So apparently I'm now a proud owner of the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime Value Edition. Is there anything I should be doing security wise before I start using the thing?

I should note here that the device will NEVER go online, I'll be using it strictly as a dumb-phone. No internet, social media, apps and whatever. Just regular phonecalls & sms. Yes, the poor device is wasted on me lol.

Oh yeah, I forgot the most important thing: the os is android lollipop 5.1 or 5.1.1.

Not going online is a good privac choice, but you can use offline apps just fine. Also, if you don't disable data and wifi Android will use them, even if you never actively go online.

Download FBReader (https://fbreader.org/FBReaderJ) and put ebooks on it, you can carry a library in your pocket and always have something to read.

FDroid is an opensource app store that lets you download APKs on the computer, and you can transfer them to the phone.

For privacy: Netguard is a no-root firewall. Set it to control system apps and default deny connections and restart when Android restarts, then you'll never have to touch it if you don't go online.

For security, I don't think there's much else you can do. Samsung probably will never push an update, and that's the biggest thing for security (and part of why I love my PRIV - stupid name, but I get monthly security updates).

Games are pretty useful as things to do while waiting. Get ones from HumbleBundle, download with your PC and transfer over.

There are map apps that you can download maps for and then use offline, I think OSMand or something like that is popular? But you might have to get it from Google Play.

This is like last Christmas when my brother gave me a Steam gift card. XD

Totally useless. :P

I'm not criticising you at all, but I just don't get it.

For me, having an internet capable device in my pocket at all times is one of the great tech advances of the last decade or two.

Why wouldn't you want this?

I use an old smartphone, without sim card, as a long-distance cycletouring GPS. WiFi's off (except for specific use, see below), doesn't go online. Use Locus plus open street map style vector maps (with cycling specific rendering theme) and it's a great back up / route planning solution. And as I mainly keep it off it's good for those emergency times I really don't have anyone at hand to ask, or need to get somewhere quickly. Use it as a remote control for cameras via wifi, too - as being able to check composition, alter settings and the like is something traditional remote releases can't do.

Asbeau - don't have a smartphone that works as a smartphone either. Do have a tablet, but a WiFi only one. I just don't see the point of always being connected to the internet. Nothing on the net is so important, including e-mails, that I need constant immediate access. If something's really worthwhile / important looking up on the net I'll remember to do that back home, too.

No idea about him/her, but I use my phone (which is the most basic cellphone I could find) as, well, a phone and nothing else. I spend enough time near a computer for work or entertainment not to feel the need or urge for a constant internet connection. :)

You can use a smartphone for all kinds of offline funsies. Reading digital comics and listening to music are some of my favourite things to do on the train. Android phones are really easy to load up with arbitrary files.

I gotta tell you though, mobile internet access is the sweetest miracle of the 21st century for people whose trains of thought never stop chugging.

I hope that this year you get some coal. :p

Next year, give it to me. It will be 100% useful. ;)

NEVER go online with it? Yeah, check back with us in 6 months and tell us how long it took to break that pledge. ; )

There's some handy stuff they can do, that doesn't constitute screwing around: internet, email, weather, GPS, file storage and transfer via cloud service, music player, and tons more. Just gotta watch the permissions of the apps you use: why does this flashlight app need access to my contact list?

I don't have a smartphone. But if I had one, why would I permanently disable its internet capabilities? I find that very odd.

When I first read the title, knowing this community, I thought somebody here on the forum had went all-out and bought him one. All I could think was "This is it. They've finally out-generoused themselves. The only way they could push it any farther is if they bought somebody a house."

There seems to be a bunch of sites where one can get NetGuard from, but which one is the official one? I'd like to check that first rather than going blindly to the google play store. At least it has one of the lowest sars ratings among the phones one can buy over here. Lower than all readily available dumb-phones too, now that caught me by surprise. What can I say, I'm old-fashioned and already fully equipped. :P I want my phone to simply be a phone and prefer to save the phone battery for emergencies.

See above.

I don't have smart phone.
I don't need one.
I am smart enough!!! B)

I could use a gift code for a smart phone.. and a house but one step at a time.