Flip-phones!

[Memory]

@/home/user: Oh, that is an absolutely beautiful device! I would absolutely use something like that! Does the cell service run on modern networks? I know older devices sometimes used protocols that are no longer in use and can't be put on a network anymore. Really impressed that it runs modern internet though!

Yep works wonderfully!

The modern internet is unusable out-of-the-box though due to the lack of modern certificates and TLS 1.2, however the Opera Mini browser that you can install has support for these new ones and I can browse the modern web with it no problem.

[TheFrugalGamer]

That's amazing! The internet issues remind me of my PSP, which refuses to connect to anything new these days. I can't remember if it's the same issue or not, but I should look into fixing it, because the homebrew scene for PSPs is really pretty robust these days.

[kandeez]

I've been using my Nokia 2070 V Flip for about a year now and love love love it. I have it alongside an iphone and mainly use it when i'm going out or just want to unplug, but the picture and video quality are quite good if you want that, I think its like nothing on my phone bill, and just overall the best. Plus I can change the backgrounds on it and its got more than enough room for stickers :))))

[lime360]

it's not a flip phone but i had an old samsung phone back in 2019 which got broken idk why

[JackFrost]

I really wanna get a 903kc or a folder2. Sadly i can’t afford it rn but i’m saving up for it! They look like really good phones and they run android so i can use modern apps.

[bingus_baby]

Omg so excited to necropostttttttttttt I JUST got my new SIM card to activate a Hello Kitty flip phone I got!!! Typing is SO fun and I'm really excited! I unfortunately can't use it as my daily phone, since I need to access certain apps for school and not all my friends use SMS to message, but it's very fun and exciting anyways!!! Unfortunately 2G is being phased out, so come spring the lil guy will be no more than an MP3 player. But it's ok!! Because I wanted a new MP3 player anyways!! (The battery in my old one is shot.)

[CableCat]

Unfortunately, I do not use the flip phone anymore. But I'm just old enough to have owned one in the past and remember the takeover of iPhones and smartphones.

My first phone ever was the Virgin Mobile UTStarcom Arc. Back then, my friends who were lucky enough to have phones had flip phones (which was only about half of them until we got into 8th grade). I only recall ONE kid in my whole grade having an iPhone, and he was an only child whose parents had serious money. He barely showed it, probably for fear of having it stolen. He was a sweetheart, and he never bragged about it. He just happened to be calling his Dad after school one day by the bus loop and a handful of us saw it.

Around that time, my best friend got a rose gold pink Motorola Razr flip phone. To get one of those as a kid gave you major bragging rights and cool points.

Your parents loved you and *spent money on you* if you got one of those or a Blackberry like the one featured in the music video for Fergalicious. Or one of the ones with a keyboard.

Your parents HAD (serious) money if you got an iPhone!

Needless to say, my $40 Virgin Mobile flip phone was just there to do the job. Not that my parents didn't love me, but they were more sensible and didn't really have money to throw around until I proved I could use a phone responsibly.

The first week I had it, I left it in my pants pocket and it got put through the wash! They gave me a second chance with another identical $40 Virgin Mobile flip phone, hahahaha.

Flip phones weren't really intended to be able to access the internet smoothly the way a smartphone does! If I were going to buy a flip phone, I would not expect YouTube to work on it at all, or at the most I'd expect the video to be super compressed and grainy. Same for taking photos! And I would not expect social media apps to work at all. Texting was the real hotness of flip phones, which is why the slide out keyboards became such a popular thing. I still remember one of my school fundraisers had a prize that was a poster with text lingo translations, like "lol=laugh out loud, btw=by the way, etc." Also, the flip phone was about the look and sound, and you were cool if you had custom ringtones and cell phone charms.

The phone that has the most enduring reputation from that era is the Nokia! Specifically the Nokia 3310, because it could probably survive anything. It didn't flip, but it was the brick house of phones.

I hope this gives you some ideas of phones and brands you could look into. Some may have more modern flip phones, and Nokia looks like they still have current flip phones for sale on their website!

And if ergonomics is the biggest issue, I should mention that 2000's purses and bags sometimes had pockets specifically designed to house a small flip phone!

[shevek]

But I'm just old enough to have owned one in the past and remember the takeover of iPhones and smartphones.

I really enjoyed the entire post! I relate a ton to it. Made me feel old, but also nostalgic
My first phone was one you'd expect - non-color screen, SMS, call, Snake. That was it. I remember when I had a pink Nokia phone, my first to have a color screen and the ability to record stuff, and it was very quickly killed by a leaky water bottle in my school bag. Rice didn't help.

My favorite phone remains the Sony Ericsson S500i, the phone I had after, and for a long time. The background image changed depending on the season, and even festivities like Christmas, NYE, or your birthday. It was my first camera phone.
I recently got (but don't yet use, because some stuff needs to be fixed) a pink Sony Ericsson Walkman phone (W580i I believe), which is pretty similar to it.
It's as close to flip phones as I ever got since both of these are slider phones (?).

Omg so excited to necropostttttttttttt I JUST got my new SIM card to activate a Hello Kitty flip phone I got!!!

I know there were multiple, but I wonder if you got the same model that my friend had in 9th grade she had a vast HK collection in general.

