like I lived through the brick to flip phone to smartphone era, but I can’t remember what features I was looking at on these flip phones when I was deciding which one to buy. do you guys remember?
My first flip phone was free when I signed up for service. Next one I got because it had that push to talk feature a bunch of my friends and coworkers had. Last one was just to upgrade the second one. Added a camera, an external display with caller ID and track info when playing MP3s. Then I got into the early smartphones. Pre iPhone, Windows CE stuff.
If I were looking today it would need to be rugged as hell since I drop shit all the time, and I bet there won’t be a lot of cases for it. Capable of hotspot. Still want a camera (the best camera is the one you have with you). And a decent button feel since texting is going to be a way bigger PITA
- It flips;
- it phones.
Looking cute
Tbh I always preferred the slide phones. But if you specifically want opinions on the flip phones…
Needs to be able to open one handed with your thumb. Some models are too sleek with no ridge to pry up with your thumb.
Needs to be durable. A lot of cheap flip phones start having screens and buttons coming off after a while because of slamming the phone shut all the time and being made of cheap parts.
I preferred a phone with T9 texting, but maybe you can just download that these days.
Vibration might be a factor for you. Some phones vibrate really loudly while others are more subtle. When I was in high school I wanted a vibration I could feel but not hear if it was in my pocket or my hand. Many modern smart phones have much more aggressive vibration than the old flip phones. Not a problem for me anymore now that I’m an adult.
Never had a flipphone but I would imagine that features like: opening with one hand, FM radio, and a good microphone, and builtin games are a must. I’m gonna get a refurb (excellent condition from amazon) Samsung flip3 5g so I’m hoping that I can open it with one hand, and I’m a bit sad that’s there’s no FM radio on it. But a lot of comprises are made when buying former flagships. (No SD card slot, no FM radio, no headphone jack.)
I don’t remember phones ever having FM radio as a norm. Yoy could listen to stations that were playable online if you had data. But that was before streaming is what is now.
Very common before 2010. As far as I know the fm decoder was integrated in the SoC itself (at least it is so in modern SoCs), so it’s not even that demanding on the design. Probably not a requested feature, which is a bit sad
