Smartphone Backlash Begins....

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danemodsandy

danemodsandy

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....Fed up with poor battery life, security problems and complexity, some cell users are flocking back to retro phones, especially celebrities, who have a bit more at stake than the rest of us when it comes to security, of course. Some old Motorola and Nokia flip phones are fetching handsome sums on eBay. Vogue editor Anna ("Nuclear") Wintour was recently spotted using what appeared to be a prepaid cheapie flip phone.

The real winner in the retro sweepstakes has to be the Binatone Brick, which looks like the AT&T brick phones used by early adopters in the '80s. It's usable with most SIM cards, does a bit more than real bricks used to do, and it's inexpensive.

I am almost tempted - except that my cell is a non-smartphone, so I'm kind of there anyway. But the Brick is kind of cool....

U.K. Daily Mail story at the link.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Hold the (retro) phone! Flip and ‘brick’ devices making a comeback

Earlier this year, Anna Wintour (pictured) was spotted using a flip phone at the US Open in New York. Other celebs, including Rihanna and Kate Beckinsale, also use retro devices.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk

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It Occurs to Me....

....That the Brick would be a perfect accessory for two of our AW members here in Waterloo, both of whom have vintage Caddies and Buicks, etc.....

It's only $19.95 on eBay, guys.... :)
 
I only have one thing to say...

It's a phone! Talk on it! I don't have time to fiddle and diddle with apps. I actually know a few people who have smart phones but never use it for more than anything than a simple phone. They just want to say they have a smartphone!
 
It's the most often heard phrase heard at construction sites these days: "Give me a flipping phone".
 
I see the point about the size/awkwardness of phones. As much as I LIKE the idea of having one of these behemoths as a daily driver, practicality is a major issue. I'll stay with my Blackberry 9930 for its awesome keyboard, thank you.

The line between smart and non-smart phones varies by carrier and is rather arbitrary. Here are a few officially non-smart phones that offer text, e-mail, and GPS and full internet:

AT&T: Nokia 6650 Fold
Sprint: The original LG Lotus (not the Elite) has a keyboard for man-sized hands. Verizon will flash it to their network as it was discontinued long enough ago.

On Verizon is the enV3, which has regular button to dial on the outside and a full keyboard and screen inside. My sister had this and loved it.

N.B.: Sprint and Verizon phones are totally compatible with each others' 2G & 3G networks. There is no "can't", only "won't" in terms of using one on the other's network.

The Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220 (ATT & TMobile) & 8230 (Verizon) have HUGE keyboards. This one will be considered a smart phone, however.

I've owned the Nokia and LG phones and have played extensively with the BBerry Flip. All impress me.

If you let me know what your needs are and which company provides your service I can give you some ideas. One nice thing about these non-smart phones is that they don't require a data plan; you simply pay for the data you use and pay nothing if you use no data.

Jim

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I carried an old Nokia 5190 for almost 10 years until I lost it one day. It was a sad day as it was a great phone and I wanted to get 10 years out of it!I replaced it with a Nokia 6010 "bar of soap" phone which I used for ~5 years. I still have that phone as a backup.

In April of 2013, when the iPhone came to T-Mobile finally, I turned off the Nokia and got an iPhone 5. I had carried a iTouch ipod for a while which is kinda like training wheels. I was well familiar with the OS and applications etc. It was awesome to not have to carry the two devices anymore.

Arguably the Nokia phones were better telephones then the iPhone is, but the performance difference is slight. The versatility of what the smart device can do is simply staggering though. I no longer need to also carry a camera to document things for work. I can get email notifications on the fly. Text and photo messaging is an amazing tool. I always have a good calculator. Some of the apps offer amazing tools too. One amazing app I have is a Seismometer that uses the phone's internal accellerometer to measure vibrations in 3-axis. Simply amazing, with full FFT frequency analysis too! I have actually used my phone to quantify and troubleshoot instability in CNC machine tools!! The list goes on and on.

