Last old man with a clamshell flip phone

[UTUSN]

Finally resigned my title of Last Old Man with a Flip Phone. The top thing I learned from the massive orientation session of 6 to 8 hours with the new phone was: The main web resource is still Wi-Fi. I had thought I would be web accessible ANYWHERE, free of hotspots, but the monthly allotment of 4G is capped. But this is the same as lugging the laptop or the Kindle around only to hotspots, with the difference in the lugging part.

There was a hitch in connecting via my router, whose tech support informed that the shelf life of this router is 15 months and mine is some forty eight months old. I replied I guess this must mean I should buy another of their products since everything is working. This is like the pal who said about a warning light on her dashboard, “I just leave them on until the bulb burns out.”

& just when I finally took the leap, here are items arguing for the return and superiority of flips.


******QUOTE*****

10 Reasons to Switch Back to a Flip Phone

1. They repel muggers.
Look at you, standing there with your golden iPhone and your Spotify Premium. If you're worried for your safety, you're doing it wrong. Flip phones literally repel muggers, making them the smartest option for the safety conscious.

2. They're fairly indestructible.
The iPhone screen shatters when you drop it 3 feet. A flip phone's screen doesn't shatter if you drop it out of an 11th-story window and a garbage truck runs it over. They're like little mobile wolverines.

3. You only have to charge them every few days.
What is it about flip phones that keeps them alive for a week at a time? Uranium? The battery in a flip phone lasts longer than the paint on its buttons.

4. If you lose one, it's not that big of a deal.
In the event that your flip phone breaks or gets lost, just pick one up at a corner store on your way home from work. They're in the check-out aisle, next to the Pokémon cards and the Fruit Strip zebra gum.

5. Your job can't reach you via email and ruin your vacation.
It's 3 p.m. and you're in tropical paradise, taking a much-deserved annual break from your job: Do you know where your flip phone is?

Of course you don't — you probably dropped it in the water four hours ago. It was invented before email, so nobody's going to reach you anyway.

6. They're small.
Remember when this was an actual selling point? Think about all that new pocket space. You'll probably be able to fit Chapstick in there. Imagine the possibilities.

7. You can still get Facebook, if you're into that.
If mobile access to Facebook is really a must-have for you, don't fret — most flip phones can actually access the network through built-in apps. Sure, it's not going to match the experience you get on, say, an HTC One, but what do you expect?

8. It comes with low data fees.
The older your phone is, the lower your bill is going to be. Imagine what you could do with the money you'd save on data fees? When you go flip phone, the world is your oyster.

9. No more butt dialing.
Besides the whole "flip" thing inhibiting the possibility of butt dialing, the sheer number of buttons you need to press in order to make a call or send a text message is insane. It'll never happen.

10. Your thumbs will get ripped.



Samsung bringing back the flip phone
Like a rock star coming out of retirement the flip phone is making a comeback with Samsung announcing a new line of clamshell handsets.

But before you get too excited, there is a catch: It’ll only be available is South Korea and it’s aimed towards the older mobile phone user.

[femmocrat]

1. I have an older model LG:

It looks like the one in the middle:



It does everything I need it to do and for me, it is just perfect. I dread the day when I have to bid it adieu.

[riderinthestorm]

2. My husband stubbornly clings to his flip phone. He had to get a new one in January

and the store had to order it since they don't even carry them in the stores anymore.

They told him that within a year or so they're going to stop carrying them at all (US Cellular).

His time is coming...

[Kali]

25. lots available on the internets

just google the model or hit up a site like cellularcountry or replaceyourcell

[Xyzse]

3. My slider still works.

Not that I use it any more.

[NightWatcher]

4. Reason to get a smartphone. Access to unlimited information, sports, maps, weather, and Angry Birds

Did the last guy to give up his horse for a car brag to all of his friends that he never had to buy gas, only feed and water the horse and dodge huge stinking turds that fly up onto the buggy whenever the horse gallops faster than a trot?

It's the 21st century, come on we'll hold the door for you to come join us. Actually we won't hold the door, there are sensors that can detect when you are getting close.

[pokerfan]

15. and Doodle Jump!

[Raffi Ella]

21. YAS!

and 2048.

[LiberalElite]

23. Yes! 2048 -

I was struggling to clear all the jelly with Candy Crush and then I saw the guy next to me on the train had this number game on his tablet. No more clearing the jelly for me. Looked it up right away at work on Google Play. No more clearing the jelly for me.

[Raffi Ella]

30. haha, same here.

