UKH

Hi all, I'm a bit of an addict.

Addicted to pointlessly scrolling the internet on my phone. I've considered getting rid of my smartphone a few times, but don't want to loose whatsapp as it's my main form of communicating, and also rely on Google maps as my satnav in the car.

However, I've just discovered that you can get phones that have whatsapp and Google maps, but no internet browser, such as the Nokia 800 toughphone, with a pretty impressive battery life too.

I'm considering getting one of these, and a cheap tablet for when I need to browse the internet. Hopefully the effort of having to turn the tablet on and not having it in my pocket will cut down on pointless browsing.

Has anyone got one of these dumbphones with whatsapp and Google maps? Are they any good? Did you find you missed the convenience of having the internet at your fingertips?

One other potential issue is that my family all live a long way away so we rely on whatsapp video calls to keep I touch. From what I've read, these wouldn't work with one of these phones. Anyone know of an easy way to do video calls without a smartphone?

Oh, and I'm aware of the irony of researching and posting this from my smartphone!

Oh god I read this post and then realised that, I too was pointless browsing...

You can get WhatsApp on your tablet, but can't also have it installed on two devices using the same phone number (account).

Think Facebook messenger allows video calls.

I misread the title and thought it was a thread about drumbones

youtube.com/watch?v=dOLBn8GKBlA&

Ha, had that coming! Have a like for that

Good point about Facebook messenger. Never use it so hadn't thought of that.

Excellent! A fine example of the benefits of pointless browsing!

I don't Facebook offers the same security/privacy as WhatsApp, but for chatting with family that probably isn't a worry.

I tried to do this when the battery on my smartphone eventually died.  I got a Nokia burner phone (not sure whether it was a 800) and although the phone had WhatsApp it couldn’t run the updates to make it compatible with the current version of WhatsApp so it was useless.  As all my contacts are stored in “the cloud” rather than on the SIM card I basically couldn’t speak to anybody for a month.  I ended up getting a smartphone again.  You can install WhatsApp on a pc/tablet but you need a functioning smartphone to set it up, which kind of spoils the point.

If there’s a way to do it without cutting yourself off I’d love to know!

Would another solution be to keep the smartphone but have a specific place (a basket or such like) by the front door where you place it as soon as you get in? You could have a charger there so you have no reason to have it anywhere else. That way, if there was a video call from family etc you could go and get it, so not cut off, but having a specific place might get you into the routine of puting it down and leaving it there?

This sounds very much like a landline, or "telephone" as we used to say.

WhatsApp desktop can be “installed” on a tablet/laptop (it is in effect a weblink you can create an icon for), you then scan a QR code with your phone and it authorises it to use the same account on that device. 
 

However you can’t make calls/video, just read and reply to messages - which is never the less useful as I can type much quicker on my laptop when at work etc 

Except you can get Whatsapp video calls, Google maps, and can take it with you when you go out!

Not too much of a concern. Family calls are mostly looking up a toddlers nose as she wonders around wittering on about ducks..

Yes, after I'd posted this, I found a few more reviews about the Nokia 800 which pretty much said what you'd written, that it was pretty useless apart from basic calls and the old fashioned texts.

I'd be interested to know if this was the case for all these types of phones, or if it's just the Nokia 800 being a bit crap. More research needed.

Not tried it myself but apparently some phones allow you to remove Internet access from selected apps and you can download apps that let you block apps. 

Set one of these up and block your browser but keep what's app open. 

In theory that should work, if I can just leave it there.. However, I'm in a volunteer group whatsapp chat, and while most of the content is rubbish there are occasionally important things that I need to respond to, so I'd need to check it periodically anyway. 

I think your easiest solution is one of the many lockdown features or apps that stop you using the internet on your regular smartphone. You can get them to restrict children's access - get a grown up to set it up so you can't use a browser 🙂. Or you can get apps aimed at improving your productivity where you set a time span where you can't use certain features.

Thanks, that could be another approach, and would save the expenses of a new phone.

I have Whatsapp installed on my Windows laptop (I think it's called 'Whatsapp for Desktop') and I can very easily make and receive calls on it. With a phone that lives in my pocket, while I'm on the laptop I have a choice as to which device to answer with when a call comes in.

The only thing I find I can't do on the desktop is add new Whatsapp contacts.