Have you ever thought about what it may be like to own a flip-phone in the modern world? How might it affect day-to-day life? Well this is the reality for a handful of students around Albany.

       “I have a flip phone because I want to be different,” freshman Ritish Ratanpal said. “It shows my personality.”. 

     Others have decided to switch due to other reasons. “Why would I pay for something to get her to be distracted?” counselor Jan Rasmussen said. This is the philosophy of many trying to revert back to a more primitive way of technology. 

Having a flip phone now is not as conventional as it used to be, with not as many features as modern smartphones. This limits Ratanpal. 

“I feel left out when all my friends are playing iMessage games or using other Apple exclusive features,”Ratanpal said, stating this is the reason he might switch. “They are easy. The only thing I’ll miss is the fact that it can fit in any pocket or holder.” Ratanpal said that for flip phones to survive in modern day, they have to evolve to better suit the newer audience. 

There are some limitations which will need to be addressed in order to compete with the features of current smartphones including attributes to communicate. People such as Marcie McArthur, who lived in a time where flip phones were a popular form of communication, stated that their limitations were a problem within a situation of emergency

“You could call or you could text but there’s no tracking and no information, no music you had to have an ipod”.

Samsung has attempted to bring back flip phones with their new Galaxy Z Flip, which has added all the new features that people look for on a phone and put it all together to create a more modern and stylistic version of the famous flip phones. According to Samsung, many of the Z Flips are not able to withstand the scratch test or have a black smudge appearing at the fold line. These are problems that Ratanpal stated he sees in his phone as well.

 “My phone screen scratches easily,” Ratanpal said. “The fold is also fairly noticeable under light, which can take away from what you are doing.”