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  • Admin user and regular user for Kids GrapheneOS phone

Blastoidea

"Have you considered a good old-fashioned flip phone?"

We did. For $118 the unlocked 4a was the better choice. The current 4G VoiceLTE "dumb phones" phones mandated by AT&T are not as dumb as the past 3G phones like the old school Pantech 3G QWERTY phones.

Also, the two Nokia 4G phones we purchased (and promptly returned) refused to work on the AT&T network even though they were on AT&T's approved $G VoiceLTE list. Plus, the new Nokia software (KaiOS?) was horrendous and had advertising you could not shut off.

I guess the idea of the perfect kid phone is GrapheneOS in a small hardware package: large enough to be usable for meaningful communication; small enough to not beckon a child's attention constantly.

    Is the 4a still supported?

    The Pixel 5 is EOL in October of this year, hasn’t the 4a fallen off the edge?

      Blastoidea

      The 4a and 5 are still supported. And for a kids "Grapheneos dumbphone" I'm not too concerned about updates when it officially drops off the supported list. If he gets 2 years use out of it the $118 would be worth it.

        Blastoidea Yes, there is a company run by Mennonites called Sunbeam Wireless that make an AOSP flipphone called the Sunbeam F1 that is stripped from Google and has no web browser and no image sharing. Best phone for kids.

            BalooRJ

            Yup. Saw that during my research. But the phone is $195 and no guarantee for long term support.

            For now, it's going to be the Pixel 4a.

            P.S. My ideal phone for kids would be something like the Blackberry Q10 with a real physical keyboard. My wife and I were using these as our daily drivers for years until AT&T stopped supporting 3G phones. They were very front pocket friendly phones and handled text, voice and emails a lot better compared to iOS or Android. Their QNX based OS was miles ahead anything Apple or Google have.

                nyc_paramedic Their QNX based OS was miles ahead

                Wow, that's pretty laughable. Those things were horrendous. Everybody I knew with a qnx phone was perpetually pissed off with it.

                    csis01

                    Have you personally spent time with Blackberry OS? It was my daily driver for 4 years before it was forced off the AT&T network.

                    There's a level of sophistication with the QNX based Blackberry OS that Android or Apple has yet to match. The stock clock and calculator applications are still miles ahead in form and function. The built in conversion tool in the calculator app is still miles ahead in being a serious tool. The email app and texting app are sophisticated communications tools that have to be used to be appreciated.

                    Maybe the complaints about a dearth of 3rd party "apps" are well founded, but my wife and I didn't need any apps.

                    I still have my BB Q10 and fire it up once in a while and compare it to my wife's iPhone and current Android. There is no comparison and it's a shame you can't get a modern BB with BB OS and a physical keyboard.

                        nyc_paramedic Yes, I've dealt with them. Bloody thorn in my side for the longest time. There's many good reasons why they're dead now.

                            nyc_paramedic I have no intention of writing a thousand pages on the failings of a failed company with a failed product for somebody I don't know on the internet.

                              nyc_paramedic

                              And yet, here you are intruding on a thread with nothing of substance to say.

                              Listen, I'm a niche within a niche when it comes to cell phones and how I communicate. I'm old enough to remember building my own 80286 computers as a pre-teen and working the counter at Radio Shack in 1990, formatting HDD on Tandy 1000 SX, HX and EX models. I'm no Luddite but understand that comm technology is a tool to get a specific task done. I don't use my phone as an entertainment device.

                              There are many reasons why Blackberry failed and that has nothing to do with whether they had the superior tech at the time. The tech history is littered with stories about superior technologies relegated to the dustbin because of a myriad of reasons. Please see VHS vs Beta.

                              QNX based Blackberry OS, in my opinion, still is the technologically superior device if you need a serious communications tool. But my wife and I used our Blackberry Q10's in very different ways than most people use their phones today.

                              Getting back to the topic of the original thread, I just ordered yet another Pixel 4a for my 9 year old daughter and plan on installing GrapheneOS on that as well.

                                  nyc_paramedic nothing to do with whether they had the superior tech at the time

                                  Oh it definitely had something to do with it. Now stop dragging out your out of touch love of what was trash.

                                  If palm didn't self destruct themselves, blackberry never would have gotten off the ground. And that's saying a lot, because palm was pretty horrible.

                                    Things are getting too off-topic here and are detracting from the topic being discussed. You can have different opinions, but there will be no arguing here, please take that elsewhere.

                                    Just got the third Pixel 4a for our household and installed GrapheneOS. The daughter is very happy with the 4A size, how snappy GrapheneOS runs and the battery life.

                                    GrapheneOS on the 4a is nearly the ideal kids phone, in my humble opinion. Thank you to the GrapheneOS team and a donations coming your way again.

                                    N

                                    8 months later

                                    I'd be down for a kids mode of GrapheneOS that removed significant functionality, limited contacts, limited camera and library access, had a school time mode, had bully filtering with parental alerts, privacy for me, not for thee.

                                      4 months later

                                      Gifters That would be wonderful if only we had some big donations so they could have a robust team to work on all these Grand ideas .

                                        2 months later

                                        This is exactly what I would like, as well. I would be glad to contribute to a crowd-funded Graphene based solution for a limited phone for kids.

                                        4 months later

                                        This chat was super helpful, agree with all the points about integrating addl kids-mode features into Graphene ala Gabb Phone. Just ordered two refurb 4as for my 11 and 13 year olds. Thanks for the intel.

                                        3 months later

                                        Thanks for this chat. I'm acutally wanting this for myself to remove distractions from my life. Google's parental control are horrible. iPhone has decent controls with screen time, but I love the customizability of Android and the privacy concepts of GrapheneOS. I've had a sunbeam for the past 2 years and it's great but the UI is a bit clunky. The new Light Phone looks promising, but I want a good calendar, gps, notes (obsidian), and overall productivity oriented phone. Let's build, fam.