New Old Cellphone

The cellphone that I use in the shop as an MP3 player recently failed. 

The phone was a Motorola XT1080 "Droid Maxx" from 2013.  I replaced it after I dropped it and damaged the screen, and it's stayed in the shop as a music player ever since.  Since that dropped phone, I have been using tempered glass film over the screen.  Live and learn I guess!

The phone still worked and had 16GB of memory, so it held all my music.  I built a hybrid shop stereo system using the phone for digital storage and playback, combined with an old-school Pioneer tuner/amp and an old set of Pioneer CS-G303 speakers with 12" drivers. 

Up until now, this rig has worked pretty well - I haven't had to worry about handling CDs, or sawdust getting into rotating or optical components of a player.  I can also touch the phone with filthy fingers to switch songs or pause the music if I get a phone call.  The speakers make that bass-heavy sound that big older speakers provide.  There is a small set of bookshelf speakers that help with sound clarity on the "B" Channel.  When it would be too annoying to rumble the house and/or neighbors, I shut off the "A" Channel and switch over to the bookshelf speakers alone.  If I had big money, I'd get a pair of Vandersteen Speakers - but then I probably wouldn't want them out in the shop along with the sawdust, diesel soot, and solvent vapors...

The old phone was giving me trouble though - failing to keep a charge, and demanding that I upgrade to the latest version of Android.  I don't know if the batteries failed because I kept the phone on charge constantly for several years, or if they died a natural death due to old age.  The last time I went to play some music, the phone was stone cold dead.  It would not turn on, nor would it take a charge.  I liked that phone a lot though, before it started acting funny.

EDIT:  The battery did *NOT* die due to being left plugged in.  It must have died of old age.  This guy explains how to baby your lithium ion batteries.

After the phone died, I loaded music onto a spare Ematic touchscreen portable MP3 player.  The Ematic is not a bad player (I love a player with a touch-screen), but when you select "Shuffle", it plays the "shuffled" songs in the same order - exactly the same music over and over when you turn it on and start playing music.  I paid about $40 for it a while back.

I really liked and missed the XT1080, so I went on Ebay and looked for an identical replacement.  I found another brand new XT1080 for $40.  It will do everything the Ematic MP3 player can do, and then some.

At first the new phone wouldn't boot up because it didn't have a SIM card installed.  I had to learn how to locate the SIM card in the old phone, and then install it to the new one.  Afterwards the new phone allowed me complete the basic setup and finally arrive at the home screen.

Once at the home screen, I started the Google Play Store app and installed a neat Nixie Tube clock widget, some cool night sky wallpaper, and the same basic music player app that had been on the dead cellphone.

Next I did something that I never bothered with on the original phone:  I went into the settings and Force Stopped and Disabled many of the Bloatware apps that the phone came installed with.  I don't need Amazon, NFL Mobile, Facebook, Linkedin, nor most of the other goofy stuff on this device.  After disabling each app, I cleared the memory cache to free up more memory for music.  I ran short of time while disabling, so there are a few apps that still need to be disabled.

I may try to root this phone and get rid of the bloatware permanently.  That would free up some memory and therefore improve the phone.  I'll be investigating that.

Next I put the phone on "airplane mode" then shut off the WiFi and Data, so that it wouldn't waste battery power looking for signals.  All it needs to do is play some good music!  I may at some point use it as a WiFi remote control to turn on lights and whatnot, but not right now.  Anyhow, I have tried it out, and it works perfectly.  I'm quite happy with it!

Below, the new old cellphone.  It has a few notification icons up top that should go away once I stop and/or remove a few more unnecessary apps.  Unfortunately I've maxed out the memory by loading it up with music.

Works great!  Just doesn't have room for more music :(

UPDATE:
I checked out how to root this phone, and it's laughably easy.  And yes, I will be doing this and removing the bloatware afterwards.

UPDATE 2:  Nope.  Root is not going to happen.  This phone has Android version 4.4.4 - and that means the vulnerability that allowed you to easily root the phone has been corrected by the manufacturer.

Good news though.  I found an old XT926 in the drawer that I might try to root.  This phone is cool because you can slip a 32GB microSD memory card in it, and load that up, in addition to the 12GB onboard phone memory.  Also being pretty old, it should be easier to root and turn into a custom phone.