# Nokia E71 in 2021

## Into the darkness
Thinking back, the sole reason I stopped using my Nokia E71[1] was due
to WhatsApp dropping support for the s60 platform. I had used WhatsApp
for many happy years and my dependance on it, for keeping in contact 
with friends and family, was such that I switched platform to android 
to continue using it.

## WhatsApp bought by Facebook
I have never liked/trusted facebook and so never created an account.
News that WhatsApp was being aquired by facebook was a real hammerblow
to me and I immediately expected the worst. When the updated terms of
service, with an ultimatum to accept data sharing with facebook[2] or 
else, bomb dropped. I immediately sought an alternative and decided 
upon Signal. 
Unfortunately, in spite of my best efforts, my family and friends have
continued to use WhatsApp...

## Android Paranoid 
I know it's spying on me, feeding data back to google at my expense,
but I hadn't realized just how much until I looked at the data usage 
by application. Applications I didn't even use! If I were on an 
unlimited data plan then maybe I could turn a blind eye to it, but 
I'm not. Aside from this, there was a recent update to the Play app
to cripple it. This was done for no other reason than to force users 
to youtube music. Fortunately I realized that by uninstalling updates
for the app the functionality could be restored. Then the final straw,
my contacts disappeared and gave some error about syncing. I have 
never enabled syncing of my contacts to google...

## Alternatives 
I looked at alternative options only to find that in modern times you
really have only two, iOS or android. If that's not a monopoly I don't
know what is. I didn't want to be part of either of those ecosystems
so I started looking back in time.
Firstly I considered a Blackberry Classic. I had missed the keyboard 
of the E71. The classic would provide newer hardware with a nice 
keyboard and a better camera, but I resisted the urge to buy the first
reasonably priced one on ebay. In the meantime I decided to put my sim 
back in the E71.

## Fast forward 
It has been approximately four weeks since I reverted back to my 
trusty Nokia E71. This wasn't as much of a shock to me as it would 
be for many as I don't participate in any social media. The only apps
I used with any regularity were Strava, WhatsApp, play (for music) and
occasionally Maps for navigation. Since I had already switched to SMS
and using Signal after closing my WhatsApp account. For the most part
I haven't missed anything, other than the cheap messaging offered by 
an IM client that uses data rather than SMS which I currently pay 4p
per message for.

## Opportunity
After the WhatsApp disappointment and then reports of Signal offering
digital payments[3] I had already began to think seriously about using
an open IM protocol and self hosting. It didn't take long for me to 
decide upon XMPP, more commonly known as Jabber.
Installing the prosody XMPP server[4] was fairly trivial, getting it 
to work with conversations/blabber on android however, was more tricky.
As a client on the E71 I ended up installing 'slick'. It is fairly 
basic but at least allows me to exchange messages. I believe nimbuzz 
is more feature complete and will do voice calls too but I have yet 
to find a download.

## Software
Finding software for s60 in the present day is a problem. Thankfully
I still had backups of some useful apps:
  * BirdStep SmartConnect (Connection manager)
  * Opera Mini (web browsing)
  * Ovi Maps (navigation)

I was actually quite fortunate to get Ovi Maps working again. Although
I had the mapping application, I didn't have any of the map data saved
and all the servers which hosted them have disappeared. Finding the
map data[5] on archve.org and some helpful instructions[6] made my day.

A nice bonus was to discover a gopher client[7], all be it written in 
java.

## Conclusion
It's not perfect but then nothing is. I do however feel more confident 
in the phone. Knowing that the apps installed will continue to function
as they always have, that my credit is not being wasted and that data 
about me is not being collected and used or sold for profit by google.

[1](gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Nokia%20E71)
[2](https://www.zdnet.com/article/whatsapp-this-is-what-happens-if-you-dont-accept-our-new-privacy-terms)
[3](https://decrypt.co/55422/signal-is-experimenting-with-stellar-based-cryptocurrency-report)
[4](coming soon)
[5](https://archive.org/download/Nokia_Maps_original_caches_from_Nokia_servers)
[6](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mobiledevices/forum/all/newest-nokia-ovi-maps-0125114-manual-download/7f0e8253-ea9b-4d64-9005-a7538dca468c)
[7](https://felix.plesoianu.ro/mobile/pocket-gopher)