D2G with no Google account nor cell service as general purpose Tablet?

[boneitis]

Edit: Just realized that this thread may be better fit in a different subforum (i.e. Droid 2 Global). Initially thought that this subforum covered all Droid 2 models, but I'm beginning to think otherwise. Mods feel free to move it.

Greetings. First off, please note that the thread title glosses over a few things regarding my scenario.

I may have finally been given the opportunity to move out from under my rock. I'm up to inherit a friend's Droid 2 Global, as he upgraded to an iPhone4. Until then, I'm still on my antique phone (I use a frickin' color dot matrix, polyphonic-sound Nokia), and this will hopefully mark my overdue entrance into today's world of smartphones and tablets :icon_ lala: The newest electronic device I can think of that I own is my ~5-year-old laptop. Anyway, up until this point, I've paid little to no regard to the contemporary technologies and whatnot, so I am pretty much hit by a truckload of things to learn in order to catch up to 2011. Even though I've put in my token effort to do my homework first, please understand that there're are just some things I couldn't get answered with my own Google Fu. Since I feel like I'm about to ask some potentially mundane questions but am also anticipating having to root the phone and perform whatever other warranty-voiding work, allow me to attempt to preempt any assumptions that I'm an absolutely computer illiterate luser. Here's some background: I consider myself a Windows desktop power user of >10 years, and Ubuntu has been my primary OS for the past couple of years; I'm also an upper division Computer Science student. I've unlocked/flashed a few phones and customized their software myself before. I'm also the %#@$ing tech guy in all of my rings of friends when they're having computer issues.

For the most part, the desired primary uses to get out of this device are to read up on my tech news websites, Pandora, IM, and to watch youtube/skin flicks while on the john. Perhaps the CompSci student in me also wants to dig deeper in to the phone beyond throwing on custom ROMs/apks at some point if plausible.

Now, for my actual question(s).

1) The issue is, I'm on a different carrier (from what I understand, D2Gs can not ever be unlocked to any U.S. carriers other than from who the phone came from edit: not true. see later post?) with no data plan; just have x number of minutes with no data and no text. For that reason, I'm hoping to be able to at least get full utility from this phone like something such as the iTouch device with wifi (of course minus mobile data plan connection capability, if iTouches are able to connect that way). Further, it seems that, in order to be granted ample functionality, I must be logged in with a Google account. Now, whatever Google account you wish to log in with needs to be associated with an Android phone. This looks like a problem for me, because tying a phone to a Google account requires a phone number. Or, am I fretting over nothing / perceiving the issue to be bigger than it is? Naturally, the original owner doesn't want his Google account always logged in to someone else's (well, actually his but out of his hands) mobile device.

2) Do features actually get stripped in any way (besides not having access to paid-for apps) if you're not logged in to a Google account (with associated Android phone)?

Could've sworn I had a couple more questions. Guess I can ask them later.

 

[Grievous]

It's not at all that complicated.
You won't even need to root the phone if you don't have a good reason for doing so.

All you need to do is create a Gmail account for yourself ( No phone number needed )
Do a Factory Reset on the phone
When the phone reboots log in with the Gmail account you created.
Put the phone in Airplane Mode

You now have a WiFi only device that has full access to the Android Market ( including paid apps )

Note the above sentence. This is no longer a phone. You cannot make calls on it or send/receive txt messages.

However, you can try things like Skype or other VoIP apps for phone calls and there are some txt msg apps the use WiFi also but you can only use them
when you have WiFi access.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[boneitis]

Thanks a bunch!

Just inherited the phone, and that worked like a charm (once I figured out how to bypass activation; that was a painful roadblock). Phone works to the amount I was expecting.

Now, to get hacking!

 

[boneitis]

Nothing further to ask here; I just didn't want to let my thread die off with misinformation in my OP for future searchers, as it took me a while myself to find out that my original impressions were untrue.

No responsibility taken here for what you do to your device, whatever unanticipated charges you're hit with, or anything else. I can attest, however, that I am successfully using (in U.S.) my AT&T service on my Verizon Droid 2 Global running Gingerbread. I do not use a data plan, but wifi works fine.

A sort of unlock exists that allows you to use your VZW D2G with an AT&T sim card, which is currently what I'm using (the normal SIM unlock code only grants the phone the capability to be used in foreign countries and not competing carriers in U.S.). A Google search for "droid 2 global band unlock" should have that solution in the first result. This modification requires the device to be on older kernel and/or software (Froyo). Also, there are some data plan limitations present that I can't explain, because I have never had a data plan. Anyway, a normal upgrade to Gingerbread will undo this modification. However, a post on the third page of that search result contains a link to yet another page that instructs how to upgrade to Gingerbread while keeping the band unlock intact.