Old smartphone with no sim. How to get it running again?

January 13, 2015 1:18 PM

I have an LG smartphone (lucid) from my previous phone contract with Verizon but no sim. So it just goes to a setup screen with a language selection option and buttons for emergency call or setup. Setup tells me I need a sim. What do I do to turn this into a usable portable computer with no phone? I'm not that interested in spending much money on it but it would be handy for a few things.
posted by srboisvert to Technology (5 answers total)

According to this tutorial, it's volume up > volume down > back > home.
posted by zinon at 1:42 PM on January 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Can you just get hold of an old SIM and plug it in? It usually doesn't matter whether it's active or not. If the phone is locked, it may have to be a Verizon SIM.
posted by dg at 1:59 PM on January 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: No luck zimon. I can see in the video that he has a SIM card in as well (there is an icon that shows up if you don't).
posted by srboisvert at 4:50 PM on January 13, 2015

If all you need is a SIM card, you can get them for literally one cent from Amazon.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 5:49 PM on January 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

The usual trick to skipping the setup process on Android is to tap each of the four corners of the screen, starting at upper left and going clockwise. In the past this has let me bypass the setup screen and use an unactivated phone on WiFi only.
posted by trivia genius at 8:03 AM on January 14, 2015