Android Flip/Clamshell Smartphones in the UK

Exactly one year ago LG released the LG Wine Smart flip phone in Europe. One year on and this design still hasn't managed to make a comeback to Europe and the UK.

The LG Wine Smart - Do people even want flip phones these days?

There are still plenty of people who clamour after a clamshell phone, but if you want one you are stuck with a proprietary operating system which - if you're lucky - might feature limited web browsing and email access.

So what happened to the LG Wine Smart?

• Firstly, no resellers took stock for ages, and if you wanted one of these phones you would have to track one down online. They still cost around £100.
• LG made a massive mistake by sticking Android onto a phone with a 3.2" display - It's not really big enough to be that much use. Given that this phone was (supposedly) aimed at the senior market, there's no point having big buttons and a tiny screen.
• It isn't stylish! Clamshell phones have typically been aimed at the fashion-conscious. This phone looked like it was made to match a glasses case from the 1980s. Why didn't LG put some thought into the design, rather than bunging Android into a basic "senior phone" design?
• On top of all of this, there is absolutely no external notification LED or screen: Ten years ago, most clamshell designs incorporated some form of external notification feature, and these were often quite stylish.

The Nokia 7020 was a fashionable clamshell phone from 2009 - It was relatively cheap (£80-90) and had an animated secondary display. Most importantly, Nokia had actually put some thought into the aesthetics of this phone.

Will we see any other clamshell smartphones in the UK? Probably not. It's not a big enough market and given that most of the main (and upcoming) manufacturers are almost exclusively using Android, to keep up with the competition there is little option other than to design a phone which has at least a 5" display, and nobody really wants physical phone buttons anymore.
Flip phones are huge in Japan, but maybe it needs a fashion movement to get them going elsewhere in the world.
It would be nice to see some more innovative designs in the world of phones: Rectangular slabs all look identical these days and there is nothing to make this design any more appealing without some radical design changes.