who loves their Unihertz Jelly 2 and Jelly Star phones, but, while having all required bands and fully VoLTE capable, PM has banned VoLTE access on them.