I'd NEVER again consider owning just-a-phone, even if there were some slight advantages in the telephone performance of that device. Losing all the advantages of the smart device would be a great loss. I do wish the iPhone had an easily to swap battery, but with a charger at home and work its fine. Replacing the battery after a few years isn't really all that though either. Its just a little surgery, battery and tools for replacement can be had for about $10.

I will admit that the old Motorola brick phones are retro-cool looking though. I helped a buddy hack one apart and install a Bluetooth module into it. He uses it as a Bluetooth handset for his iPhone (which remains in his pocket). The looks he gets in public talking on it are priceless!

Any phone/device is just a tool of course, and we all have to choose what works for us based on our own needs. I have some friends that actually don't need to own a screwdriver set, boy I can't imagine that either...
 
Personally, I agree. As an interpreter with a part-time steady gig supplemented by freelance work, I can't make/take calls on the job and I don't have proper meal breaks. I DO have a lot of 5-minutes-here, 7-minutes-there down time where I can't pull out a tablet or laptop, but I can whip out my Blackberry and get some serious e-mailing done. I also depend on text to keep in touch with friends and family because I can't call. I also need GPS to get to freelance jobs in unfamiliar locations. I don't want a huge touch screen phone because 1) I'm way faster typing on my current BBerry 9930 than I ever was on any other phone and 2) my stomach is enough of a bulge in the wrong place and I don't need another one caused by my phone.

The posters on this and other threads don't seem to have the demands you and I do. My impression is that most of them use their phones primarily for calls and want/need the option of texting, checking e-mails, using a GPS, and taking an occasional picture, preferably with a flash so you have a flashlight always at hand. The phones I mentioned cover most or all of these and DO NOT REQUIRE A DATA PLAN. One does not pay for data AT ALL unless one uses it.

The Nokia 6650 has outrageous battery life (1500mAh battery, 1800 from Mugen optional) and appears near indestructible. Even now there are hundreds of apps available for it, including a fully fledged word processor -- go figure. Yes, Nokia had apps and an app store long before the iPhone came into existence.

As an aside, Opera SA (the web browser company) recently bought the Nokia app store so there are hundreds, if not thousands of apps available for their later smart phones. Most of them are designed for business and industry and there are far fewer 'fun' apps. The Nokia E6 might make a useful back-up.

Clearly Kb0nes and I need smartphones. For us to go back to a brick phone would not be a good move. That said, people who don't have those needs should not be required to buy phones and pay for data plans they won't use on a regular basis.
 
My Tracphone gets coverage where other "smart" type of phones do not here. I understand about those that have to do what they have to do on a phone, but not for me. I make and receive calls, thats it. I refuse to text, app, send picures or the rest they can do, not interested. And my Tracphone is under $10/month. Does what I want and always works.
 
Tracfone User Here Too:

I have an LG 500G; hardly a smartphone, but capable enough for what I need. Calling and texting are a breeze; the thing has a full keyboard. It also has a proprietary browser I can use for some Internet; the key is whether the site has a mobile version or not. I can check email as well. It's as much as I need, and perhaps a little more, since I don't often access the Internet with it.

Very cheap, excellent coverage and does the job.

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Retro...

Sandy, surely you haven't forgotten about my truly retro cell phone : ) Granted, I'm no longer with ATT so the sim card business is out, but it sure got a few looks when the mechanical ringer would go off and no wires were attached. Much easier to talk on while in the car, too. The toughest part was actually having to remember friend's phone numbers...good thing there was lots of scratch space on the bottom!

I was anti-smartphone for a long time, but the camera in the iPhone reached the point where my Canon became superfluous. I might talk on my phone once a week, but having that internet-connected camera in my pocket at the ready changes everything. Working on a construction project? I can snap a pic of the progress. Come across a washer at Menards while on lunch? Send a pic to Ben. Tear a wiring harness apart? Here's a pic for which terminal goes where. '60 Chevy parked nearby? Snap a pic. And on..and on... I don't even take my 'nice' camera on vacation anymore. It really is a game changer. -C

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I have a few rotary phones, one just like Cory's black one, since my mother and I both worked for the phone company. Power goes out, phones still ring and I can still call out. Tracphone is only used when I am not home as landline never goes down. High speed internet and landline cost me $37 this month, and no, I do not get any previous employee discount. Plus Tracphone, is under 50 bucks. That works for me but for some it would not.
 
