Flip phones are hip again

[IDemo]

Hipsters, rejoice. Next time you ride your fixed-gear bicycle to the the thrift store, where you find a vintage, grease-stained mechanic's shirt that matches your Rollie Fingers mustache and Grizzly Adams beard, there's an edgy, if technologically sub-optimal, way to tell your friends about it.

Use a flip phone.

In an age of the iPhone 6 Plus and massive Android phablets, flip phones are inexplicably making a comeback.

No less an arbiter of cool than Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour has apparently dumped her iPhone in favor of a flipper. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, actress Kate Beckinsale and even Rihanna are just a few of the celebrities spotted proudly brandishing the famous piece of paleo-technology.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/20/tech/mobile/hip-flip-phones/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[mnhtnbb]

1. Everything old is new again.

I never gave up my flip phone!

[IDemo]

2. I went to a touchscreen 'feature phone' for a while

I'm back with a $14.99 flip.

[Orrex]

3. I have a rotary flip phone.

[geardaddy]

8. With a party line

[Liberal Veteran]

33. Who needs a rotary phone, when the operator can patch you through to KLondike 87746....

....without having to fuss with all those fancy dials and gadgets?

[IDemo]

35. My first full time job:

Yes, I'm old.

[Odin2005]

46. That looks like a tangled knot disaster waiting to happen!

[snooper2]

68. So did you get pissed off at Nortel when they made that job meaningless?

[IDemo]

69. I transferred out of the job long before that

I was on the list for training on the new cordless operator stations but got a job in the business office. The breakup occurred shortly after that and I wound up on the Baby Bell side of the business and was no longer an AT&T employee. I haven't been with the phone company in decades.

[geardaddy]

70. My dad retired from NW Bell when they broke up in '84

He took early retirement after 30 some years at that company.

[msanthrope]

48. Be quiet!!! Mrs. Musselman is talking to her daughter and I want to listen in!!! nt

[uncle ray]

49. pffft. i have to stop the car to use my flip phone.

or else the needle skips. it's a Nokia Gramophone. you've probably never heard of it.

[Blue_Tires]

54. my man!!

[ProfessorGAC]

66. I've Got One That I Need To Ask Sarah To Call Who I Want

Sarah, get me my house please>

[Prophet 451]

4. I always liked flip phones

There was just something tactily satisfying about them.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

6. Haha, yea you could close them aggressively when you were pissed off! The closest thing to

slamming the receiver down on an old landline phone.

[awoke_in_2003]

50. And if you downloaded the Star Trek communicator tone...

it actually made sense when used with a flip phone

[OregonBlue]

5. I like technology and use an Android tablets, etc. I never could learn to like a smart phone.

My little old flip does everything it needs to and stores all the numbers I need.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. My boss is going to love this

I always tease him about having the first phone I launched when I joined the company - On the device lauch team - 9 years ago! Hos old Samsung came back into style.

[d_r]

9. I really like having an android phone

to look at my email and so on.
But a flip phone is handy. It is easy to put in your pocket. I was using one of the ruggadized casio ones, until I broke it. I like flip phones.
The thing is, it is so nice to have that android that syncs up when I sit down in the car and reads my texts to me and calls people when I tell it to, and looks up web pages and maps.

I wish there was a flip android. With an e-ink screen, and bluetooth to sync.

Oh yeah, the camera. Got to have the camera.

Oh, apparently they make them http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/22/lg-wine-smart-android-flip/

[CTyankee]

10. my flip phone has a camera but just try to get a picture off of them and you're in trouble...

The pics are great. The process to download is awful...big, long process and not worth it...

[d_r]

28. Yeah, I know what you mean

it is so much easier with a smart phone, I just tap the picture and send it to facebook or whatever.

[CTyankee]

64. right now I've stopped even thinking about which phone to get. I'm just keeping the flip phone

since it serves its original purpose which was/is for emergencies. If the parade passes me by, so be it. Thinking about phones is a waste of my time right now. Just managing my health issues takes a lot of time, in addition to doing more as my husband's mobility issues are so limited.

[GeorgeGist]

11. CNN still sucking ...

air.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

12. What does it say about the tech world when something ubiquitous 5 years ago is now "retro chic"?

I'm sure our current smart phones will be all the rage 5 years from now.

[Odin2005]

47. We have become a society with no attention span.

Something that is 6 months old is now passé. Gotta keep the Consumerist-Capitalist pyramid scheme going.

[MrScorpio]

13. I've never stopped using a flip phone

I don't have the money for a smart phone account. I don't text and make very very few calls. 120 minutes can last me a couple of months or more. Besides, I use my iPod touch and free wi-fi for free mobile computin'.

Why would I need to do anything else?

[justiceischeap]

14. Could it be that they are perceived as safer? nt

[RKP5637]

41. Yes, I think so. n/t

[truebluegreen]

15. Excellent! I am on the cutting edge since I still use one.

[petronius]

22. I just told one of my colleagues how cool I really am

Since my phone is still a flip - she didn't believe me. Boastful link outgoing now...

[RebelOne]

16. I have a flip phone, which I call a dumb phone

because I cannot afford a smart phone, but it serves my purpose because I only use it for emergencies. I am retired and home all the time and use my land line. My cell phone I use in the car should I break down and have to call Triple A.

[olddots]

17. I am tragically hip

Allways will be , why my cell phone is rotary dial , I am so fucking hip it hurts .

[panader0]

21. We used to play this one.

[underpants]

32. Great idea for an app

American Spirit smokes can start adding a dialing pen to selected packs

<---- found this retro couch at a flea market in Williamsburg

[underpants]

36. There are already several rotary dial apps apparently

Guess I have to go to work tomorrow

[spanone]

18. damn, just when i got a smart one, glad i kept the dumb one.

