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Whenever you think of a flip phone, you think back to the old dumbphones of yesteryear. Even if you’re still living in the age of dumbphones, it’s hard to find something of the sort these days — it’s either a slider phone or a candybar phone of some sort. What if I were to tell you Samsung could be attempting to bring the classic form factor back with modern features?
New rumors are swirling around regarding a device called the Samsung Galaxy Folder, an Android 4.2.2 device that would employ that Motorola RAZR-esque form factor we all fell in love with a decade ago. This wouldn’t be the first Android phone of its sort, of course, with offerings from other companies seeding the market in very limited capacity.
Still, the magnitude of the Galaxy brand being attached to it has our interests piqued. You’re probably wondering what sort of specs Samsung would shove into the thing. If the rumors are to be believed, we can expect:
- WVGA resolution touch screen
- 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor
- LTE
- Android 4.2.2
- a numerical keypad
It’s obviously straddling the less sexy line between mid-range and entry level. The Galaxy Folder is said to be headed to South Korean carriers this August, but would you buy it if it ever made its way outside of Asia? Dream with me for a minute. What if this phone had:
- a 4-inch 720p display
- a 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor
- 2GB of RAM
- an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video recording
- a 2 megapixel front camera
You know, your typical “OMG I want that beast” smartphone in this day and age. I have some news for you — something like this already exists by the South Korean OEM. Remember the Jackie Chan-endorsed Samsung W2013 (pictured above)?
That phone is also a dual-screen Android-based flip phone, except it has a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera, a 2 megapixel front camera, 16GB of internal storage and more. The difference is that phone wasn’t marketed with Galaxy branding, so much of the world probably didn’t notice.
I personally wouldn’t prefer to revive this archaic form factor. It has a special place in many of our hearts, but so did bell bottoms and typewriters. (Though, to be fair, there are some people still collecting typewriters… and bell bottoms.)
Obviously Samsung’s Asian fan base would value this smartphone more than anyone else as character-based languages are harder to type out on traditional keyboards. But if this thing had the guts to compete with the best of the best like the W2013 does, would you welcome a return to what now seems like a retro form factor? Drop a vote in the poll below, and leave a comment letting us know how you feel.
[polldaddy poll=7255002]
[via DDaily]
I wouldn’t buy it but this might actually be the way I could get my father to toss his 8 year old flip phone he still has.
I like the concept of it. Smart phone closed, dumb phone opened. Good for old people and it could still hold a bit of resale value.
Only if it has removable storage
Won’t work — if it’s gonna have a physical keyboard of any type, it would need to be a full QWERTY, not just a numeric pad. But in order to do that effectively, it wouldn’t be a flip form factor
It can be done with full qwerty. See: blackberry style.
Flip and twist dual 5″ screens
A modern take on the flip phone design wouldn’t be enough to get my wife to upgrade from her ancient, pink, moto RAZR, even if they could make it as compact and durable, simply because there’s still no way they could come close to the battery life. 1 day smart phone VS week(s) of dumbphone use.
Does she not sleep at night?
Same with my wife. Had to buy her a new Nokia in aluminum body a year ago. She hates charging, even overnight, or possibly just hates to have to remember about charging it. Women are irrational.
hahaha I totally understand, I have to plug in my wife’s phone everynight or the next day she has no phone.
Yeah – THIS.
lol no
Why though?
I probably wouldn’t, but I used to own a Motorola Startac back in the day and I can’t tell you enough how satisfying it was to open and close that.
Motorola Startac – That brings back memories. Damn that phone was great, 14 years ago.
I like candy bar style much better. It’s just there.
Try to see the Japanese INFOBAR C01. It’s a candy-bar smartphone with classic alphanumeric keypad.
Could you imagine trying to watch videos on this thing? Assuming it can do that well? The *only* value I see this phone having is for older people or people uncomfortable with technology to finally get rid of their old flip-phones for this new one…but ugh. Especially as the slate form factor is now finally popular, I always hated those RAZR things so I’d be sad to see them become popular again.
there are benefits to clamshells i always loved, they protect there screens without a case and are generally very durable, you cant pocket dial, its much harder to waste battery when its in your pocket, you dont have to click a button and slide to unlock everytime you want to use it…. also my sister had an old motorola i guess it would be feature phone not quite dumb that had a double hinge where you could open it clamshell or turn it sideways and open it landscape for typing
I don’t think you know how these phones unlock. I had a sliding phone once. Well… I don’t know what it was, but the phone didn’t lock when I slid it down. The slider wasn’t broken or anything, the phone just didn’t know when I slid it open or closed. I had to manually lock and unlock it by pressing the button.
I’m guessing there was a sensor. I had this phone for a little over 2 years, so it served its time. But there can become a time where flipping it won’t unlock it.
And with a screen that size, I’m imaging the phone like flipping completely off from all the weight. LoL!!
Sure, if I were a Japanese teenager.
I’m glad you added that 3rd option. I have no hate on it. That last one just really explains my thoughts. LoL!! I mean, I know history repeats itself, but really?
I USED to be a hardcore, die hard flip phone fan. Until I realized why so many people had smartphones…you can just do more with them. And after I realized that, I wondered why I ever bothered with a flip phone in the first place.
But did you read the specs? It’s a smart flip phone. So now you’d get the best of both worlds.
Yeah but I love my note 2 waaaayy too much to go back to a flip style phone with a smaller screen
LoL!! I would love to see an HTC One Mini with a full Qwerty keyboard.
