The Best Flip Phones [February 2021]
William Sattelberg February 19, 2021
It’s been more than ten years since the original iPhone launched, and in that time, we’ve seen smartphone adoption skyrocket. The major players in the smartphone wars of the 2000s—Microsoft, Nokia, Palm, and Blackberry— have all but left the market, replaced by Apple, Samsung, and Google. Those companies create flagship devices that can run upwards of $1000, but that doesn’t mean every phone now runs four digits. Budget smartphones have also gotten really good, allowing access to a powerful new device for on-the-go computing no matter your budget.
In 2019, smartphone adoption in the United States had hit 81 percent according to Pew Research, meaning more than four out of five American adults now have a smartphone in their life. Those numbers have especially increased among adults over 50 years old and lower-income Americans, presumably due to the increased simplicity of smartphones and the ability to buy a good device for around $100. But those numbers still mean one in five Americans have held onto non-smartphone devices, and from a certain perspective, it’s easy to see why. Feature phones tend to get the basics right, with solid call quality, the ability to send text messages, and perhaps the most important feature: multi-day battery life.
Whether you haven’t yet committed to owning a smartphone, or you’re looking for a secondary device to take camping, hiking, or to keep on the side for emergencies, owning a basic flip phone is a great idea for some consumers.
Unfortunately, most technology sites don’t quite keep track of flip phone devices any longer, which might leave some consumers on their own when looking for a new device for the basic necessities. Let’s fix that. This is a look at the best flip phones on the market today.
Folding Phones
Before we dive in, a quick clarification about folding smartphones. Companies like Samsung and Motorola have developed smartphones with the body and build of a classic flip phone. While not every device has been a homerun—both of Motorola’s attempts to revive the Razr to its former glory have been panned by critics—Samsung continues to make major strides with their folding tech, having released two different folding phones in 2020.
Still, we won’t be including them on this list, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, these phones just aren’t ready for primetime yet. Even the Galaxy Z Flip received mixed reviews from critics, and while the new Galaxy Z Fold 2 is easily the best folding phone yet, it’s early technology in an ever-evolving field. Second, the cost of these phones is still sky-high, even for premium devices. Expect to pay as much as $2,000 for a folding smartphone, a far cry from the devices featured on this list.
That’s not to say some of the phones featured on our list don’t feature some basic apps and data connection, and as we move forward into a world with more and more folding devices, it seems inevitable one lands on this list. But for now, they’re just not ready for a recommendation quite yet.
Nokia’s been on a roll with updating their classic phone designs lately, and their new Nokia 2720 Flip is the best yet. If you’ve been longing for the return of a flip phone with modern features, this might just be the device for you. While most flip phones have remained stuck in 2005, Nokia’s new 2720 includes support for 4G bands, as well as some included apps that are must-haves in 2021.
Let’s focus on the design first. Further down on this list, we’ve praised Nokia above for their work on redesigning the classic Nokia 8110 “banana phone,” and with the 2720 Flip, they’ve finally brought their retro-tech enthusiasm to a flip phone. As you’ve probably come to expect from Nokia, the 2720 is incredibly long-lasting, boasting a classic silver-on-black design that looks premium without breaking the bank. The body is built out of polycarbonate, helping to keep things light and durable. The front display allows you to check the time and incoming notifications, including calls and messaging. It’s a great design that continues once you open the phone to discover the main display.
It might not be a vivid, 6″ display, but the screen on the Nokia 2720 is fantastic, making it easy to read incoming messages, check your upcoming calendar appointments, and any other small necessities you need on your phone. As with most flip phones, the 2720 uses a T9 keypad for phone calls and messaging. It’s no replacement for a keyboard on a smartphone, but for sending quick messages, T9 works wonders. The keys here are large and clicky, making it easy to navigate through various menus or to play a quick game of Snake while waiting for the bus.
By far the coolest feature of the 2720 is its built-in smart apps. While this phone is absolutely a flip phone, it includes a number of apps that you might need in a pinch, including YouTube, Google Maps, Facebook, and more. This might turn some users off, but thanks to the limited size of the device, it’s tough to get addicted to these apps the way you could on an iPhone or Galaxy S20. There are two apps that, in our eyes, stand above the rest: WhatsApp, which allows you to communicate with your friends and family around the world without having to rely on texting, and Google Assistant. Assistant doesn’t just allow you to use your voice to search the web, but it means you can use voice-to-text to avoid texting with the T9 pad altogether. Lengthy messages have never been easier to type out on a flip phone.
Overall, as long as the 2720 Flip is supported on your carrier, this is a great flip phone, one of the best in 2021. It meets the best of both worlds, offering a basic phone experience—with some incredible battery life—while also giving users apps they may need in a pinch. As long as you don’t need a good camera, the Nokia 2720 Flip should be able to meet your most basic phone needs, with some extras thrown in for good measure.
