Even if it’s not the dumbphone I wanted, I’m already seeing positive changes.

[JINSBEK]

So, a little while ago, I ordered a mint-condition Fujitsu Arrows F-05G (2015). Before ordering, I looked up the specs on three different websites, which all claimed it had a 3.5 mm audio output jack. It did not… But, having this baby on my desk at work for the past two days has already helped me out immensely. My “depression rectangle” is still on my desk serving as my digital audio player before my Sony Walkmans get here, but it no longer causes me distress and I no longer have the urge to fidget with it. The same is true at home: I just have my Arrows here with me, and I haven’t browsed with my smartphone at all.

My Arrows largely functions as a red and gold timepiece for me, and apparently that’s what I had largely been checking my smartphone for: the time. From there, I had been tempted to unlock my phone and see everything else, leading to daily stress multiple times throughout the day.

I’ve set my alarms on my Arrows, and I just love the tinkling UI sound it makes upon opening and closing the phone. I’ve written a few memos on it for fun; I forgot how fast I could type on a T9 keyboard, even without the predictive dictionary. I put a phone charm on it, I’m still waiting for my stickers to arrive… I don’t know, I’m just having fun with this thing. I love pressing the side button on this thing to check the time (displays on the gold stripe on the exterior of the clamshell), I know it sounds silly, but I just love seeing the digits light up. I love seeing song names scroll through the gold stripe, too; I’ve put “The Stars Come Out” by Brother Android to play on speakerphone at home winding down after work. It’s… really cozy. Reminds me how I used to do the same with my old cell phone when I was a kid…

[Stefen_Maxwell]

That is such a pretty phone, my goodness. How is it working for you with your provider? Also, is it running android and what's the battery life?

[JINSBEK]

@Stefen_Maxwell Isn’t it pretty? It’s in factory-mint condition, so far it’s battery life is 3–4 days before draining completely. The back cover is removable and the battery is easily replaced, I can get ones on Amazon with zero problem. It comes with Android 4.4 KitKat and I could sideload more apps if I want to, though I actually haven’t had the desire to, surprisingly. The Memo app it comes with is created by NTT DoCoMo itself and offers and open-source licence, which I thought was pretty neat. In these photos, I show a list of All Apps on the device, and I’ve gone to the Browser app and scrolled down to view its Permissions.

IMG_20241203_223458 Fujitsu Arrows Apps.jpg (1.81 MiB) Viewed 3613 times

In the United States, I could actually still use this as a phone on T-Mobile’s 2G GSM band, and T-Mobile is my provider. The US is always a dicey gamble when it comes to non-US aimed mobile phone support, as the bands here were initially military-only (civilian wireless was not a thing), then parcelled out to various local radio and TV stations in an anarchic, piecemeal way. In most other countries, even old Japanese phones have much better support since they learned from the US being the “trial baby” and have standardised their civilian wireless in much the same way.

…And to be honest, I haven’t gotten a SIM card for it, for two reasons:
Nobody calls anymore except robo-spam, and I’ve actually enjoyed being practically unreachable unless I’m in my office, or at home. My intentionality and awareness in every sphere of life has seen such a massive boon from this. I am seriously happy as using this as a fancy timepiece (SERIOUSLY!! THIS IS SO MUCH MORE CONVENIENT THAN A POCKETWATCH!!!), digital memopad, “low-res” quick camera, and nostalgic speakerphone player for chiptune music when I get outgoing business mail ready instead of actually using it as a phone of any kind. Haha.