I still play Candy Crush sometimes but 2048 is my new obsession.

[LiberalElite]

32. Today on the train -

I played Candy Crush only after playing 2048 made my thumbs numb.

[pokerfan]

31. and Sokoban!

Very addictive and frustrating at times.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokoban

[LiberalElite]

33. looking this one up now on Google Play! nt

[pokerfan]

48. Warning

It's incredibly addictive. For me, anyway.

[Raffi Ella]

49. I have that one, it's hard! but fun~

*If for no other reason than the games, eVeRy OnE should have a smartphone! You'll never be bored again.

[Aerows]

55. That looks like FUN!

I'm going to look that up!

[Skittles]

40. fuck the smartphone

a lot of are not Luddites but don't feel the need to be CONNECTED 24X7

[kentauros]

46. I often leave my phone at home.

Oh the horror! The horror!

[awoke_in_2003]

57. Same here...

I turn it off on my days off, too.

[csziggy]

5. My husband still has his flip phone while I cling to my Nokia brick phone

Mr. csziggy loves his flip phone. When his old one died, I had to go onto the Tracphone site to find him another one. He claims its a smart phone, but he still doesn't know how to text - though he finally figured out how to set up his voice mail. He doesn't listen to his voice mail, but if he doesn't hear his phone ring, the voice mail makes the phone vibrate so he knows he missed a call.

On the other hand, I still have the Nokia brick phone Tracphone forced me to take as a free replacement when my old Nokia brick phone became obsolete sometime around 2005. Since I get no cell signal at home and seldom go anywhere, getting a better phone is not worth it. My phone runs out the battery waiting for me to go somewhere so almost every time I drive into town, I have to put it on the car charger. It's been in my truck on the charger for a week - I started to put it back in my purse the other day, but the battery would run out, I'd forget to put it on the charger and it wouldn't be charged the next time I need it.

I have no idea how to set up voice mail or do texts. I know it can get texts - I get them sometimes. Reading them on the 1" square screen is not worth it so I discourage people from texting me. Some people are dense, though - when my Dad was sick, my sister was sending text updates to my land line. She couldn't figure out why I had no idea what Dad's condition was.

[LiberalElite]

34. I'm no tech expert but -

sending text messages to a landline is....

[csziggy]

36. Exactly

I was about the whole thing. Especially since for YEARS I have made a point about not calling my cell phone and using my landline. If she'd emailed me, I would have gotten it. If she'd texted to my cell, I may have found it eventually. I don't know what happens to texts sent to a landline other than they never fucking arrive - why wouldn't there be an error message for the sender?

And the entire family got mad at me for not knowing what was going on for the three months my Dad spent in the hospital. They couldn't understand why I had not tried to get downstate to visit him. When I talked to my other sister, she was always, "Oh you know how he's doing. If you think you should stay home, just do that." Not one of them ever wondered why I was completely clueless at how ill he was and why I never understood how sick he was. Not one of them ever thought to discuss verbally the problems that were happening - they just relied on my idiot sister's claims that she had texted me all the details.

Fortunately, that was not his final illness. I did get to spend time with him before he lost all awareness and did get down during his last days to help my Mom out.

[hobbit709]

6. I have a Tracfone dumb phone and it does what I want. i.e. make and receive calls.

[Tom_Foolery]

12. Me, too! n/t

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

13. Same here

Oh, I like having an address book and caller ID and such. But I really want what used to be called POTS -- Plain Old Telephone Service.

[MrScorpio]

28. Welcome to the club, baby!

Wouldn't have it any other way.

I can't believe the amount of money people spend on smartphone contracts. I have this iPod that I'm using right now to do what others pay to do with a smart phone.

If I want to get on the net with it, all I need to do is find a wifi hotspot and can surf for free. The Tracfone, I can make calls from anywhere.

This has been my routine for years, cheap and effective. I'll have to upgrade the iPod eventually, but until then I'm all good.

[Skittles]

41. THANK YOU

OMG they are IDIOTS

[monmouth3]

44. Me too, I love it and no phone bill just buy minutes every 2-3 months..n/t

[elfin]

52. Same here - for 15 years!

They upgraded me for free twice and now have over 3000 units because they roll over and keep giving me bonus minutes when I buy my yearly $100 airtime.

But the flip phone is a devil to text, not being qwerty. And my kids prefer to text when I am out of town. So.... May have to upgrade to get the full keyboard. But may not because I love the small size and REFUSE to live the cel phone life.

