Flip phones are also smaller when folded, so they are more pocketable. That alone is more important for me than most considerations.
This is a major reason behind why I've stuck with my iPhone 5S since the end of 2013. Unfortunately, after 6 years, the battery life is now really suffering, and it's starting to feel a little sluggish. Up until the last 6 - 12 months it's been a great phone though.
/s
True.
> and haven't been for half a decade.
The iPhone SE is less than 5 years old, and it's terrific. I've had mine for nearly three years and I just got the battery replaced. I'm not sure I'd buy an SE new today if I needed a new phone, but I'm going to hold onto it until it dies or another good small phone comes out.
I also find typing on it to be much more inaccurate than larger phones (even with swipe typing).
The battery life and everything else is great, though.
My search for a _wide_ phone led me to develop this: https://github.com/dotancohen/screensize/
I've run it across every phone on the market and no phone is available that has a screen as wide as the Note 3 had six years ago. But phone _height_ has increased over 30% on average.
I've got some pants with deep pockets but tight enough that my cased iPhone is too thick to comfortably fit. A folding phone like this wouldn't work at all.
But I don't really miss flip phones per se. Just smaller smartphones. The galaxy s4 was around the upper limit of how big I'd like my phone to be.
Unsure why phone manufacturers insist on trying to make their phones thinner and more fragile when everyone wraps them in a case of some description.
Because consumers don't actually buy what they say they want.
I'm always seeing people demand more durable screens and longer battery life, and Motorola made the Droid Turbo 2 with a massive 3750 mAh battery and a truly shatter-proof screen. People dropped it from a drone onto concrete from over 500 feet and it survived [0]. It takes more than one smack with a hammer to break the screen. [1]
And yet, nobody bought it, because when it comes to make a purchase, people still want phones that look sleek and modern, which means thin and a back made out of glass, because plastic is ugly, and metal interferes with wireless charging.
Motorola's been producing phones for years that have the features people actually ask for. They made Android phones with physical keyboards up to 2012 [2]. I remember seeing polls about phones with QWERTY keyboards back then and so many people saying they want one, but when it came to actually buy, they'd rather get an iPhone with a screen that shatters if you sneeze.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTJOL5ikuZA