One of many terminal thoughts that I have is the thought of swapping my smart phone with a flip phone. Half of that is thinking of the possibility of finally getting the dream phone that can fold horizontally and vertically, but also being more compact and usable. Every time I skate I always hang my smartphone in my butt pocket with the strap hanging out, because it's the only place where I can actually bend my legs comfortably without risking my phone or health. In my minute fashion tastes, it's also because the customizibility of modern phones are largely to shells and charms. Also, it might be able to aid in lowering my time on the internet/social media whilst still allowing me access to important apps, like my banking app.
I get moving forward, this isn't the wild west of smartphones anymore. For every RAZR V3 there was a Nokia NGAGE w/ sidetalking. Not to mention that every phone carrier seemed to want their own form of controlled media shop, so you can't expect to have the same software on your older phone just transfer over to your new one without having to dodge subscription traps. You get the picture? There is a general rise in Retro 2K stuff, and I am admittedly a somewhat engaged member, but some of the tech got ups and downs.
What I deem as 'smart flips' where the gimmick is that you can fold your smartphone for more screen space. I get the 'on paper' idea of the novelty, but I instead see more maintainence and a heftier price tag. Why should I get the same fragile smartphone if the only advantage is getting to look goofy with a notebook-style phone? I would get a slide keyboard, or even the screen acting as a viewfinder for the camera with dedicated buttons, but no, it's just extra space to fat finger something on accident. It doesn't help their case that the examples in a tech store tend to show their weakness, namely, the hinge part of the screen starts to get dead lines from the amount of flex.
I guess this is the part where I showcase my form of shopping, because the type of phone I'm looking for is usually custom imports from Asia, or some special edition phone in the consumer market, wheras I prefer to get my stuff brick and mortar. Old fashioned, I know. Maybe I'm not doing enough homework and my dream phone is sitting undisturbed in a Microcenter that I remain ignorant of. Well, there's also the headache of having to import my phone data onto another phone, and I can't imagine the paperwork and elbow grease needed to swap over. Also, I'm going to have to pay for what I can clearly tell is just an aesthetic, and dare I say it, Hipster reason.
Ultimately, this is an issue where I acknowledge that my phone choice is ultimately a niche amidst a large consumer market. There's a huge reason as to why Apple crushed the phone market with the iPhone, the biggest reason I can remember from the debut is that you can actually see and press a letter key without having to resort to a stylus, and a see-and-touch UI that removes the need for a clickwheel or a dpad and ball cursor (it sounds like it's directly skewering the blackberry line of phones). There would also be the reverse problem of having to adapt applications that were developed with the touchscreen format and having to drag it back to the NUMPAD or QWERTY keyboard format.
Bleh, that was a lot of rambling on the flip phone in what is soon to be '26. I hope that was intelligible, with my main point is that the effects of the flip phone would have to be more than just aesthetic to be considered a viable replacement to my smartphone beside my desk. I have to stop for the sake of your time and mine, because I am but a simple consumer giving my own 2 cents, and I'm sure there's a lot of articles and videos that articulate my point with varying quality. Post a message on my feed if you think I missed a topic I could've expanded on more, or just because you in favor of/against the idea of revisiting the flip phone idea.