It has saved my sanity more than once while away from home and indespensible in an emergency.

[greatauntoftriplets]

59. Another dumb phone user!

[dr.strangelove]

7. Fruit Strip zebra gum was the heroin of my childhood

Sure the high only lasted 10 seconds, which is about 2 seconds longer than the gum's flavor lasted, but it rocked. Plus, those cool tats that came with it.

[Populist_Prole]

8. I love my flip phone

Last edited Sat Jul 26, 2014, 12:49 AM - Edit history (1)

Folded up, it's got the size and contours of well-worn bar of soap and slips easily in and out of my front pants pocket...and feels unobtrusive. Charge lasts for weeks. Takes a picture if I need to but rarely do. I don't text, and I don't talk much anyway, maybe 150-200 minutes/month. It's for my convenience, not somebody else's.

While I can see the features of a "smart phone" that can be valuable to some, it's of no use to me since I'm just now reaching the point of needing reading glasses and couldn't read the damned screen anyway...and I don't want to have to zoom in to the degree I have to read shit 7 or 8 letters at a time and I don't want to have to charge the battery every 38 minutes.

Biggest turnoff is the size. God damn those things are big! Feels like a brick in my pocket, and being rubber coated as most are, slides in and out of a pocket as a whole pineapple. Fuck that shit.

[UTUSN]

9. I added a metal clip to the back of the flip with high powered 3M glue foam and

a tab of duct tape to the edge of the top lid to pull it open. Missing it already. Plus, I already dropped the new thing.

[Populist_Prole]

10. Tried it at first, but belt clip no worky for me

Can't have external shit hanging off of me, especially at work: always getting snagged and caught on stuff.

[UTUSN]

11. I used it in the shirt pocket. The holsters never worked for me, invariably got a call when driving

and the holster crap was under the seat belt. The clip plus shirt pocket wasn't that attractive since the phone would sink in the pocket taking the top edge of the pocket with it. Maybe a pocket protector would have worked?!1

[KamaAina]

14. That makes me the Last Old Man with a Flip Phone

and I don't even turn 50 for another couple of weeks.

[RebelOne]

16. I have a Jitterbug flip phone from Great Call.

It suits my needs. I only need it when the power at home goes out or on the road in case of an emergency. And the bill is only $20 a month.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Used to have one of these:

I think it's still around somewhere. I like the iPhone better.

[mnhtnbb]

18. Seems there are a bunch of us ole geezers with flip phones.

I have one. Hubby has one. My youngest son (24) has one--but he also
has a vision impairment--and although he's considering switching to an android,
I'm not sure he wants to put out the $$ since he's about to become a poor
grad student for the next 3 years and not sure he really wants to try to read
e-mail on a small screen, and of course, doesn't drive.


I go back and forth whether I really need to get with the technology. Hubby doesn't
text: I do, but only occasionally. My phone is really for my convenience when out of the house,
and since I'm retired, I'm home quite a bit.

[LiberalEsto]

19. My husband and I both have flip phones

and we DON'T TEXT

[MADem]

20. TRACFONE, baby!!!!!

That's my cellphone of choice! A hundred bucks a YEAR and I don't use all the minutes, either--I accumulate them from year to year.

It's amazing how rarely I "NEED" to talk on the phone! I much prefer the old fashioned "in person" method!

Hell, they might even have a flip phone!

I have a fancy (to me--it's already on the "obsolete" list) LG 'dumb' phone that takes pictures, a little video, and you can send texts by writing on the screen with your finger instead of having to punch out the letters on the keypad. It's the best phone I've ever owned--even the sound quality and reception are first rate. I have a rubber case on it so I don't drop it, but even when it does hit the floor, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

[csziggy]

37. Accumulating minutes with my Tracfone is my main complaint

Last time I renewed my service, I got 400 minutes and one year service for $100, then they had a special offer of an additional year for $50 more. I already had over 1500 minutes left over from previous years, so that was attractive.

Now I have about 1800 minutes and my service plan runs out in December. I dread adding more minutes onto what I already don't use. I may have to get a smartphone just so I can use the minutes up for data services.

[MADem]

38. They're moving into the SMARTPHONE millieu....

That might do the trick!

Or, you can start calling your overseas friends!

Seriously, so long as they let you KEEP the minutes, it's all good.

Who can get cellphone coverage for a hundred bucks a year? AND have plenty of minutes to blah-blah-blah if you need to?

It's a great deal, IMO.