[larvapuppy]

I have fond memories of playing Tetris and Brick Breaker on my mother's silver Motorola flip phone as a child in the early 2000s. Later on, as a middle schooler, I got my own cheap cell with a slide-out keyboard. It was pretty cool-looking; it was black with orange and silver accents. I don't remember what brand it was though! 

Now I've gone low-tech again and my only cell is a really cheap alcatel flip phone, which isn't even hooked up at the moment 

[Swiftpaw]

My teenage years were weird because my dad acted erratically, so I had a flip phone until 2015 where I finally got a smart phone well into my freshman year of high school. I got one because not being able to take pictures or notes or access the internet (since some teachers would have you pull things up on your phone) became a bigger problem and was kind of leading me to get made fun of by classmates who noticed I was still using a flip phone in 2015.

I miss the stim of using a flip phone (the buttons, the cover, etc) and I was way less scared of breaking a flip phone. Though, I do still like smart phones, and I'll frequently take pictures of wildlife or interesting things and there are a few mobile apps I use for stuff like notetaking.

[PurpleHello98]

These days, I'm thinking of the Nokia 2780, pictured below. It's the best I can find for a reasonable price and I like the colours! Although personally, I hoped for purple---but c'est la vie.

Texting was the real hotness of flip phones, which is why the slide out keyboards became such a popular thing. I still remember one of my school fundraisers had a prize that was a poster with text lingo translations, like "lol=laugh out loud, btw=by the way, etc." Also, the flip phone was about the look and sound, and you were cool if you had custom ringtones and cell phone charms.

[...]

And if ergonomics is the biggest issue, I should mention that 2000's purses and bags sometimes had pockets specifically designed to house a small flip phone!

I totally love the look and sound part! Once I hopefully get a flip phone I'm going to put so many stickers or something on it, and I already know what song I want to be my ringtone. I don't know of the Nokia I'm looking at has a charm hole, but so help me I will find some way to make a charm and attach it. I really wish more people used SMS! Thankfully, my closest friends at least use SMS to some extent, so I should be good to go, but I know some people probably get very annoyed at the prospect of green bubbles or whatever.

[Memory]

Hot news, when searching for "dumbphone". Here are some headlines:
BBC: Not smart but clever? The return of 'dumbphones'
CNBC: Dumb phones are on the rise in the U.S. as Gen Z limits screen time
Business Insider: Gen Z's Desire to Limit Screen Time Leads to 'Dumb Phone'
Euronews: What is a 'dumb phone' and why are so many young people buying them

So it's the young guys and gals who are pushing for old-style phones? Now that would be some news, that really deserve a round of applause. It breaks a vicious circle... like something as big as a drug addiction, that (nearly) everyone in our society has fallen for.

Now I'd like to ask you, if you see more flip phones / brick phones out there on the streets. Do you see this trend happening at your place?

Unfortuneatly, I can't see the trend to dump smartphones happening here yet, but maybe it's too early. In any case, it would be a sane sign. Says a long-time lone warrior with a 15 year old brick phone, running on its second keyboard and its third battery reliably. It feels like a big life-influential decision, which tech to use and more importantly, which to reject. All I can say is, try out a basic phone, use the available ways of communicating (SMS, why not?) and see what happens.

[virtue]

I'm honestly fine with the way that smartphones operate and are shaped for the most part; I like having an all-in-one portable computer, music player, and phone. But I absolutely do agree they're WAY too big. I sincerely believe that a phone should only be as tall and wide as my thumb can reach when holding it from the side at the base of my hand. Currently, my smartphone is 40% taller and around 25% wider than that. It is immensely frustrating, but the Pixel is the only real option for the things I need to use a phone for, so I have to put up with the garbage design. Maybe invest the money you put in that stupid camera into a goddamn internal DAC and headphone jack?

On that note, does anybody know of a portable music player that can do subsonic streaming? Not really the thread for this, but I am desperate, so. lol

[Memory]

I recently (2 days ago!) got the samsung flip 5. It's a bit chunky, but the weight of it is good, especially with a case on. I like being able to feel it in my pocket without it weighing me down. And, funnily enough, even though it's a smart phone I've found that the "flip" aspect of it has drastically lowered my screen time usage! Not because it's tedious to flip it, but it's also certainly not a button press away either! The front screen has most of the functionality I need anyway, from viewing emails and replying to messages on discord/texts :D

I loved flip phones and keyboard included phones when I was younger too. There was a sony one that I adored... Even though it was tiny in my child hands! Sony xperia maybe? I actually still have it in my house somewhere with all of my cringe high school memories attached LOL.

[virtue]

I have this little beast now these days: the Nokia E90 Communicator from 2007!

It's absolutely wild what this can do. 3G internet, a physical keyboard, calls and SMS of course, video conferences, themes, TV, a camera, analog radio, music, video, bluetooth, walkie-talkie connections, office suites including spreadsheets, presentations and a proper word processor, games (Temple Run anyone?), and much more.

It runs Symbian OS, which is really solid on this device.

Never want to go back to a touch "smartphone".

Absolutely GORGEOUS. I wish devices were still made like this. Its a shame it almost certainly isnt compatible with newer software I would prefer to have on such a device... I wonder if its feasible to build such a thing with modern hardware!!! Absolutely an ideal choice. You are very lucky my friend.