Pros
- Great build quality
- Good mix of flip phone and smartphone
Cons
- Not supported by all carriers
- Not all apps look great on the small display
One of the benefits to owning a flip phone over a smartphone is the improved ruggedness in its design. Since the body and screen on a flip phone are almost always made of plastic, they’re a lot less fragile than the glass and aluminum builds displayed in most smartphones today. And while rugged smartphones do exist, most of them are typically slower and more expensive than their competition. For this reason, keeping a backup rugged flip phone next to your smartphone might be an ideal solution for people who work in a dangerous profession, or spend a lot of time backpacking or camping. Kyocera makes two different devices, the DuraXE for AT&T and the DuraXV Plus for Verizon, that can fill this need for a rugged device.
The two devices have a different body, with the XE featuring a black and blue-grey design while the XV features red highlights to promote its carrier, but beyond those slight cosmetic differences, the two devices are nearly the same. They both have a grayscale external display for notifications, a 2.6 or 2.4 inch internal display, and a 5MP camera for capturing shots on the go. Both devices feature noise cancellation and were built to be used in noisy environments, making it easy to use at a concert or on a construction site. Battery life on both are solid, with a 1500mAh battery that has up to 18 days of standby time on Verizon and up to 16 days on AT&T. Finally, both phones meet military standards for shock, extreme temperatures, dust, rain, and more. In fact, despite their removable batteries, both models can be submerged in up to six feet of water for up to 30 minutes.
Pricing is, unfortunately, not standard on these devices. Despite their near-identical specs (with one notable exception), the price difference between the two models is rather extreme. Verizon users get off easy: the DuraXV Plus, which is a slightly older model than the newer XE, will run you $120 upfront without a contract or $5 per month over two years of payments. Customers on AT&T will, unfortunately, be paying nearly double.
The DuraXE costs users $269 off-contract, and without a different payment method (ie, signing a 2-year agreement or leasing the device), you’re looking at dropping nearly $300 for the device, making it the most expensive model on our list. This is where the biggest difference between the two devices come in: the DuraXE has support for LTE. That said, without advanced features like HD Voice, LTE doesn’t offer a ton of benefits here; certainly nothing worth the additional $150 upcharge. AT&T does offer certified refurbished versions of the DuraXE for only $229, but it’s still an expensive deal to make when unlocked smartphones can be had for a similar price.
Pros
- Rugged, waterproof design
- Incredible battery life
- 5MP camera
Cons
- Bulky; nearly an inch thick
- AT&T model is very expensive
The Nokia 8110 isn’t a flip phone, but it’s still worth a look for anyone looking to dump their smartphone to return to the days of basic devices. Created by Nokia, the 8110 is a revised version of the phone of the same name, originally developed in the late 1990s and made famous by, of all films, The Matrix. Dubbed “the Banana phone” for its curved body and slider piece, the Nokia 8110 is a great device if you’re looking to switch to a phone that does calling, texting, and plays Snake for when you’re bored in the supermarket line.
The phone uses a Snapdragon 205 processor, the same chip found in low-end Android devices, which is more than enough to power the basic tasks you’ll be performing on this phone. With 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, a 2MP camera with a flash, and a 2.45″ TFT display, this is far more powerful than the original device when it was released, all for under $70 unlocked. The device supports most international carriers, in addition to AT&T (and all AT&T subsidies) in the United States. Unfortunately, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon customers will have to look elsewhere for their nostalgia trips.
The phone has some features that make it a great buy in 2021. From mobile hotspot to apps like Maps and Search, you can use the Nokia 8110 in your real life instead of as a novelty phone. While it might not be a flip phone in the traditional sense, the slider feature is great if you’re willing to dumb the flip phone format for a different type of device.
Pros
- Very cheap
- Retro design
- Slider design
Cons
- Only works on AT&T
- Weak camera
Alcatel has long made one of our favorite flip phones with the GoFlip series, and the GoFlip 3 is easily the best device in the series yet. Also known as the Smartflip on AT&T, this is a fantastic middle-ground between a fully fledged smartphone and a basic flip phone, letting you accomplish basic tasks on the go without having to spend hundreds of dollars on a more complex device. The design is fairly basic, with a gray plastic build and a chunky body reminiscent of phones from the late 2000s. It’s nothing special, but it’s also inoffensive and pocketable. The dialer features large, easy-to-press buttons, but unfortunately, the 2MP camera is stuck in the distant past.
What makes this phone so fantastic, however, is the same built-in apps we praised the Nokia 2720 for earlier in this guide. The GoFlip 3 runs KaiOS, and supports a number of smart apps over its 4G network on either T-Mobile or AT&T. You can load, Google Maps, Google Assistant, WhatsApp, and even YouTube on this phone, giving you the most important aspects of a smartphone without any of the extra bloat. Some flip phone purists might scoff at the need for apps on such a basic device, but it’s great to use a modern messaging system on such a small device.
Likewise, being able to use a navigation app like Google Maps in an emergency is an excellent tool that should be on all phones in 2021, regardless of whether or not they’re classified as smartphones. Available for $59.99 on AT&T and $99 on T-Mobile, the GoFlip 3 is a great compromise phone.
