SD cards turn out to be a lot more complicated on Android 6.0 than they were on 4.2, so it took longer than I thought it would, but I’ve finished the transfer. All of my stuff (give or take a weather app) is on my new phone, and my old phone is now officially Mom’s.
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Re: Internet access, it remains to be seen how much can be done with option 1–I might still use it at least partially–but it’s looking like the primary answer is going to be option 3.
Mom was remarkably agreeable to switching to my old smartphone as her primary cell phone, under two conditions: that nobody expects her to use the smartphone to anywhere near its full functionality (she doesn’t want to have to deal with getting to know a new kind of computer, at least not beyond a shallow level), and that I figure out a reasonably practical way for her to carry it around with her (she currently carries her phone in a flip-phone-sized pouch in her backpack).
(Dad suggested sticking her SIM card into a smartphone when I wanted to use data, then putting it back in the flip phone afterward for routine use. I said I didn’t think flip phones had removable SIM cards. Turns out the real answer is in between: *modern* flip phones have removable SIM cards, but her phone is so old it predates PC Mobile flip phones becoming the type of phone that has a removable SIM. In order to switch a SIM card back and forth, she’d need to get a new flip phone; if she’s going to change primary phones anyway, why spend money on an additional phone when we have a perfectly good smartphone available?)
It seems we can’t get a monthly or yearly graph of how much phone credit she’s actually using, but judging from the amount of credit she currently has built up, over the six years she’s had her account she’s used an average of ~$70/year. Put another way: if the average usage rate holds, we could buy a $10/month basic data plan May – October and not run out of spare credit for about 6 years. That’s long enough to be getting on with; hell, for all I know, I’ll have a need for my own phone plan by then.
I already borrow Mom’s phone on those occasions I need access to the cell infrastructure. This will just be an extension of that.
I’m not going to take any action on obtaining a data plan until it gets close to spring. If all goes well, Mom will keep her old flip phone for the rest of the winter, and she’ll have some time to get used to having a smartphone before trying to do any actual phone stuff with it.
(It’ll have to be Brother who gives her the tour of how to do actual phone stuff on a smartphone. I’ve never done it, after all.)
Spring update:
I’ve been playing Pokemon Go for about a week now. (It’s been warm enough for a while, but I had to deal with finals first.) Thus far, Operation Mobile Hotspot has been a complete success!
(Mom’s smartphone even fits in her customary phone pouch. Turns out the pouch was more elastic than we thought.)
If I’m careful to supplement heavily with Wi-Fi (and prevent other apps from using background data as much as possible*), I might actually be able to stretch a 100MB plan to last a whole month of playing 1 – 2 hours/day. The plan does permit overage data, but it’s 50% more per MB than the first 100 are, so I’d rather not. (But still, I have the option of using a little bit extra to finish the last walk or pop out to the nearest Pokestop for a streak bonus.)
(I know every public hotspot within half an hour’s walk now, and how big a range each one covers. Conveniently, Pokemon Go doesn’t crash when you lose Internet**: it merely pauses, springing back to life the moment you re-connect. This makes it easy to switch back and forth between mobile hotspot and public Wi-Fi as I move in and out of coverage zones. I also save anything that can be done while stationary–such as sorting through new catches and transferring the ones I’m not keeping–to do at home.)
I’m enjoying the game so far, even apart from its practical benefits. (Practical benefits: learning my way around a Pokedex***, going for more/longer walks.)
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*My saved-network settings have an option for “treat this network as if it were mobile data for data-conservation purposes”, which is very handy for mobile hotspots.
**It crashes once or twice an hour, but not from this. (Possibly due to GPS issues: it tends to happen at the same locations.)
***Me, last night: “Wait, is that a Jigglypuff or a Wigglytuff?
…I’m surprised I even got that far.”
Tags:
#media I consumed primarily to know what all the fuss was about #(while I *am* enjoying the game even apart from its practical benefits) #(the practical benefits were the deciding factor in playing it) #Pokemon Go #in which Brin learns to speak Pokemon #oh look an update #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #(oh by the way I looked it up just now and it looks like it’s a Jigglypuff)
Brinens and Things 
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