5 uses for a smartphone with no internet

The Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro was revealed this past week as a smartphone with no internet access. Today we're having a peek at 5 reasons why you might want a smartphone that's not quite smart enough to get online. Why would someone want a device that looks like a smartphone, feels like a smartphone, but cannot access the internet or run mobile apps*?

To be clear, here, this Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro smartphone can run some mobile apps – it's just not made to run apps that aren't already on the phone when it's first turned on. This phone comes with a camera, a phone dialer, a texting app, and a gallery app to view photos and videos. That's it – that's literally it.

5. Student Study

There's a deal going on in South Korea at the moment where some students are offered the Samsung J2 Pro for free. Students in South Korea are preparing for their university entrance exam (suneung), and Samsung suggested that they might want to think about preparing sans internet. Smartphones with internet access are distracting – even addictive – so maybe cutting out the apps and the internet will help.

Using a J2 Pro as a student is like cutting out one key element from the addictive product without quitting cold turkey. It's like chopping up Facebook without quitting entirely. It's a smart move.

4. Parolees

To get out of jail whilst awaiting trial, there's a document that must be signed. Sometimes these documents include provisions about internet use. In order to continue to live one's life normally, without ridicule for using a feature phone instead of a smartphone, a parolee might want to use a Samsung J2 Pro. It looks like a normal smartphone, it's just compliant with court orders.

3. Big Screen, Low Confusion

Elderly folks like to speak with friends and family, and they like the convenience of a mobile phone. But most mobile phones are very tiny, with tiny buttons. And whilst smartphones have big screens, they often have far too many options. Like a universal remote, but with apps instead of an insane amount of physical buttons.

With a smartphone with no internet, there's a substantial sized screen, and the ability to make calls, and texts, and snap photos. But there's not so much going on that the device is more work than its worth.

2. Tinfoil Hats

Users worried about how the government will track their every move through their smartphone might well want internet cut out of said device permanently. They might it comforting to that no internet hardware is even IN the device in the first place. OF NOTE: This device also has no access to Siri, Alexa, or the Google Assistant. Nobody's listening.

1. Addiction

Much in the same vein as the student promotion Samsung is running in South Korea right now, there's the matter of addiction. We live in a world where it's expected that you'll be able to be reached at any time of the day, almost no matter what. Every single parent in the entire world (probably) has said the following in the past half-decade: "Why does my kid have a phone if they never answer it?"

As such, it's not really realistic for most people in the world today to go without a phone entirely. But for those people who cannot function in life when they know they have access to all the world's knowledge in their pocket, there may be a reprieve that isn't just – again – quitting cold turkey.