[jmkb]

Decades ago, my partner used Google Voice for texting -- really handy, texts just showed up in the gmail inbox, and could be replied to from there. She didn't like cellphones, but usually carried one of the old "Kindle Keyboard" models with unlimited 3G data. The Kindle had simple web browser that could load the low-spec gmail interface, so in essence she had a fully functional SMS device, with no monthly charges.

Notification of incoming texts was the only problem. I jailbroke the thing and started trying to schedule network requests, thinking I'd add some kind of new message counter on the home screen. This proved hard. But it occurred to me that the best place for the counter would be right next to the Kindle's device name, at the top of the screen. And the device name could be updated from her Amazon account.

So I automated a web browser on the home server to log into Amazon and update the device name to "My Kindle (x)" where x was the number of unread Google Voice texts. The Kindle would update the name on the home screen in less than a minute. This worked for years!

(Eventually that Kindle was stolen. I wanted to update its name to something foul but the device disappeared from her account too quickly.)

[xyzzy_plugh]

The AT&T bill (IIRC it was all under a single account) for the 3G Kindles was eye-watering. I recall a few byte-shavings yielding something like a million dollars of savings.

[delecti]

I was at Amazon in a Kindle adjacent team (the lockscreen ads) starting in 2012, and I can second this sentiment. For the first couple years, there were multiple tweaks made to minimize enormous roaming bills for customers taking their US region "global unlimited free 3g" kindles to really remote parts of the world. Things like not enqueuing push downloads of books/ads if they were roaming.

[zorked]

Free Internet was a very bold proposition. I used it a lot, via roaming, from a country that was in the very-expensive-roaming lists.

[jmkb]

Worth it, I reckon. You can't buy this kind of advertising:

https://xkcd.com/548/

[LegitShady]

I still have my Kindle 3g. I love it. The battery on mine is toast right now so it's not operable. I was going to buy a new Kindle but the prime day preview in Canada doesn't show any Kindles on sale and I was hoping Amazon was going to release an oasis v2 with USB-c before I replaced this.

I might just pay $30 for another battery and stick with this Kindle keyboard.

[RajT88]

I used to have a few 3g Kindles. I believe they have dialed it back to 50mb a month, but they still get that free internet - and internationally too!

[LegitShady]

I loaned my kindle keyboard to a coworker for a trip and it was stolen from them in mexico. The joke was at the time it was probably the oldest working kindle possible, so I assume the thief just took whatever was in the bag.

Later I found another kindle keyboard for $20 in a flea market but it only worked for 6 months before the battery died. I still have the body around - I wonder how much it would cost to get a replacement battery.

[Palomides]

I just replaced two, a new battery inc. shipping runs around $15

not too hard to pop open and swap in

[actionfromafar]

It's probably a single cell so with some luck you can plonk whatever battery physically fits in there.

[e808]

Oh that 'free' 3g was amazing! I was able to hobble through gmail through the browser, and even wrote a kindle-friendly Zork website so one could play text games on it allowing you to choose from a bunch of zmachine roms. Had some traction getting mentioned on a few news websites.

[thot_experiment]

Oh my god! I did this too!!! I didn't have the clever Kindle name change integration but I did use a keyboard Kindle with infinite 3G to text for a while.

[CrazyStat]

Years ago before I got a smart phone I used my kindle keyboard to navigate on a long road trip. It could just barely run the Google Maps website.

[venusenvy47]

I still use Google Voice for texting, but only from their dedicated web page. I never heard about being able to text from Gmail. I assume this feature is gone?

[vasusen]

Google Voice still supports texting from their web page, but the feature to text directly from Gmail was discontinued a few years ago. It was a convenient feature, but now you have to use the Google Voice app or web page for texting.

[dark]

no, it still exists.

[toastercat]

Google Voice has only existed since 2009, so it couldn't have been "decades" ago. That's how i know your story is fake.

[fyrn_]

Or just maybe, 1.5 decades and "decades" are compatible when parsed by a human. Calling a story fake for that is a bit much, people just get details wrong, and that's okay