Return of the flip phones!!

Tsumi

Tsumi

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Messages
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http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/20/aquos-phone-the-hybrid-007sh-sharp-shows-worlds-first-clamshell-android-phone/

http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2011/05/20/sharp-aquos-phone-the-hybrid-007sh-an-android-clamshell/

Android in a flip phone, I personally really like the idea of that. My phones of choice (before I got a smartphone) was always a flip phone.

And this phone is no slouch either when it comes to features. 3D display, 16 MP camera, 720P recording, and the two most unique features I found: waterproof, and a digital TV tuner. No word on internal specs though, although it does sport a micro SDHC slot.

Apparently it's going to be released in Japan only, but if it makes its way over to the US, I wouldn't mind picking up a few.

To top it off, it has a long ass name. Sharp AQUOS PHONE THE HYBRID 007SH.
 
Marduk77 said:
that would be weird for apps
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Not really, it's still a 3.4" touchscreen. It is, however, a brick at 19.3mm thick (think 2 iPhone 4s stacked on top of each other - about the same width and height, too)
 
this is stupid. those features are great yes, but i will take them in a regular (brick) smartphone shape thats half as thick, 2/3 the weight, and an inch bigger screen. the ONLY reason for a flip phone like this is so you dont scratch the screen, which can also be done by applying a $5 skin to the screen (thats .5mm thick.) this might be ok if they made it flip sideways too or something and it had a full keyboard so you can type easier and not take up half your screen with the keyboard when you type, but they didnt even give it a full keyboard. just a regular numpad. im impressed theyre willing to take a chance with something different, but disappointed all they came up with was a style that has been all but discontinued, and for good reason.
 
flip phones are more prone to failure than your average candy bar phone due to moving parts
 
gross. those are some of the ugliest phones I have ever seen. to each their own i guess...
 
Saw this when they announced it like half a year ago, i actually like flip phones. I know more moving parts = more parts to fail but honestly some of the sturdiest phones i've ever had were flip phones. The fact that its waterproof is just icing on the cake.
 
These will likely never make it to the US. The only reason they still make tons of flip phones in Japan is because they've grown so accustomed to them and it's by far the best selling type of phone.
 
I always loved flip phones. Fit on your ear better, the mouthpiece actually was at your mouth instead of up against your cheek, and it folded into a nice small portable size. Dont get me wrong, I dearly love my Droid Thunderbolt but part of me longs for the day when we had a nice simple phone......and much cheaper plans. LOL

That one doesnt look that bad. The color is godawful but other than that, the design isnt bad at all. Id check one out when Im due up for an upgrade.
 
Lived in Japan for a few years and people there love phones with big screens. Even my dumb phone was huge compared to the ones here in the states.

On the dialing pad in lieu of keyboard, you can type kanji pretty fast using the dial pad because it just includes the phonetic characters so I can see why those are still popular there. Plus most everyone texts (though it's really sending an email since each phone has it's own email address) in stead of talking.

On a side note I kind of liked their calling plans because all incoming calls are free, you only pay for outbound calls.
 
I don't think this will work out well...there is a reason we switched to flat, slim touchscreens.
 
You do realize that the smartphone market is smaller than the regular dumbphone market right? Just because a flip smartphone wouldn't do well in your respective areas doesn't mean it'll do badly in Japan. I can almost guarantee you that it'll do well in Japan, where its being sold.
 
What comes to my mind.........
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xIronCrossx said:
What comes to my mind.........
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Because if you design a product (no matter how bad it is) that is the only one of its kind on the market, you will sell at least some to a niche group. When is the last time you have heard anything interesting about phones made by Sharp? I guess when your trying to penetrate a market that has so many big players with a good variety of phones you need to do something unique. When I saw this I thought of a lady I work with. She is thinking about replacing her Razr (the original one) and it has a gaudy blue/green cover on it. I think Sharp might have at least one sale right there.
 
Yes, it is targeted at a fairly niche demographic, but there are still people who want to buy it. And if there's enough people that want it, it's enough to make it. It's kind of like why does Intel make a $1000 CPU? Because the niche demographic that wants the absolute best CPU will buy it, and there's enough of them that will buy it that they can make a profit on it.
 
palm pre is as close to a flip phone as I want to get.

they give it a long ass name so no one will remember what a failure it was, lol.
 
well i guess all old things always make a reappearance some time later in life.. and besides some people like the flip phones still thats why they are still made ;p
 
My last non-smart phone was the LG Voyager and it was an awesome phone with the best keyboard imaginable. I was super excited when I saw the EnV Pro leaks, but then that was followed by severe disappointment due to it being cancelled by Verizon and its mediocre specs (at the time it was barely comparable to the Droid).

If they re-made that phone with todays high end hardware, it was be stellar!

lg-genesis.png


I know my wife would love it (she has the Voyager and Droid with me too) since she requires physical keyboards on her phone. But the Droid 4 seems like the best bet to go with now.
 
Let's do some unedumacated math here .. 3.4"screen+bezel lets say 4 inches on each side of flip or say 8" end to end. That's a flop. Like someone said here... A device like this makes no sense, flip phones were awesome cuz u got a lot of usable area in a small foldable package.
 
I used a flip for many years and really liked how small they were and how they also go very thin when the original RAZR was introduced.
 
kllrnohj said:
Not really, it's still a 3.4" touchscreen. It is, however, a brick at 19.3mm thick (think 2 iPhone 4s stacked on top of each other - about the same width and height, too)
Click to expand...

It also still ships with Android 2.3 Booo
 
MrkXCeL said:
Let's do some unedumacated math here .. 3.4"screen+bezel lets say 4 inches on each side of flip or say 8" end to end. That's a flop. Like someone said here... A device like this makes no sense, flip phones were awesome cuz u got a lot of usable area in a small foldable package.
Click to expand...

A few people have said it earlier - this is not intended for the US market and will sell well in Japan where people like this kind of phone.
 
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