And now for something completely different

I’m sure my story is not going to be half as interesting as that. I have never used an Alexa device at all so I wouldn’t be able to use my old devices for that. I don’t even have an Alexa. I guess the most interesting thing I’m doing is using my iPhone SE 2022 is an iPod. I never got to own an iPod. I was actually going to get one. I had everything all set for me to go and get one and I just never got to the Apple Store for some reason and then I think maybe a week later was when Apple had announced that they were just continuing. I guess maybe I kind of did the same thing with my old iPhone 5 before I got the SE phone. So yeah that’s the most interesting as I’ve ever done with anything. I had to get rid of the iPhone 5 though because the battery kept acting up. It wouldn’t let me use it past 20% before going completely dead and it wouldn’t really get full charge or anything in mine so it’s gone now so yeah hopefully people have way more interesting stories than this one. That’s pretty cool what you were able to do though

The oldest Apple device that I own is an iPad mini 2. I loved the device back then, especially with iOS 9 it was so smooth with VoiceOver. It can only run iOS 12, so I don't know what to do with this device. At the moment, I use it as a time capsule to look how iOS 12 compares to today's iOS; however, I'd like to have iOS 9 back on it but there seems to be no way to do this.

I have an old Fire tablet in a fold up case, and an iPhone 7 lays on top of that. When I charge my current iPhone SE, I set it on top of the old iPhone.
That's all.
I'm a little afraid to turn either on because they would connect to the network with out dated software.

However, someone did throw a large, bent reciprocating saw blade in my yard, and I ground it into a grafting knife and mounted it on a handle made from wood from a shovel handle... someone threw in my yard. That's a little different.

I have a 2017 macbook pro. back then, Bootcamp was a thing. I intend to upgrade the bootcamp partition to windows 11, and see how it goes. I as well have an iPad mini 2, and back then, got it to talk to a nonverbal room mate using a paid app called Verbley premium. i intend to get things going again, upgrade to the latest supported iOS version, and install the app. I as well, have an old app called Do It Right, remember that? i intend to see if it still works, and open it. and as well to. jailbrake with the checker1 app, as that particular processer has a hardware bug which can never be patched. also, have a worl upgrading the mac to macos 15 , to see if that will work.

I've had it since either 2017 or 2018... I can't remember exactly when it came out. I'm really amazed it still works and doesn't have a ton of issues.

If anyone can point me to a podcast or guide or how to on the subject of how to revive and use what is now thought of as ancient smart iPhoniness, I would be very grateful. It's a shame to let this little beauty go. It works fine! If I can just get it to work . . ..

it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. A couple of my devices are like that. I had a braille‘ in speak for more than 20 years until its internal battery gave out. I also had a Clock/Calculator made in the 1980s that lasted for over 20 years. Sadly, many things aren’t made that well anymore. Of course the oldest technology I have is my OPTACON. I got it in 1975, and it has been sent back for maintenance probably about three or four times. I keep it plugged into the charger all the time, now, but it still works great.

The Optican is a spectacular piece of technology. The Voyager spacecrafts are from that same time period and still out there ticking.
The NiCd batteries we had to use were not so good.

I still have an IPhone 5C. And now, I'm glad that back then, I let myself be convinced to get an IPhone 5C instead of a 5S because this is the last phone made by apple that supports 32-bit software.
So now I occassionally use it to sideload old stuff no longer available on the app store (mainly old audiogames).
Regarding IPods, I still have an old 4th gen IPod shuffle lying around, but I don't really use it anymore.

I loved those. iPhone 4 was my first experience with voiceover ever virtually alone, then a friend showed me his ipod 4 in the voiceover help mode. Back then I understood very little of french so I was this kid impressed that I could touch a screen and it was speaking at loud. Good memories.

In my special school. A teacher showed me this thing, drew some lines on a sheet and asked me to follow along. It worked very well, for three minutes. It died in my hands apparently. Sorry @Optican. You'll be missed by some but loved for as long as you lasted.

Here's another older piece of tech I still have (and sometimes use): the original milestone 312 (not the ace version). For those that don't know, the milestone 312 is a device for the blind and visually impaired that acts as an audio player, an e-book player (daisy, epub, etc.) and an alarm clock. You could also buy software upgrades to make it work as a radio, a calendar and an RFID reader. I think I got it some time around 2010. Back then, it felt revolutionary to me. Of course nowadays, it's not really needed anymore because it has largely been replaced my smartphones. Either that or some of its features are obsolete entirely (like RFID reading).
But I still use it from time to time as a more relaxed way to listen to audiobooks and music.

What do you mean what do I mean? Grin. Working is working! Not working is not working? Why are you confused?

this old iPhone 5s shows every sign of working . . . except, well, the bit about unlocking. It was my wife's phone, and it has a touch sensor, so I'm thinking about sneaking up on her one of these nights while she's sleeping and pressing the sensor up against her finger without waking her. Once in, I can get to settings, and then to change password, and then . . ..

Yeah, I figure a sim wouldn't restore phoe function, but what about internet? Could still have lots of fun with that. The phone's a 64 bit buggy, too, so if I can get into the app store, I might be able to add some games, and if into music, some songs, and if into Amazon Video, some movies, and and and . . .?

It's in pretty good shape, too. Shiny, unscratched, much, glass (or so I'm toled). Battery holds a great charge, too. I wish I could say that about our credit cards.

Maybe I'll sneak online and download some audible books? Maybe I'll pack it in cotton and sell it for a million once America proclaims one of our Presidents . . . God. Hmm. I wonder which president that might turn out to be?

Maybe I could use the old phone to send old emails to good old friends, or use reallly reallly primitive emoji to politicians begging me to send them money so they can brag about being dedicated public servants while doing zip-all for us public types?

