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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  The return of the flip phone
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The return of the flip phone

With Samsung announcing its W2016, clamshells are back, but they're unlikely to become a fad like they were in the early 2000s

Motorola’s Razr will always be remembered as the iPhone of the flip-phone generationPremium
Motorola’s Razr will always be remembered as the iPhone of the flip-phone generation

All it took was two empty matchboxes and several taut rubber bands to make a replica of that Star Trek communicator that fired our imaginations as children. It was perhaps that idea that served as inspiration for techies who built what we know now as the flip phone. Then it disappeared.

The age of the flip phone was glorious. It added that Bic flip lighter-like style statement—just answer your call with a flick of the wrist, and snap to hang up. It made you feel like one of the crew of the Starship Enterprise.

It took time to get there. With the earlier flip phones, there was a lot of fumbling and squinting at the little LCD display on the front to see if it was your wife, ex-wife or credit card company calling. Then you had to put whatever you were holding in your other hand down somewhere to pull the antenna up to answer the phone.

The first flip phone was Motorola’s StarTAC, a bulky affair, but one that nonetheless gave Motorola first-mover advantage. At the time, most flip phones were just normal phones with a flip-open cover on the keypad itself. The phones that followed rode the treadmill to “slimsville", as Sony, Samsung, LG and Nokia all jumped on to the bandwagon. As the technology improved, that annoying antenna disappeared. Still, it was a slow climb.

It was only in 2004, when Motorola unveiled the Motorola Razr, that the flip-phone rage took off. Everyone wanted a Razr. It was thin and had very cool keys with Tron-like lighting.

Soon, movies and music videos were filled with actors using flip phones; everyone wanted one. As a result, the flip phones became smaller, with more research and development being poured into them. They were referred to as clamshell phones, to make them more accessible and fashionable.

The market was flooded with clamshells because the alternatives were button phones. Soon, players such as Nokia and Samsung joined in with innovations, such as having a screen on the front and back of the phone. However, Motorola’s Razr will always be remembered as the iPhone of the flip-phone generation.

The flip phone’s slow demise began in January 2007 when a man named Steve Jobs took the stage and introduced a smartphone that was all screen, and, gasp, you could use the screen with multiple fingers to pinch and zoom. That was followed by a cascade of Android devices, and the world forgot the flip phone, with the exception perhaps of the Far East. All you could hear from then on was the tapping of fingers on touch screens.

Today, flip phones look like they’re making a niche comeback. LG launched the Wine Smart in 2015, and Samsung recently unveiled the W2016, which will be launched later this year. With dual 3.9-inch, 768x1,280 displays, an octa-core processor, 3 GB of RAM, a whopping 16-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera for those selfies, the W2016 has the specifications to contend with the best. The phone looks great, with a metal body and design accents in line with Samsung’s new Galaxy range. And it has got all the bells and whistles—Bluetooth, sensors, 4G, etc.

But is it enough to get consumers camping outside Samsung’s stores for nights? Nope, unless socialite Kim Kardashian uses it in every selfie. New flip phones are less likely to spur the return of a fad than to appeal to a small group of people. Those who miss and love the retro feel of the flip action will subscribe.

Should you get a flip phone? From a design and user-experience perspective, a flip phone makes sense for those who want something that is compact and fits easily in the pocket but can also be opened up so it is big enough to speak on comfortably. With a smaller phone, you may have to alternate between putting the phone to your ear and mouth. Another plus of the flip phone is the physical keypad—with good old T7—which trumps a touch one any day. Nothing quite beats the physical feel of keys under your fingers. Also, selfies could be easier with a clamshell.

The main disadvantage is that you have to open the phone for it to be useful. Sure, there will be a provision built into the Samsung phone to allow you to answer calls by using the touch screen out front, but you won’t be able to do much more without opening up the phone. With 5-inch screens slowly becoming the norm, as bezels are getting smaller, flip phones will need to have a zero bezel to be able to even start thinking about larger displays. So if a larger display for media consumption and reading is a priority, then a flip phone may not work for you.

Will the flip phone ever return on a big scale? For the flip phone to spread like wildfire, it has to be different enough to make a difference in the user’s life, with design melding in with technology. There are endless concepts out there, such as having a phone made up of just one long touch screen that folds over. Technology has to reach that level for the flip phone to be as popular as it was in the early 2000s. Either that, or Apple decides to launch a flip phone with its entire marketing weight behind it.

For now, the flip phone is back as an option for those who really want it.

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Published: 08 Jan 2016, 12:13 PM IST
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