And one family member of mine has 4000 mins (with only a double minutes phone)...so I "get" the drill! It may be time to upgrade that phone to a smartie!

[csziggy]

39. If I ever start traveling, I will get a smartphone

But I stay home most of the time. Any data I want is faster and easier to read on the computer. I get no cell signal in the house - well, enough that the cell phone will ring, not enough to make a connection. So a smartphone would be useless here at the farm.

I traveled more last year with losing my Dad than I have in ages and still used less than 50 minutes. I thought I would use more the year before while I was in the rehab hospital recovering from my knee replacements but I was too busy with physical therapy and too tired to call anyone.

It would be nice to have a smartphone for traveling, though. I've gotten way too used to looking up routes on Google Maps and checking out places to visit. But when I was only traveling once every few years, it wasn't worth it. Maybe after my husband retires which could be this year!

[MADem]

43. I manage with a dumb Tracfone and a Garmin!

And I travel often enough, but I usually stay in places that have internet access.

It is a pain to do without--but I do it, a couple of times a year. I go up into the "wilderness" and have to rely on hotspots and libraries!

[csziggy]

47. Right now most of my travel is to civilized locales

My Mom's and various needlework seminars and events.

I take my old laptop, my old tablet (that only gets WiFi so needs a hotspot), and my husband takes his laptop.

So I'm still old school when we go bird watching - get paper maps or look stuff up on Google Maps and print it. Eventually a smartphone with GPS and apps for our bird guides will be worth it. I put upgrading off since until I got my knees replaced, hiking was NOT on our list of activities. Now that my knees are fixed my husband is having problems with his feet, so hiking is still off the list.

Even with modern technology, I still like my paper maps. We have a huge collection, some of which belonged to my father and grandfather - they were mining engineers in Central Florida and had a collection of geodetic survey maps that covered most of that part of the state. We've added ones to cover Leon County, Florida and those are now getting vintage since we bought many of them 30+ years ago.

Google Maps is cool, but does not give the same detail as those old maps did.

[MADem]

50. One day those maps will probably be worth a fortune!!!!!! Maybe even already... nt

[csziggy]

51. I'm trying to get valuable things to the appropriate places

Historical maps should go to the archives or a historical association.

Much of what I do these days is scan things, put them in archival protection and look for the right places to take them. I can share the scanned images with family and relatives better than having the actual items handled and degraded. It's also easier to file the scanned items in my information about the people and places they relate to than do that with the real things.

I need to take the time to set up a web space on my site to start writing up the history I have researched. Both my family and my husband's saved tons of stuff over the years and little of it has been shared even in the families. I want those stories out for more people to appreciate. I'll never write and publish a book - as if one book would be enough - but I can write short web articles!

[MADem]

58. +1 --good idea; small bites is the way to go!!! nt

[antiquie]

22. Flip to answer...

Last edited Fri Aug 8, 2014, 12:17 PM - Edit history (1)

like Kirk -- future technology
Virginmobile $7.50 monthly, paid quarterly, unlimited voice, $3 text and $5 photo.
(Why can't I text you gramma?)

[Kali]

24. hahahahaha! love it!

3 out of 5 in my family have this: great, water resistant, rugged, battery lasts forever, works. I just found another used one for $40.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WLBTEY/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_3p_dp_i1

[MrScorpio]

26. I have a flip phone and I rock. nt

[Jenoch]

27. I have an almost 4 year old flip phone.

It suits my needs. I make and answer telephone calls with it. I have an iPod Touch for mobile computing. I don't use my phone for texting, but I sometimes send texts via e-mail.

[JoeyT]

29. I still use a flip phone.

One of my buddies that does the same work I do on the same jobs has gone through about three grand in smartphones in the time I've had it, and it's still working fine.

The only reason I had to replace the one that came before it was because it took a 200 foot drop off a tower and got run over by a crane. Not much is going to survive that.

[Skittles]

42. Mr. Bill survived that

yes INDEED

[IronLionZion]

45. For a while blackberry had a flip smartphone

What got me to switch from an old school flip phone to a smartphone 3 years ago was driving 4 hours a day to different clients in different cities thanks to the Republican recession. Having maps, traffic, transit as well as the ability to do timesheets on a device became a necessity.

[Coventina]

53. My flip phone is from 2003 and you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!

It doesn't even have a camera!

No texting either.

Just a phone.

And it costs me $30 a month!!

[In_The_Wind]

54. I still have a flip phone.

[UTUSN]

56. I will never leave you "behind" nt