[FLIP] The Rise of Anti-Smartphones - Comments Page 2

Also have had/used a Tracfone flip phone for many years and cannot agree more the responses from all of the above common sense users!

I have a LG smart phone and I do not like it at all or any smart phone, they are a pain in the butt and a lot of useless junk on them that I have no intention of using. I want a phone for emergencies when I travel, not for browsing the web or playing games, it is to make calls and text as far as I am concerned. It seems that many are never satisfied with what they have, they want more and more and after you get it, you find it is not as nice as you thought. I am going back to the flip phone and getting rid of the smart phone and that is the smartest thing one can do...Smart phones are overly expensive and a waste of money....

At the urging of a friend, I ordered an "Obamaphone." Before I was through with the activation process, I was through with the device. The buttons were too small, I had no idea what the activation assistant was talking about, and I was just fed up. I sent the damned thing back.

I use consumer cellular flip phone have for several years wont use anything else ever.I don't need one to go to the net as I have computers for that,and would never use the darn text garbage which is the cause of many car wrecks.Thank you will keep my doro.

We had a Tracfone that used the 2G service and had to replace it last month because they are not going to use 2G anymore. I don't know but I thought that all the wireless companies were not going to be allowed to use the 2G because of the FCC rules.

My wife has a flip phone with real keys. It is great for her since her fingers are bent with arthritis and it is very simple. We also have Consumer Cellular and like them a lot. They are inexpensive and very reliable. When you call for customer service you get a real person that speaks english with no accent. Any time I have had a problem they have been able to fix it with one call. Even problems caused by something stupid I did.

I agree that simple is better and I like (and my wife has) flip phones. The real downside is when traveling (for business), I would need to carry a second device, like an ipad, for reading news, books, mags, etc. At least with a smartphone, I only have to carry one device and power cord.

My Motorola V3 flip-phone is going on 11 years now. Had to have the "flex" changed and have gone thru a few batteries, but it still works like new... and looks new. Thinking about a MaxWest that goes for $26 because it can take 2 SIM cards and up to 32G mini-memory chip. What else should I be looking at?

Never gave up my flip phone - we really need to simplify our lives from excessive clutter! I finally had to upgrade my trusty 2G Nokia to a 3G flip which Consumer Cellular shipped me for free.

I do all my surfing and computing at home, so no need for expensive cellular data access! Plus my flip fits so nicely in any shirt pocket and handles abuse like a champ.

I do all my long distance calling from my home phone and do not want to have a meaningless conversation in the grocery store, movie theatre, lecture hall or any place else. Never did give up my flip phone which costs me $15.00/month/Verizon/prepaid, a plan that is not longer available.

I so agree! I have a 4.99 tracfone that I put minutes on when needed and a $10 smartphone I use for work. I had a fancy top of the line smartphone but it was so complicated and the reception in my rural area was terrible (t mobile). And the battery was always dead! Love the little tracfone! I lose it for days and the battery still has life. And the reception is great out here, much better than the so called "smart" phone.

I have a new Kindle Fire, an IPad, 2 Vaios and an old desktop. I don't need another tech item I need to figure out. I usually email so all I need a phone for are the few calls I make. And the many times my arthritic hands have dropped this little guy, it still WORKS.

I felt like such a Luddite when I bought this little guy and it is so funny that this old tech is coming back.

The remark posted by mmcquuownm (I ordered an "Obamaphone") is inappropriate for this website, comments like that, I can get on Fox News, if I were that stupid. It should be removed, although, it should not have been allowed to be posted.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 that I carry or have in my car or nearby, but for $10 a month more, I have a Propel (slider) that I've had for 10 years that I use to make calls and text and carry 24/7. I don't have to worry about dropping it and breaking the screen, it stays charged for a couple days, and I don't have to worry about updating apps. Who can live with one phone these days? lol Interesting article, Bob!

I can't find a Flip Phone without a browser (usually built with JAVA) & WiFi & Bluetooth. I've had some odd behavior on my smartphone that numerous calls to many tech supports can't figure out; it seems to be something beyond the phone itself; perhaps the actual phone #. If it's some sophisticated malware, I don't want MY phone to suddenly turn on WiFi and/or Bluetooth in a crowd and infect those around me -- or for MY phone to infect a polling location or medical office.

But it seems like the flip-phones of the past 10-15 years are the telephony equivalent of smart TVs and printers -- too dumb to protect themselves against malware, but smart enough, after a rogue update, to become spyware or vectors of malware.

Your article doesn't specify if there are any phones with NOTHING beyond talk/text & headset-jack.

My old Motorola flip phone (TracFone) was getting slow so i tried to get a new battery from Motorola but they were out of stock. Then i got an email from TracFone that the 2G cannot be used in my area any longer. They sent me a 3G LG flip phone for free. When i looked the phone up i saw that Walmart sold it for $5.99. I said to myself "how can TracFone send me such a cheap phone?" I like the phone, the screen is easy to read, it tells you all the information you need to know about the phone at the touch of a button. Everything is very clear, fast and simple.

And you can call it a "communicator"

I have the ultimate no frills phone. The SpareOne by AT&T. It cost $50 and then you pay $25 (120 minutes) for a YEAR. You can get an add'l 100 minutes for $10. I wanted a cell phone for emergencies -- to carry in my car in case I break down or get lost. It has a flashlight which can send out an SOS in Morse Code. It has the 911 emergency number programmed in as well as an opportunity to set it up to make calls to friends when the emergency button is pressed. And you don't have to worry about recharging the battery because it runs on 2 double A batteries. Works for me. Oh, and I went to the local AT&T store to register it (pay my $25) and they helped me set it up.

Just a bit of an fyi for mmcquownm - the "obamaphone" should actually be called the "reaganphone" as he was the one who started the program. No insult intended, it's just a bit frustrating when people use that term and don't know the real story behind it and too many don't want to because it'll mess up their hate of President Obama.

My $0.01, all done, no more.

Thanks!

@Michael >> "...And believe it or not, there are a few telecommunications experts insist that the Obama Phone program began all the way back in the early 20th century during the Woodrow Wilson administration." From

Q. >> What brand of phone did Hillary Clinton make famous? No cheating!

The small size might be nice, for $100.
But I got a phone for $20, an Alcatel phone, with touch screen, voice to text, internet and all the features of an iPhone and with excellent coverage from Straight Talk. The only difference is that the camera is not as fancy.

Push buttons are nice, but no good for typing words. The big screen area for phone numbers on my touch screen works well for me. The tiny space for typing words on the screen, that is more challenging. Getting voice to text to be more accurate, that would be the real advance.

Sorry the person who used the FCC phone (called Obama phones because the program shifted from land lines to cell phones during his administration, nothing to do with him personally). My friends who get those phones, they just request another phone, one that does work. Or ask for assistance. That program is truly fantastic, though the details of it vary by state. In California, they hand out touch screen phones that take text messages & calls. What is limited is the minutes on the phone.