TL;DR: The ZFlip 6 isn’t a phone for everyone. The camera is a bit meh by 2024 standards. But I love this phone.

Flipping Cool

I was in middle school when the V3 Motorola Razr came out. it was the epitome of cool. I refused a free “brick phone” just to wait for the Razr. I watched friends T9 their way through life while I borrowed phones to call my mom for a ride. Finally, my capitalist dream came true: a phone that was equal parts utility and fidget toy.

Oldheads may say the BlackBerry was the game changer; most people would argue it was the iPhone. For me, it was the Razr. Sure, the V3’s internet browsing wasn’t that of a touch screen ~10.3x bigger. But it had what I still crave in a phone today: style and personality. Fast forward to 2024, phones are more advanced, yet less customizable. And battery lifves are worse. And they break.

[PS for the nerds: The V3 had 5.5 MB of internal storage, 0 RAM. The ZFlip 6 has 12 gigs of RAM]

After my Razr, I upgraded to the iPhone 3GS—the third iPhone. It was basically my Gameboy emu that made texts. Then a SWAT team broke that phone, so I dabbled with a Microsoft phone, which I promptly returned after realizing it was expensive garbage. I settled with the iPhone 6, which got worse with every mandatory update. My last phone was an S9 from 2018, and I’ve clung to it like a security blanket, ignoring everyone who told me to upgrade.

When the first ZFlip came out in 2020, my flip phone nostalgia flared up. But the reports of structural issues made me hesitate to buy what most would call a gimmick. The thing is: It’s not just a gimmick.

No Gimmick. Just What I Needed

Sorry for the memoir. I don’t want to sound like a cooking blog that takes forever to get to the recipe. The point is, I’m a frugal tech buyer. I’m not an early adopter either. I just recently got the Wii. But I jumped to buy the ZFlip 6 the week it launched and a week later I’m still a fan. Enough to write a blog post about why.

In Aug 2024, the Hezbolla rockets aligned. I finally got all the reasons to buy a new phone:

My S9 was on its last legs—battery life shot, camera quality resembling my Wii games. All of my phone calls were on speaker phone or head phones.
A looming war made me realize I might need a reliable battery, and, well, I also go camping sometimes.
The shekel collapsed, making the ZFlip 6 $150 cheaper in Israel than on Amazon.com.
- For my Jewish readers: In Israel you can easily get an interest-free, 5-payment plan. And phone shops always have promotions. Mine came with a phone case and Go-Pro-Esq camera. And I managed to convince the (Arab Israeli) salesman to lower my monthly phone bill from 40 to 34 sheks/month.
- For my non-Jewish readers: Look, Jews don’t haggle everything. But there’s some things that you’re supposed to haggle, like your phone and gym bills.
My friends were ready to stage an intervention if I didn’t stop talking about flip phones without actually buying one.

For those unfamiliar with modern flip phones, here’s the deal: two screens—one small one on the cover, and a big one inside. You can bend it in ways that make video calls easier. But, sadly, you can’t slam it shut to hang up angrily. Those days are gone, like the days of phones coming with their charger for free.

The ZFlip 6 runs Android, which might be a dealbreaker for iPhone fans, but it’s a win for me. Honestly, the iPhone’s camera software still reigns supreme. Even though Samsung’s S24 and a dozen other phones “technically” have better cameras, iPhone pictures turn out better, especially at night. Night shots are basically the de facto best part about new iPhones, but Samsung users are cooler and taking more of them.

I transferred 64 gigs of data from my old phone in under 40 minutes, using a sketchy, unstable wifi connection. It took a few more hours to re-download apps, try 20 passwords each, and customize my settings. iPhone users, you’d have to adapt, but I believe that you can do it.

[PS My customizations included: Star Trek “Worf” ringtone, Kim possible “kimmunicator” text tone, dark mode, download US/Hebrew/Spanish language packs, and after a week, I added a kawaii theme by JamJam (video demo by @mochiflurry), because why not?

The ZFlip 6 quickly became a conversation starter. Even after four years of ZFlip, which bring them to number 6 in Tech Branding Math, most people have never seen these thigns up close.

Unfolded, the phone is typical phone length. That’s the point. Keep it folded unless you’re consuming content. There’s a reason iPhone ditched their small (S) phones, and the S24 is massive: people want big screens. Whether it’s for Netflix or… other things.

But I didn’t buy this thing for the unfolded design. It’s all about the fold, baby. Folded, it’s compact and satisfying to hold, like a Gameboy. You can do all the productive stuff—texting, looking at your calendar, changing and scrubbing songs—while it’s folded. But for time-wasting, like doom-scrolling, playing games, or going down an internet rabbit hole, you have to open it up. As a social media addict, this tiny barrier is a blessing. The flip design helps me stay focused, and when I need to shut out distractions, I close it with a dramatic, “Not today, Satan!”

My most neurotic argument for buying this is phone is that feeling of embarassment when you go to record something. When your phone is jutting out, it feels awkward. But palming the ZFlip 6 means I can snap a selfie covertly. I’m judgy about people over-recording at concerts, but I’m also a hypocrite, so I appreciate the stealth mode. Until scientists determine the exact amount of selfies and recordings (to never be watched again) everyone is legally allowed to make without being made fun of, this will have to do.

Plus, the closed-phone selfie camera gives off photo booth vibes. It’s a great phone for a 90s style montage trying on different outfits. Or a Tenacious D music video. As a bad photog, fun photos are worth more to me than high-def ones.

But I’ll be real: the camera could be better. That alone will keep most people from buying the ZFlip 6 or the RAZR 50. It’s a shame because we need to tell phone makers that we want smaller phones with better batteries. Instead, most would rather shell out $500 extra for a better camera.

I’m here to say the ZFlip 6’s cameras are good enough If we don’t change our purchasing habits soon, we’ll all turn into boring people with boring phones. We don’t need no more conformity!

Comment what you think. Now for some memes: