Imagine my sudden, unexpected excitement when I saw this email and subject in my inbox this morning:
“OMG,” I thought. “Have they actually done it?”
I opened the email quickly and here’s the first half of it:
“Wow, have they actually stuck Android in the SGH-E700?” I wondered, excitement building.
I’ve always wondered what a ‘feature phone’ form factor would be like, but with the very latest technical capabilities of, say, Android 14. (In fact, Android 10… anything like that!)
I was momentarily confused when I saw the above image.
There is the E700… and then there’s the Galaxy Z Flip5.
“Oh….”
“Oh it’s just the colours,” I finally realised.
I see what they’re doing.
Yes, there are only 350 available from Samsung (“order now, supplies are limited!!”) and yeah, the external styling evokes the old E700. And, they’re both flip.
It’s fascinating to see the difference that 20 years makes, isn’t it?
Is it even possible to make my fanciful dream a reality? Could you ‘fit’ Android into an E700 form factor?
Practically, yes. But realistically, it would be a nightmare.
Touch would be next to useless.
The keyboard interface would get stale, very quickly, I’d imagine.
I think it’s just the allure of the really small form factor that I still find appealing. Anything around the E700 size is something that I’d love to have, just because I often find the current ‘slab’ format quite annoying.
I think we’re all accustomed to dealing with it nowadays. The iPhone or S22 fits in my back jeans pocket fine… and likewise my waistcoat suit pocket if I’m ‘suited and booted.’
I just find it annoying that we don’t have the flexibility to instantly swap between different form factors – for the evening, for example.
Still, good thinking Samsung. It’s a good ‘mid-cycle refresh’ for the Flip5 whilst the Flip6 is no doubt in testing.
And I do have to say, the Flip form factor is growing on me…