Appreciation post: My neighbor showed me why old phones beat new ones for basic calls

I was on my porch last Saturday and my neighbor Dave was yelling into his flip phone. He told me he's had it since 2010 and never once dropped a call. That hit different because I was holding my smartphone with half a signal. He let me try his old Motorola and my voice went through crystal clear. Makes me wonder how many of us are paying for features we don't need just to get worse reception?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie_adams11d ago

Right?? My dad still rocks his old Nokia brick and his calls never break up even in my basement where my iPhone shows "SOS only". I legit borrowed it once to call my bank and it was like night and day difference. Makes you wonder if all these "advanced antennas" in new phones are just marketing fluff.

ryanm608d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy Mike had this old Motorola flip phone from like 2007 that he kept for emergencies. Last month his iPhone died during a road trip and he had to use the flip to call AAA. He said it was insane how clear the call was even out in the middle of nowhere with spotty service. @jadej50 you're dead on about companies distracting us with features. Makes you wonder if they downgraded the antenna on purpose to sell more new models every year.

jadej5011d ago

Oh man, you're totally right about this! My buddy let me use his old flip phone last winter when my phone died in the cold, and I couldn't believe how clear everything sounded. I felt like I was right there next to the person, no weird static or cutting out every few seconds. It makes you wonder if phone companies just threw in all those features to distract us from the fact that the basic call quality went downhill. I'd honestly trade half the apps on my phone for that kind of reliability during a simple conversation.