No, no AI on this relic. Nothing on my phone pretending to be my buddy, my banker, my stock broker, my lawyer, my priest, my counselor, or my wife or my girlfriend. Nothing on my phone to remember stuff for me or to tell me what to go do with myself. Sigh. I mean, PRIMITIVE!!!

I always did love that old iPhone 5S. Yes, it's my wife's. I was too stupid to keep my own iPhon. She was the one who was (is) smart.

Joy!

Bruce

That battery still holding a good charge is a surprise to hear. That's an issue with my 7.
But for the built in batteries, I would have made earrings, maybe a matching bracelet, from the glass in the screen and the metal parts. The lithium spooks me a little because I'm aware of what can happen if the battery casing gets punctured.
*Sigh* So the iPhone just sits there as a heat sink for when I charge my other iPhone.

I love this topic and Brian's Echo-Phone rig is right up my alley. It's so satisfying to invent! I retired two first generation Echos, an Apple AirPort Extreme, and an iPhone 6S Plus just last year. Everything's in a box ready to get recycled except for the phone. It is sporting a new battery case and is now my BARD Mobile listening device.

Have an old Google Pixel 2 64 GB that I will probably end up using to record videos from my YouTube because the linearge OS camera app is a lot more accessible compared to oppo's camera app, which is the app on my main phone, my Opo find X5 light.
I also have a motorola g 04s which I'm preparing to send off to my sister so she can use it as a backup phone for when her galaxy S 25 or S 24+ or whatever type of phone she has decides to hit the shitter again, because she was complaining about her battery life not being great, which is unusual because I've had good experiences always with galaxy phones in regards to their battery life., Literally the only reason I would get another galaxy phone is for battery life
But to be fair, she spends majority of her time on her phone calling and texting her boyfriend bro TikTok, and doing a whole bunch of other random stuff so that's probably But to be fair, she spends majority of her time on her phone calling and texting her boyfriend bro TikTok, and doing a whole bunch of other random stuff so that's probably a reasona

Should I worry about my iPhone 7 being old software and turning it on? I could put it in airplane mode and use it as a voice recorder on the memos app, I think. That is instead of turning it into jewelry... That might be useful in my latest endeavor. Fun to read old posts. as a way of tracking events in one's life. LOL

When I was able to use the iPhone 5, I am honestly surprised that it recognized my Apple Music account and even downloaded music to that device and played it pretty well. That one bottom speaker in that phone is really good. I was surprised how good that was. I mean sure right now. I like that the devices are stereo speakers now, but that speaker was very good. I remember even showing it to Apple Accessibility at one point and they were just like shocked that it was even still working and I was playing my music. Even they were surprised that it’s still recognized Apple Music. Because the iOS that that ran was 10.3.4 that’s the highest it would take. I do kind of miss that device in a way, but it was definitely slower to respond to everything. Although I have to say the voiceover and responsiveness on that was pretty good. Look I missed that size though. I really wish I could get something that small again. I mean, I already know Apple won’t do it, but you know I can dream. Nothing actually had a headphone jack on it too. I’m not gonna lie. I do kind of miss that. Although I have EarPods now for both my devices so it’s fine.

The oldest device here now is the Mac Mini 2018 sitting in my recording setup. It should probably be replaced, but I have a first-gen Komplete keyboard so I'm limited in terms of how far I can go with software updates anyway. I do wish I'd kept my third-gen iPod Touch which was the first touchscreen device I owned, running iOS 3.1 if memory serves. I used to be quite heavily into messing with older hardware, primarily PC hardware but I've had a couple of eMacs and a PowerMac G4 over the years. All long gone now. As much as I enjoy older hardware, Life and spare time change our priorities and I've come to the realisation that I actually prefer to minimise the amount of 'stuff' I have that isn't actually useful.

I wish I had one of those first generation SE phones. I saw one of those once. It looked really cool. I would like do miss having actual mechanical home button. Not gonna lie. Having the haptic home button just does not feel the same. It’s not the same satisfying tactile field. When I know why Apple changed it but I do kind of miss it. Heck, I mean, I miss even having a home button on my primary device. That was one of the reasons I kept the SE 2022. I also kept it because I was mad at Apple for wanting to trade that in with my iPad mini six generation. So I was just like nope I’m keeping this plus like I said before it was my only way to get iPod so here I am. It doesn’t seem to matter what we miss. I mean, I might even keep my iPhone 15 when I upgrade who knows. And probably one of the reasons for that would be because it’s gonna be the last thing left for any kind of a hardware meat switch. I’ll have to get one of those freaking action buttons. Like I’m not looking forward to that day, but it is what it is. I guess Apple cast decide what hardware I can use too. Oh well, I love hearing these stories about what people are doing with their old devices. It’s pretty fun.

The mechanical button just felt like it gave a bit more tactile feedback than though haptic thing that they have now that cheap like a button. I mean it’s fine but it’s definitely a different field. I’ve never had the mechanical button get stuck down. I’m sure that was really annoying. I wish I could’ve had an iPod touch. They stopped making those after the seventh generation. I was going to get a pink seventh generation 256 gigs iPod touch and then I didn’t get a chance so I have the red 256 iPhone SE 2022. That’s my iPod.

The first iPhone I had used a physical button. I think it was a 6s. The battery swelled and separated the screen from the case along one side though. It didn't affect the button.
One issue I've had with the fingerprint reader being on the button is it makes it difficult to record a compressed version of a fingerprint, as if you are pressing the button, you end up putting yourself on the home screen instead of recording the print. So I wake the phone, then place my finger on the reader, instead of pressing the home button to wake the phone. It's too fast in reading to press then lighten my touch for the fingerprint to be the same as the recorded print.