Minority report: I like my Virgin Mobile Kyocera Hydro Edge, which cost all of $80, has an unlimited 4LTE Data/Voice/Text plan for all of $35/mo., and runs a relatively recent version of Android (4.4.2).

 

Yes, it's a touch screen. I do prefer a discrete mechanical keyboard, but they take up valuable space a screen could put to better use. I routinely use the Edge to check email, stock prices, weather reports, and can even surf the web and Google important work related questions without having to sit down at a desktop (which I don't have on this particular job anyway). Yes, a virtual keyboard has zero tactile feedback but hell, it's a phone, not a typewriter.

 

Did I mention it's water resistant too?

 

I used to have a Samsung flip phone... fell into a bucket of soapy water as I was washing my p/u from the bed and didn't notice for a few hours. It was never quite the same after that. Replaced that with a gawd awful Samsung "Code" flat phone with discrete keyboard running equally awful Windows Mobile OS, and suffered with that for a year or two. Finally went Android last January and didn't look back. Started with a Virgin ZTE el cheapo that ran an obsolete Android OS and was just too darn slow. It also started acting up regarding Bluetooth and finally insisted it was always connected to headphones when it wasn't. That's when I got the Edge.

 

These touch sensitive screens take some getting used to. The ZTE had a relatively wide boarder you could touch without activating anything. The Edge has almost no dead border so you have to hold it only by the very edges (maybe that's why they call it the Edge?), or it will try to launch a new app when you're just shifting your grip. One gets used to it. I don't expect to be able to communicate in text at anything nearing the speed I can on a real keyboard. I'm a touch typist and these little phone keyboards - mechanical or virtual - don't allow one to touch type with all ten fingers. There's even voice recognition but I don't use that much. I have to say Android as a mobile OS is great and well worth the money. Never have tried an iPhone, but I do like that Android has such a wide selection of apps, both free and for $.

 

I make few voice calls with the smart phones. For me, the data is the main benefit. I've even used the Edge to win an eBay auction. That was NICE.

 

 
 
ordered mine!

I have a Samsung Galaxy 4, and I love it. After 2 Blackberries, and 2 iPhones, none of which I was 100% happy with, I went android, and it was so amazing. So much more intuitive, and more useful. I'm almost ashamed to say it, but I dont think I have even turned my computer on for at least 5 or 6 months, possibly longer. Its so much easier to just use my phone. I couldnt even tell you where in the house my digital camera is.

But... This is THE Phone! The one I first saw on tv as a kid, back when we associated cell phones with the rich and famous, and were just glad we had touchtone at home. I know its just a replica, but its as close as we are gonna get since analog service no longer exists.

Since I don't have a landline, this will be the "house phone". And who knows, I may have a "no new technology day" and actually carry it. Since it has Bluetooth, I may even try to not use the smartphone at home, just answer all calls on the brick. (Though that could put a crunch in my communication, since most of it is through text or messenger apps).

Now if I just had the skills to do as I have seen others do online, gut a nonworking vintage computer, and use either all new parts, or a partially dissected laptop, to replace all the inner workings. Bam, a vintage computer that blends with my decor, but has all the functionality of a new one. Sadly I am not skilled in the correct areas for this.
 
No one can deny...

the capabilities of the latest smart phones and tablets, but for some I guess the point is to get away from all that, plus avoid data plans, as mentioned. Heck, we have a 2 month old iPad Air128 as well, out of necessity so the wife can access patient eMed records when on call or at home, but otherwise but so far it's been used mostly to play Bejeweled!
 
Motorola Star Tac

Man i would L O V E to have my old Motorola Star Tac back.
When everybody left analog i had no choice.
I just checked ebay and i should not have tossed it.
 

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