Yo, I love flip phones, think that it just looks so cunty,I’m looking for a modern flip/clamshell phone with a physical keypad, and I’m trying to find even the most obscure models worldwide. Quirky designs, with quirky color combinations are also lovely. Retro tech is the best. My ideal phone would have 5G, full Android + Google Play, 128GB minimum (256GB preferred), a modern chipset/RAM, USB-C, good cameras/battery, and a 4"+ main/inter, maybe a flashlight would also be great… I want to dig as obscure as possible, across Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Latin America, basically anywhere — including tiny local brands, ODMs, discontinued models, prototypes/leaks, and upcoming 2026–2027 phones.i’d also want it to run apps and websites as well, lowkey kinda like a smart phone.
samsung has made a lot of android flip phones for the asian markets, don’t think they still do. they were called “galaxy folders”. 5g is a tough ask because then you get into the foldables era. the only “weird” 5G phone i know off the cuff is the lg wing which is six years old at this point. the cat s22 is a year newer, and it’s a flip phone, but it doesn’t do 5G.
there’s a local brand, Doro, that makes phones for seniors. their aurora a20 has a pretty neat form factor. again, no 5G.
a friend of mine got the f(x)tec pro1, which has a full qwerty keyboard, when it was available. it’s a real hefty boi though, at almost 400g. and no 5G.
ulefone makes some real weird hardware, including keypad android phones, with laser pointers and thermal imaging cameras built-in. no flip phones though. on the same wavelength is unihertz which makes like, actual keyring-sized phones. 3" displays.
honestly though, you can’t go wrong with the hmd barbie. it has none of what you asked for, but it’s hot pink and the IDE for writing your own apps is a 10 year old version of firefox.
This is because KaiOS is a derivative of Firefox OS, which was discontinued in 2016. I tried it on my Nexus 4 once, it was… interesting.
Likewise, the only flip phones I am aware of are all 4G.
Those ulefones look amazing. 10000mAh battery, headphone jack, and a thermal camera!
Lowkey feel like I’m always comprising or something is always missing. The goal is to make a complete switch to a flip phone, which would naturally involve using it for some work-related purposes as well. Nothing particularly demanding, but it would need to handle tasks such as opening and storing college presentations and PDFs, along with accessing multiple websites when necessary.The 5G requirement is primarily based on previous experience. A 4G phone bought in 2019 which drove me nuts, literally could not function google maps,or various other sites /apps😭😭(can vouch for it ).Certain websites and services now appear to function properly only with a 5G connection. Even when a flip phone meets the necessary software and functionality requirements, there is often a compromise in terms of aesthetics and experimental form factor, and vice versa with bad color combinations. Cannot give up either of them 😭 Based on the research so far, I have my eyes on upcoming releases. Anyway, love all your suggestions, there were some that I hadn’t come across before. Thank you❤️
yeah it’s very niche if you don’t want to get dnto the flexible screen ones. which i personally don’t, they’re all too large even when closed and so damn brittle.