zlacker

>>kotaKa+(OP)
These days I don't really want a smartphone at all, but begrudgingly use one for things like mobile banking, receiving SMS tokens, etc.

If someone made a screenless powerbank-shaped Android device, I might be interested. The device would double as a 5g wifi modem, and to access the UI you'd remote in over VNC from a laptop, or unrestricted mobile device like a PinePhone.

>>Retr0i+du
The set up I run consists of an older 5g phone that hospots to my other phone, no apps of consiquence on either phone, I sign into my email through web mail, and sign into banking through a browser, all of my apps come from fdroid and similar, mostly used for media, manual updates for those through the fdroid web site.

As to the device you mention, it should be possible to take a phone apart and spoof* all of the mic's and cameras, likely the gps, and haptic motor and speakers as well, and have a 5g touch screen modem with plain internet, or keep the speakers and it's a media device, or put all the audio on a micro switch. * use matched resistors, or black out the sensors detach the antena for gps lets just say I realy dont like bieng advertised to

>>metalm+LE
this reads like the infamous HN Dropbox comment. It shouldn't have to bee like this.

>>Seattl+ha1
Except it's the opposite - In the past we had a dropbox-like solution in the form of "just buy a pixel". That is no longer fit for purpose, so we're back to cobbling things together. Perhaps a more streamlined commercial offering will exist in the future.