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the flip phone lore

24 may 2026

between april and september last year, my main and only phone was a lg smart folder x100s. i know many people are considering trying a phone like this, so let me tell you about the experience.

and please... don't judge me too harshly.

the motivation

on the dumbphone subreddit, people are split about whether various aspects of a smartphone are necessary or desirable, so let me explain what i want: i call it the anime girl phone.

in the camping show yuru camp, the characters all have smartphones. in the first episode, the main character goes on a solo ride on her moped to a campsite facing mount fuji. the music is peaceful. at the top, she takes out her smartphone, snaps a picture of mount fuji covered by clouds, and sends it to her sister.

this is the anime girl phone: never in the way of adventures, but a way to stop for a moment and get updates from the people you care about, wherever you are in the world. is this just a fantasy? let's find out!

the setup

apps

the lg smart folder runs android 7, so it can download most basic apps, despite its tiny screen and tiny ram. it also has a touchscreen, which is great because only the home screen and the inbuilt apps can be operated using buttons; buttons don't usually do much (if anything) on third-party apps.

other than the basic things you'd expect from any phone (texts, calls, camera), here are the apps i had and how i used them:

banking apps don't work, but i never really relied on mine anyway, i mostly use my laptop for such things.

typing

typing was the first thing people commented on when they saw my phone, but it was totally fine. i downloaded a third-party keyboard, traditional t9, which uses predictive text to allow you to press each key once instead of having to cycle through the letters. for short words, this is mildly inconvenient because it can't distinguish between words with the same keystrokes, but for long words it's as easy as a touchscreen keyboard once you get used to it.¹ words outwith the dictionary can be typed manually the old-fashioned way, then added to the dictionary, so it only gets better over time.

some unexpected benefits: typing in the rain is easy, and it sharpened my spelling.

the camera

the flip phone camera was pretty bad, but i really didn't mind. if i'm taking a photo, it's usually to capture a memory of how something felt, rather than the details of how it looked. it did perform particularly badly in low light, though.

some photos from the lg smart folder x100s. the way it handles colours is actually quite nice

the loadout

people who use phones without many features often start carrying extra items instead, to do some of those jobs that the phone can't do. i was no different, here is my dumbphone loadout:

my everyday carry

tbh, i already wore a watch every day, used a physical wallet, and carried a notepad around, so there were only two new items here:

i also changed how i was using my notepad: before, it was just for sketching, but now i've switched to using it as a commonplace book to catch any information i want to save, the same way most people use their notes app. i still do this: i have a proper notes app now but it's mostly untouched, and i always make space for my notepad in my pocket.

i already had a digital camera for nature photography, a canon powershot sx280 hs, so i brought this with me if i was going out birding. it was reassuring to have the option of a nicer camera occasionally.

so, that's the technology i was working with... but did it change my life?

my cool and swag phone observing itself

i used a flip phone for 5 months and it rewired my brain (not clickbait!)

when people talk about weird smartphones like this one, they go on about "form factor" and how the small screen is so inconvenient that you'll never use it, even though you could feasibly scroll instagram on it. this, at least for me, is mostly bollocks. my first phone was an lg slider, and i remember literally just going through the settings because i was bored and wanted to fidget. a small screen and long loading times is not enough to stop me, i can claw at the bars of any cage i put myself in.

and yet...

it sort of worked? when i was on my own, yes, i would open and close the phone repeatedly just to hear the bleep sound, i would click around all the apps for no reason, i would look up questions on reddit even though i knew that my browser didn't load the site properly. but in public, i was so self conscious about how much more foolish every action looked that i basically kept my phone in my pocket unless it was absolutely necessary.

in a way, this was the perfect balance. i could take a photo, check directions, or dash off a quick text message, but i was actively trying to minimise the amount of time my phone spent out in the open, out of sheer embarrassment for my silly long phone.

this, genuinely, was life changing. suddenly i was spending most of the time looking at my surroundings instead of at my phone, and every day felt like an adventure. i was constantly seeking out new information that would help me avoid having to use google maps: paper maps, road signs, memorising routes. in boring situations, i returned to doodling, just like i did in high school; i made it through several very dry conference sessions without so much as opening my phone. it felt magical.

the downfall

while the flip phone phone changed how i interacted with the outside world dramatically for the better, the effects on my indoor life were not so great. the problem, in a single word: laptop.

i'll spare you the details of how i slid back into my screen addiction, but the most important point is that i started using my laptop in bed, something i almost never did before the flip phone. this wreaked havoc on my back; i was physically punished for my failed willpower. i don't think i was necessarily doing worse than when i had a smartphone, but the shame was much greater because i was performatively living the flip phone life. perhaps it wasn't too late to change those habits, but when the flip phone broke after just five months of use, i didn't replace it.

another factor was that i was moving to a new place where i needed to commute by bus. the flip phone had android 7, the app only worked on android 8 (grrr), and the amount of money that i would lose by not having the app was immense. i'd been throwing away at least £5 extra per bus journey this whole time, a price of freedom that i was happy to bite for a once a week trip, but not for a daily commute that would rack up something like £60 in extra charges per month³. i find this absolutely infuriating.

the end

i hope that this story is helpful to someone. modern flip phones are lazily built, but most of the disadvantages are overstated and they work just fine for most basic functions. i would absolutely use a flip phone again if not for the bus app. just don't drop it as much as i did.

if there is a way to force newer apps to work with an older version of android, please send me an email. otherwise, i'll have to think of another way to get that magical sense of adventure back. the flip phone may not have cured my screen addiction, but it truly did feel like the anime girl phone, and i miss it.

until next time,

mzw☆

comments? questions? use the contact info in my about tab or the guestbook on the home page!

_{1 slight caveat: if you're dyslexic, this might be a nightmare, because it relies on accurate spelling down to the letter.}

_{2 if i was paying for spotify myself, i would have cancelled my premium by now, but for better or worse i'm leeching off a family plan}

_{3 and that's with a ridiculous workaround that uses a payment method which is in the process of being phased out. otherwise it would be more like £100}

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