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Flip phones are back again – A REVIEW
Hipsters you can rejoice! Because next time when you wind your way to the thrift store, riding your fixed-gear bicycle, where you come across a vintage, grease-stained mechanic's shirt that matches your Rollie Fingers mustache and Grizzly Adams beard, here's an edgy, if technologically sub-optimal, way to tell your friends about it.
Use a flip phone.
iPhone 6 Plus and the massive Android phablets are the preffered choice nowadays, however, alongside the flip phones too are inexplicably making a comeback. Anna Wintour, editor the Vogue magazine, considered the arbiter of cool, chucked iPhone in favor of a flipper. Other celebrities who were seen brandishing the famous piece of paleo-technology include: Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, actress Kate Beckinsale and even Rihanna, to name a few.
And, believe me, "dumb phones" aren't totally the elusive unicorn that we sometimes think they are. At present, 56% of American adults carry smartphones, compared to a total of 90% who own a cellphone of some kind, according to the Pew Research Internet Project. Among millennials age 18-29, a very large 83% of those who own cellphones have a smartphone, but that leaves the other 17% who keep their mobile life more basic.
The hinged, snap-shut "flipper" form factor was at first presented to the public in 1982 by laptop maker GriD with its Compass computer. Motorola, regarded the king of flip phones with its Razr line, introduced the clamshell style in 1996 with its StarTAC phone (which was justly re-released for nostalgic techies in 2010).
Is this truly all about going for retro, hipster street cred? There is, on the odd occassion, a bewildering aspect of 'cool' that centers around eschewing modern convenience for vintage ... well ... inconvenience. Writing on typewriters? Check. Racing high-wheel bicycles from the 1880s? Yes. Playing baseball with the rules and equipment of the 1860s? Absolutely.
However, there are certain practical reasons some people, including millennials, go flip. Some go for flip phones to simplify and unclutter ---- in a 24/7 plugged-in society. "It just seemed like it would be better for my addled brain than a smartphone," 26-year-old Angelica Baker, a tutor and writer, told TIME. "Personally I'm too scattered and unfocused to handle email and Facebook on my phone."
Baker exchanged her Droid with her mom's retired flip phone, a pink Motorola Razr. No more worrying about the iCloud being hacked when they use a flip phone. There's ZERO eye and neck strain, plus no fear of Flappy Bird addiction.
I feel hipsters are really onto something after all.
And, believe me, "dumb phones" aren't totally the elusive unicorn that we sometimes think they are. At present, 56% of American adults carry smartphones, compared to a total of 90% who own a cellphone of some kind, according to the Pew Research Internet Project. Among millennials age 18-29, a very large 83% of those who own cellphones have a smartphone, but that leaves the other 17% who keep their mobile life more basic.
The hinged, snap-shut "flipper" form factor was at first presented to the public in 1982 by laptop maker GriD with its Compass computer. Motorola, regarded the king of flip phones with its Razr line, introduced the clamshell style in 1996 with its StarTAC phone (which was justly re-released for nostalgic techies in 2010).Is this truly all about going for retro, hipster street cred? There is, on the odd occassion, a bewildering aspect of 'cool' that centers around eschewing modern convenience for vintage ... well ... inconvenience. Writing on typewriters? Check. Racing high-wheel bicycles from the 1880s? Yes. Playing baseball with the rules and equipment of the 1860s? Absolutely.
However, there are certain practical reasons some people, including millennials, go flip. Some go for flip phones to simplify and unclutter ---- in a 24/7 plugged-in society. "It just seemed like it would be better for my addled brain than a smartphone," 26-year-old Angelica Baker, a tutor and writer, told TIME. "Personally I'm too scattered and unfocused to handle email and Facebook on my phone."Baker exchanged her Droid with her mom's retired flip phone, a pink Motorola Razr. No more worrying about the iCloud being hacked when they use a flip phone. There's ZERO eye and neck strain, plus no fear of Flappy Bird addiction.
I feel hipsters are really onto something after all.