Isn’t the Asian market already littered with phones exactly like this? Well I guess one more can’t hurt.
Note 4 flip phone ftw. Also…. Jet li > chan man
No, I always hated flip phones.
I only came here to comments because Jackie Chan….that is all!
I could definitely see this appealing to an older generation that’s still hesitant to move into the 21st century, when it comes to technology. Having a phone that gives the ease of a numerical dial pad, while at the same time having a touch smartphone interface in addition…this would make the transition for them much easier. I know for sure that I’d purchase this for at least one of my parents, and also recommend it to many of my elder aunts and uncles that aren’t a fan of touchscreen phones, yet.
I will not buy this flip phone. But I would be interested in a clamshell or flip-phone that encloses a flexible full-sized display.
This is such a questionable decision. Why are we heading back to these flip phones when carriers want to distance themselves from them? Samsung is really diluting the Galaxy lineup. Galaxy S, Tab, and Note should be the main products. I don’t want a Galaxy Pad, Galaxy Mega, Galaxy Ultra, Galaxy Ultimate, etc.
In some countries like Japan, South Korea and China, flip-model cellphones still exist although slate-model smartphones gradually replace their popularity today.
Why would they even think about it.
We need a g3 and it need to b thin with a qwerty keyboard! Htc or Samsung please!
ditto
make it an accessory for the current galaxy devices with the dumb phone buttons and I think it would sell pretty well with old people (my dad)
We still have a Motorola Razr flip phone that my dad used to use. It was awesome back in the day.
I would buy the G1 again as is with a 4-5 inch 720p display and huge battery
Same here, with today’s specs, even though it would be a novelty, I would still buy it and use it.
I’d love it with a qwerty keyboard.
I love my qwerty phones droid 1 than droid 4, it just sucks that they only make mid-range second rate ones now (the samsung stratosphere? really that thing is closer to a feature phone user interface than a midrange). I don’t get why they can’t just make high end qwertys (droid razr maxx qwerty? s4 qwerty? htc one qwerty?). Business customers would love them as well replacing blackberries. My droid 4 may have a ton of issues, but writing a beautiful well formatted e-mail on a tactile responsive keyboard? That sir is one of the great feelings in life.
YES! My sentiments exactly!
what i would love: a flip phone that uses that new folding screen tech, where u’d still get the 4.x inch of screen when open (all screen no keypad), yet folds like a feature phone
if i could try it out sure …it does break the “Bar” form factor trend, and me i’m always looking for the most interesting phone
They need to take this concept and make their first flip phone that has their flexible glass and the keyboard is a touch screen or usable screen for whatever. But it needs to be seamless touch screen and not work as 2 different screens like kyocera did.
why a keypad? why not a full quarty with numbers ala the alias(ah i missed that phone)…now thats a phone id buy an alias wit todays top end specs maybe duel screen booyah u got a winner…but a numberpad? really? u need to have physical buttons and half a phone for 10 numbers?
Not a flip phone, but I REALLY want a physical number pad. I really like being able to call someone without looking at the screen or using voice commands. For me, and onscreen keyboard is just as good as physical one (at least at the size of a phone) But I still want a number pad I can feel. A flip phone on a huge screen device would just make the phone too big, and you don’t need to have a number pad that big. Give me a slider with normal sized number pad and I’d be all over it. It would also be handy to answer calls, and as a shortcut to the phone app in general. It would really make the phone part of the smart phone much more usable for me. But I’ve been saying this since the G1 hardware was first leaked. I really wanted a Helio Ocean running android. I don’t think I’m ever going to get my number pad.
Ugh, make it a slider! Seriously what is the hatred of phone companies to sliders? I LOVE physical keyboards because
a) I don’t have autocorrect hosing me every few seconds
b) When I can use both hands for my phone, I’d prefer it for speed.
c) Real estate! I hate giving up half my screen to the keyboard and to have a tiny text box (which leads to even more erros with autocorrect).
I don’t need some Matrix switchblade-esque/Startac variant…I just want one of the “best” phone models (not some $99 special crippled phone) with a slider. Is that so much to ask? To be honest…the best Qwerty I ever used was a Tmo Sidekick 3. I liked the feel/spacing of the keys and the layout with special characters. The worst was probably a Treo 650 or Samsung Epic. The Epic may take the cake because it wouldn’t recognize (legit) double key presses, so half the letters would end up missing (in fact in this sentence it would have said preses/leters/mising which would be highly annoying).
Umm, like Xperia pro and Xperia mini pro?
No, more like a not mini anything…although I guess that one is a bit better than others. More like an HTC One slider, one of the new Motos with a slider or S4 slider…something like that.
The only good thing about a flip phone is the satisfaction of snapping it closed when you’re pissed off at someone. It kind of brings you back to the old school wired phones where you could slam it really hard when you were mad, though that was even more satisfying!
Maybe Im in the minority here, but I would love to see someone do a sleek, thin, very high end version of the sidekick. I loved the flip up screen and and it was probably my favorite keyboard ever.
As much as I dislike samsung as a company, I will still buy whatever makes sense for me. I’m a fan of the flip phone. If they can produce a flip phone with the quality and usability of galaxy s3 or s4, I would definitely be interested.
I’ll buy anything that Jackie Chan promotes, underware, deodorant, tampons, etc…
My one and only complaint about my smart phone is that it is a pain in the neck to use it as a phone, especially while driving. I miss physical buttons.