Pros
- Limited app support for making your life easier
- Large dialer buttons
Cons
- Hard to find outside of carrier stores
- Terrible camera
Most people probably aren’t going to want to drop the $350 required to pick up a Light Phone 2, but for users who are in their twenties or thirties and trying to get away from the smartphone revolution, it might be the perfect device. Unlike the majority of flip phones (and let’s be clear: this phone doesn’t flip, though it does fall into the same “basic” product range that most users looking for flip phones would be interested in), the Light Phone 2 isn’t marketed towards older audiences. Instead, this is a product for millennials looking to get away from constantly being connected to the web, while still being able to place phone calls, send texts, and even use ride-sharing apps to get around.
The first Light Phone was overly minimalistic, often to a fault. It could place phone calls and not much else, which made the device fairly useless for a lot of people, even those looking to disconnect. So while the original device was a gorgeous piece of engineering, as a modern phone, it couldn’t even compete with the basic phones on this list.
The Light Phone 2 aims to change all that. With a 2.84″ e-ink touchscreen, the phone is now capable of much more than the original device, while still holding true to the minimalist approach the company is aiming for. You can still place phone calls, sure, but now you can text your friends and set alarms each morning. After launch, you’ll be able to use ride-sharing apps (presumably Lyft, since their co-founder and president is one of the Light investors; it’s unclear whether Uber will also be included), load directions, and listen to music with the built-in player.
The Light Phone 2 comes unlocked and works with T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T, or you can choose to use Light’s own carrier option for $30 per month. That carrier nets you unlimited domestic calls and texting, along with a gigabyte of data for the various apps that will be included on your device. It’s not the best deal we’ve seen, but it’s competitive with most prepaid carriers and saves you the time and hassle of switching your account.
It took a while for the Light Phone 2 to come out, but now that it’s finally here, you may still have to wait to buy it in stages. The phone tends to come in waves, with it occasionally selling out in one of the two colors. As we update this guide in February 2021, both models are sold out, with black model preorders shipping on March 1st and light grey models shipping in April.
If you don’t care about waiting for a few months for the color you want, or you don’t care what color device you receive, the Light Phone 2 will serve you well. Just be prepared to pay for the experience.
Pros
- Good looking design
- Good middle-ground between flip and smartphone
Cons
- Extremely expensive for a basic phone
Although NUU might not be a brand that most of our readers are familiar with, they’re worth a closer look if you’re trying to find a basic flip phones—with some smart technology available—while keeping your budget within levels sanity. The F4L from NUU Mobile runs Android Go, a forked version of Android made by Google for phones capable of running on low-end hardware. Although Android 8.1 Oreo is outdated by several years now, it shouldn’t matter for most users. Likewise, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage may not seem like much, but for a flip phone, it’s enough to hold up to regular use.
There are plenty of pros and cons that come with using Android Go to manage the phone’s software, and admittedly, this device won’t be for everyone. Here’s the good news: if you’re looking for a way to simplify your digital life while still keeping in touch through apps like WhatsApp or Facebook, this device will get you there. It’s not super complicated to use, although because it’s using an actual operating system, it’s one of the more complex phones on this list. The inclusion of 4G data support and VoLTE means this device is futureproof, and should deliver clear and crystal call quality.
Here’s the bad news: both displays on this phone are pretty mediocre, especially in resolution, and so are the cameras. Meanwhile, while the device does substitute touch input for button input using the T9 keys on the bottom of the phone, Android—even Android Go—is really meant for your hands. And although we didn’t get to test Nuu’s customer service, Amazon reviews are mixed on the company as a whole, with some customers reporting they had poor service when reaching out to the company.
Still, Nuu’s offering is solid, and certainly a phone to keep an eye on when shopping. Just make sure to check the bands on the phone before slapping your credit card info down at checkout.
Pros
- Android Go on a flip phone
- App support
Cons
- Questionable customer service reputation
- Poor display and camera quality
Although it’s designed primarily for elderly users, Easyfone’s Prime A1 is a great basic flip phone for anyone looking for the absolute essentials and nothing else. Available in both red and black for just $65, the Prime A1 features large, easy-to-press buttons, a standard dual-display design for viewing incoming calls prior to answering the phone, and a cool charger dock for keeping your phone propped up at night. Really, there isn’t much to say about this one—it’s about as basic as flip phones come these days, and if that’s all you’re after, it’s a great phone to pick up.
You’ll have to be an AT&T customer though—or be on a carrier that rides AT&T’s network—since neither T-Mobile nor any CDMA network is supported by the Prime A1. And with the Prime A1 a 3G-only device, it’s important to note you’ll need to replace it in 2022 when AT&T shuts down their 3G network for good.
Pros
- Cheap and easy to use
- Large buttons
- Neat charging dock
Cons
- Won't work after 2022
- Truly basic
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