Use Cheap Phone as Android Tablet?

I've got my beady eyes on this cool device (phone) on Ebay. I would NOT be activating the phone, rather using it as a handheld pc with WiFi. Should this phone be able to download apps from the Google store? Don't phones have to be Authorized by Google to be able to do this? How much of a gamble would trying this be? I'm in the US.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271211199644?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Actually I'm looking at several phones, 4-inch versions are of course even cheaper.

I think it will work without using activation.

I tried using AT&T HTC Aria a while back and it worked without SIM. BUT it may differ according to models.

I live in Japan btw.

It all depends on the phone. Some won't even allow you to access the Android interface unless the phone has been activated. Others will run just like a little Android tablet just fine using wifi regardless of cellular access.

Others, while allowing wifi access, won't allow you to add programs because they use their own special desktop interface. Some don't even have an explorer like interface to allow you to manually install an .apk file.

Do plenty of research first and read the smartphone forums....

It should work fine without a sim card. I used to use one as a mini tablet. I would shy away from a generic phone though...or really read the reviews. But now days you can find a kindle fire for around the same price.

If it matters, I've been using a 7" Polaroid (i.e., generic) Android 4.0 (stock, haven't cared to update it) with great fun. I had been using a 4" (I think) Dell Axim X51v. The 7" isn't really pocketable (although a colleague puts one in his cargo pants), so it sits in a $5 memopad (yes, like the dead tree paper stuff) portfolio case with some self-adhesive Velcro (and yes, I was laughing at the memory of doing the same thing with a NEC Mobilepro 790 years ago).

Other than the weirdness of my Apps constantly trying to update themselves (and using a non-Google Play store), it's been a great ebook reader (easier on the eyes and larger fonts) and (surprisingly to me for some reason) video player. Still jumping between Opera, Chrome, and the generic web browser.

My poor Netbook Pro is starting to really get ignored.

$80 at Big Lots.

Edited by hmascience 2013-07-19 5:52 PM

All very interesting...too bad there's not a site just about using phones as computers with no phone activation. That would take away the guessing whether a particular device would work for this purpose. Maybe I should just buy a tablet, or better yet, stick with my current devices!

Yeah generic phones aren't that good experience, I'm pretty sure about that. I suggest you get HTC or SAMSUNG if you want to get good experience.

I don't know...I had several samsungs that were useless.

I don't know about Samsung...I had a Samsung Intercept M910 that was useless and a Samsugn R900 Craft just as bad. Unless you subscribed to cellurlar service...they were totally locked.

You really have to research the phone you are looking at to be sure...

I have used a HTC Thunderbolt, a t-mobile Mytouch 3g, and a Samsung Captivate this way, as long as you connect to Wifi first, then connect to your gmail account, you should be fine... There are many phones like this for great prices on Amazon...

I totally understand the desire for a small form factor. I can't say anything about the activation issue. But I would say that there are similar phones on eBay with Android 4.1, and I'd start with those. Apparently Jelly Bean runs much more smoothly on the same hardware than ICS.

The other piece of advice I think is worth considering is to look for ads that mention battery capacity and maybe talk time, even though you're not going to use the phone -- it's a measure that may reflect how much power is really there, and how well engineered the phone is to conserve power.

I bought one of those cheap android (~$65) 7" tablets last year, and my experience has been great -- everything works as it should -- with the exception of battery life. It got about 2.5 hours (a little surgery and a larger li-po battery bumped it to 4 hours).

The generic-ish phones leave you wondering about the same issue. Under talk time, they say "60-90 minutes." An iphone 4s gets in the neighbourhood of 14 hours of talk time on 2g (the really inexpensive generic phones are usually 2g only). Of course, that might just mean that the phone transmission system is inefficient, but I'd be worried about battery capacity and general power consumption. If you can find phones with capacity listed, I'd be looking for 1500-2000 mah, and I wouldn't expect them to use it as efficiently as a name brand phone.

Best of luck -- and report back! I hate threads that end without resolution!

Okay, I was wrong about the Samsung Captivate, it does not connect to the Google Play store without a SIM inserted. Sorry about the incorrect info earlier. I use the Amazon App store for almost everything...

I bet it will work. without a sim, it will only tell you no phone activation, wifi is a separate matter.
I have used a China made tablet before, runs on android version1.5, and I could even get it upgraded to 2.2, downloading apps from Play Store is not a problem too, except a small number of apps may not run. other than that, battery usage may run out a bit faster, wifi strength a bit weaker, screen a bit washed out (by comparison to reputable brands)else every other thing works fine.

I've used a 486 port of ICS on my Lenovo S10-3t netbook, booting from sd card. I was able to do the play store thing obviously without a sim. But its developers may have jiggled the handle.

Jake

i don't think a 4 inch phone can replace a tablet,if you want to play games i recommand you buy a big screen one like samsung galaxy note 10.1,of couse,if you wanna save money,you can buy an off brand one like this,i own one.not bad.