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Jun 22 2015 17 Comments

Japan: still photographing on a flip phone

Just like the fax machine in Japan, the flip phone soldiers on. Happily forgoing decent photos and a huge degree of functionality in fantastically stubborn style.

Japanese flip phone photograph

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Martin says

    6/22/2015 at 8:36 am

    I hope he got a good shot of you! Japan does seem to have a love affair with the flip phone. I confess I recently almost bought a Motorola Razer new in the box for the better part of a grand but I came to my senses in time.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/22/2015 at 5:20 pm

      It does. There have been a few articles of late about the flip phones apparent resurgence. Not sure they are all that popular to be honest, but there are still a good few in use that’s for sure.

      Reply
  2. Martin says

    6/22/2015 at 9:23 am

    Oops I meant Motorola Aura.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/22/2015 at 5:22 pm

      Ah, that makes sense. Was going to say, I have a Motorola Razr here that I’m more than happy to sell!

      Reply
  3. YTSL says

    6/22/2015 at 3:00 pm

    FWIW, I still have a Nokia. It’s more than 5 years old but it’s still working fine!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/22/2015 at 5:23 pm

      Fair play to you. I’m a real sucker for new technology, but if something works and you are happy with it, why change?

      Reply
  4. Al says

    6/22/2015 at 3:47 pm

    Ha, great timing! Did he get a photo of you too?

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/22/2015 at 5:24 pm

      Probably not. By the time his phone took the photo, I’d long since moved!

      Reply
  5. Matt Talbot says

    6/22/2015 at 8:45 pm

    I remember the first time I went to the Japan, the flip phone was the height of fashion and cutting-edge technology. I couldn’t wait to get one. There was one shop I came across where you could buy as many second-hand phones as you could hold in your hand for (I think) 500 yen. I knew they didn’t work, I knew they wouldn’t work at home, but I still wanted them! Sad…

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/22/2015 at 9:43 pm

      How quickly times change eh?

      The first mobile I ever got was in Japan. It was apparently the smallest phone in the world at the time. Now it would simply have the smallest screen in the world…

      Reply
  6. Hans ter Horst says

    6/22/2015 at 11:50 pm

    Lots of interesting people in this shot!
    Those i-mode phones were great but also slowed down the introduction of smart phones as nobody felt they needed them, I think. I used to be a gadget slave but took my life back which is also good for my wallet, no more yearly “upgrades.” It feels great to be a luddite 🙂

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/23/2015 at 4:39 pm

      Yes, fortunately not usually a shortage in Ueno.

      i-mode was such a revelation at the time wasn’t it? But like so many Japanese electronic products of late, they failed to see how quickly the apparent future can become the past…

      I still very much like my gadgets. Well, some gadgets anyway. Although I do manage to hold out to 2 year upgrades!

      Reply
  7. Taki says

    6/23/2015 at 10:26 am

    I think more likely that he’s just shading his eyes from the Sun 🙂

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/23/2015 at 4:40 pm

      The phone is probably better suited as a shade rather than a camera!

      Reply
  8. Marc says

    6/23/2015 at 9:13 pm

    I think he was flipping you off!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/23/2015 at 9:29 pm

      Haha!

      I was so shocked I clammed up.

      Reply
  9. Neil says

    6/26/2015 at 4:50 am

    How ever did we get by with such little functionality on a phone?

    I don’t have a PC at home, I rely on an iPhone 6 Plus for all of my outside of hours work – it’s amazing what can be achieved on a phone these days.

    Reply

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