[B Calm]

19. Can't see pàying AT&T more per month for smart phone service. Glad to hear my flip phone

is hip again.

[Revanchist]

20. Let's out-hip the hipsters

[RKP5637]

43. Definitely, and it can also be brandished as a weapon if necessary! LOL! n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

67. And An Effective Paper Weight Even In The Wind

Never had one of those. The biggest cellphone i ever had was still small enough to fit in a suit coat pocket. Not that thin, but not very bulky either.

Probably mid-90's, maybe a little sooner. It was a very early Nokia.

[Aristus]

23. Best use of a flip-phone ev-AR!:

[gollygee]

24. Maybe these will come back

That would be fun to tote around.

[tabbycat31]

25. I still have my old flip phone

My pink Katana that I retired on my 30th birthday for a smartphone. I sometimes miss that thing, but don't miss trying to text on it.

I will say I miss that it was next to impossible to pocket dial on that thing (although my smartphone is locked with a pin #).

[Cha]

26. That's nice..I finally have one. I like mine.

[Warpy]

27. With the keyboard covered, there was little butt dialing

and they were phones, not portable pcs.

[lpbk2713]

29. I have a flip phone for when I want to make or receive calls.

I have a tablet for when I need a mobile computer.

I never get the two confused.

[shanti]

62. Yes!

[GoCubsGo]

30. Maybe some people are realizing that life is passing them by...

...while they spend too much time with their faces in their damn phones all the time. They probably want the benefits of just having a phone, while getting rid of the temptation of having all the crap that goes with a smart phone, as well as all of the security risks. And, no pocket-dialing or need for pricey cases to protect them from being bent in half or otherwise damaged.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

52. Butt dialing? Somehow my ass edits my contacts.

I go in to a contact and see "Billfffffffffffffffffffffgggggggggggggggggg"

I don't even know how to edit my contacts. But my ass does.

[MineralMan]

31. I shut my Android phone off and

reactivated my old Samsung flip phone a few moths ago. Battery lasts forever, it slips into any pocket and does calls and texts just fine. Everything I need. The Android was too big, too fragile, and I didn't use its features.

[IDemo]

37. That's the thing

My $14.99 Best Buy special can call, text, email, surf on 3G, store tunes and take pictures. And it's pay as you go, no monthly or yearly plans. Pretty smart, IMO.

[JHB]

34. The classics never die

[liberaltrucker]

44. Our intrepid Captain is probably on T-Mobile

[MerryBlooms]

38. I have had my old flip Samsung for ages

It's been dropped so many times, including on tile floor- it's bounced and separated, but easily put back together and survived. Talk about 'bang for your buck!'.

[Owl]

39. Still love my old flip-phone with full button keyboard!

[840high]

42. You and I are so hip.

[RKP5637]

40. I have a really nice Tracfone Flip Phone. It's all I want/need and I'm a techie. I have

several computers at home and a laptop. When out, all I want is to be able to get/send a call cheaply. I can see where others want far more, but a quality Flip Phone is great, especially, no butt dialing! LOL!

[Odin2005]

45. Stupid fucking hipsters.

[longship]

51. Squeedily-Dee! Kirk to Enterprise!

[IDemo]

53. Leonard Nimoy mentioned in an interview long ago:

He'd been standing on a street corner in Hollywood, took out his flip phone to make a call and the guy next to him burst out laughing.

[Coventina]

55. Huh. I'm still using my 2003 flip phone. It doesn't even have a camera!

No texting either.

I'm a hipster and didn't even know it!!

[3catwoman3]

56. I loved my little flip phone.

I had it for 6 years. The main reason I moved to an android was I knew my younger son, who was going off to college, would be much likelier to respond to a text than a call. He voice mail message on his phone says, "Hi. This is T*****. Don't leave a message."

[True Blue Door]

58. Hipster = idle rich youth.

[FourScore]

59. Thank Gawd! I'm so tired of butt dialing people! n/t

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

60. I have one of these, which cost $15 unlocked.

When I am in the US, I keep my Canadian Telus sim card in it, when I am in Canada I keep my T-Mobile sim card in it.

Virtually anybody I would want to hear from would know which phone to call me on, but I do occasionally get urgent business calls on the other.

It also comes in handy at an oil refinery I have to visit regularly where phones with cameras are forbidden. Security will babysit your phone and page you if you get a call. But I would rather just have my own phone.

[WhiteAndNerdy]

61. Oh, good.

I'm only ever in style by accident.

When I upgraded my phone last time, the store actually had to special order a basic flip phone. I don't use my phone for internet access & I hate touch screens. Apparently that made me weird.

[Ron Obvious]

63. I loved mine...

And I would use it again, but there's no way I'm going back to texting on numeric keypad.

I currently still use my slightly less ancient (2008) G1 Android with slide-out keyboard (I cancelled the dataplan). It's all I need for the foreseeable future. Apps, schmapps.

[madokie]

65. My old LG flip is showing its age

but then again so am I. Replaced the battery a couple years ago and might have to do it again before long but I have no intentions of replacing the phone.
I upgraded to a 'smart' phone a couple years ago for a couple days then gave it to my friend and had US Cellular switch me back to my trusty old flip phone. All I want in a cell phone is talk and text, nothing else thank you

[KG]

71. No they're not.

[Baclava]

72. ha ha! - beat me to it.... yeah, no they're not....

not even close

[hunter]

73. I bought my flip phone more than ten years ago.

No camera, no nothing.

It's looking a little worn now, and it never claims to be fully charged any more even when it is, but other than that it still works fine.

Our cars are even older than that. The car I drive is thirty years old now.

I'm not a hipster, I'm not a fan of old cars, I'm just cheap and trying to reduce my environmental footprint on the planet.