Sunday, July 26, tech company LG has introduced its new mobile phone model, the LG Gentle. The mobile phone is a flip phone, a very far cry from today's smartphone surge. The Gentle also has the almost phased out T9 keypad, which is virtually extinct in today's line of mobile devices. The LG Gentle is powered by the one of the latest android operating systems, Android Lollipop 5.1.
The flip phone seems to be a thing of the past, when phones are just that-phones. But according to Endgadget, flip phones are becoming increasingly popular in some parts of Asia. This explains why the device is now available in South Korea. Apart from its popularity in Asia, affordability of the device also contributes to the overall marketability of the device, given that almost everyone uses highly functional touchscreen smartphones nowadays.
According to Huffington Post, the LG Gentle is priced at $179, as compared to the latest iPhone, which is about 4x the price. The new phone also has a 3.2-inch display. The phone's camera is 3 megapixels, a considerably low resolution for a mobile camera, where some have up to 8-megapixel capacity. It also has 4GB expendable storage and 1 GB RAM.
The device is powered by an android operating system, so overall, the phone may not totally be free of distractions for the user. The reason why flip phones are popular in Asia is partly due to the demographic. Big businesses in the continent actually prefer the more basic flip phone over the smartphone. With the smartphone, users can do just about anything they could with a computer.
And that includes browsing Facebook and other websites while at work. With the much more limited flip phone, it's unlikely that such are going to happen. Although the latest flip phone has the same operating system as some of the most popular smartphones, the model itself, with the notable absence of a touch screen and HD screen, limits the use of the phone's other purposes, while shifting the focus on its primary functions: call and text. The device is limited, but it seems that it's all in the right ways, especially for the countries that prefer them.
Last year, in Japan, the flip phone shipments have reportedly hit 10.58 million units.
