Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
hearmenow123
Enthusiast - Level 3

I primarily use my phone for calling and texting. My wife and I both switched back from an Android phone to a basic (feature) flip phone with physical keyboard (The LG env3). The primary reasons are:

1) Smart phones have poor battery life

2) The screens are large and fragile, get all scratched up, even broken

3) They overheat in the car / sunlight

4) Android / google / iOS tracks you and listen to you all the time

5) Constant notifications about unimportant things, difficult to get rid of

6) Touch screen keyboard is hard to use with large fingers

7) Frequent pocket dialing or other unintended behavior.

😎 Extra cost of a data plan

9) As of recent no more wired headset jack

10) Having to navigate through a million functions you never use

We probably text more than we call , so a physical QWERTY keyboard is really great.

There's a plethora of 2G/3G phones on the market used, but they are getting old now, and I'm being told that at the end of 2019 the 2G/3G systems are being turned off and we will be forced to switch to a 4G phone.

Well, I have no problem to spend some money on a new phone but the market seems to have grown very one sided with a flood of Android phones and a few "basic" flip phones, but no "feature" phones, in fact the whole category is gone from the VZW web site. Well I don't need any special "features", I just need a solid talk and text phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard.

Here's what I would like:

1) Flip phone , so the main screen and keyboard are protected when closed

2) Physical QWERTY keyboard for texting and entering contacts

3) Physical headset jack

4) No data plan required

5) Replaceable battery

6) Ruggedized design a plus but not required (i.e. rubber bumpers, water and dust resistant)

7) Email capability and PTT a plus but not required

😎 Camera and picture messaging a plus but not required

Are there any plans to bring a phone like this to the market in 2019 , that will work past 2020?

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Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
boringusername
Master - Level 1

doubtful. basic phones are not in demand and are not very profitable for phone manufacturers and phones with features you want even more so. And if by change if some did make a phone like you want it would be a lot more expensive. At that point might as well get a smartphone

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Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
hearmenow123
Enthusiast - Level 3

Well , phones like this already exist , but they are 2G phones and I'm reading that 2G support will be phased out in 2019.

If, for instance, LG will make a 4G compatible version of the enV , that would be perfect. There is also the LG Octane and Voyager.

From the description: ""The LG Octane VN530 cell phone measures 4.2 inches by 2.2 inches by 0.6, with a weight of 4.5 oz. On a full charge, the battery of this LG Octane cellular phone will provide up to 6.3 hours of talk time and 340 hours (14.2 days) of standby time. "" - what smartphone can claim 2 weeks of standby time?

There must be a market for these phones because I see used and NOS phones for sale on eBay and Amazon regularly.

VZWSupport on Twitter.​ Do y'all have any contacts with LG marketing to see if they're interested in reviving one of the above phones in a 4G compatible version?

Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
tikibar1
Community Leader
Community Leader

hearmenow123 wrote:

Well , phones like this already exist , but they are 2G phones and I'm reading that 2G support will be phased out in 2019.

The Octane, Voyager, and similar phones can no longer be activated on VzW, i.e.,

CDMA Network Activation Retirement | Verizon Wireless

Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
boringusername
Master - Level 1

hearmenow123 wrote:

Well , phones like this already exist , but they are 2G phones and I'm reading that 2G support will be phased out in 2019.

If, for instance, LG will make a 4G compatible version of the enV , that would be perfect. There is also the LG Octane and Voyager.

From the description: ""The LG Octane VN530 cell phone measures 4.2 inches by 2.2 inches by 0.6, with a weight of 4.5 oz. On a full charge, the battery of this LG Octane cellular phone will provide up to 6.3 hours of talk time and 340 hours (14.2 days) of standby time. "" - what smartphone can claim 2 weeks of standby time?

There must be a market for these phones because I see used and NOS phones for sale on eBay and Amazon regularly.

VZWSupport on Twitter. Do y'all have any contacts with LG marketing to see if they're interested in reviving one of the above phones in a 4G compatible version?

As Tikibar said non 4G phones can no loner be activated even though the phase out is a year away, Anyway yes there is a market for among people who want basic phones for these features except there isn't a market for basic phones. Over 95% of new phone activations are smartphones and that number grows each month. As I said if a phone maker made a basic phone with that features they'd well over $200. Possible $250. Now of those that want basic phone with these features how many are willing to pay $10 a month for one? Not many. Verizon doesn't make phones. Right all I see are LG and Kocera even bothering to make basic phones. if they don't wat to make one with all these feature there is nothing Verizon can do.

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Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
dexman
Community Leader
Community Leader

To emphasize what has been said above, the market for Feature Phones is very tiny. There really isn't much incentive for manufacturers to produce new models.

With the planned shutdown of the legacy CDMA network on 1/1/2020, the only phones allowed to be brought onto Verizon Wireless's network, at this point, are those that can make & receive voice calls over the 4G/LTE network. Older phones that are currently on the network can remain active until the legacy network shuts down on 12/31/19. After that, those old phones will become fancy paperweights on 1/1/2020. That would also hold true for older smartphones.

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Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
boringusername
Master - Level 1

dexman wrote:

To emphasize what has been said above, the market for Feature Phones is very tiny. There really isn't much incentive for manufacturers to produce new models.

With the planned shutdown of the legacy CDMA network on 1/1/2020, the only phones allowed to be brought onto Verizon Wireless's network, at this point, are those that can make & receive voice calls over the 4G/LTE network. Older phones that are currently on the network can remain active until the legacy network shuts down on 12/31/19. After that, those old phones will become fancy paperweights on 1/1/2020. That would also hold true for older smartphones.

I think every iPhone 6 or later and all Androids that came out since 2015 but many that also come out in 2014 are VoLTE capable. In fact the LG G2 which came out in 2013 has this capability

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Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
hearmenow123
Enthusiast - Level 3

boringusername wrote:

As Tikibar said non 4G phones can no loner be activated even though the phase out is a year away, Anyway yes there is a market for among people who want basic phones for these features except there isn't a market for basic phones. Over 95% of new phone activations are smartphones and that number grows each month. As I said if a phone maker made a basic phone with that features they'd well over $200. Possible $250. Now of those that want basic phone with these features how many are willing to pay $10 a month for one? Not many. Verizon doesn't make phones. Right all I see are LG and Kocera even bothering to make basic phones. if they don't wat to make one with all these feature there is nothing Verizon can do.

I'm not sure why I have three people telling me something I already wrote in my original post. The impending phase out of non-4G phones is the reason I'm looking for a 4G compatible phone.

I was naming all the existing phones like the enV, Voyager, Octane to illustrate that there is nothing novel about what I'm proposing. Just a phone that already exists but with upgraded modem to work after 1/1/2020. If anything the software can be simplified, they can get rid of all the "feature phone" stuff like mobile web and media center.

If the smart phone market is 95% then probably LG and Kyocera will only have 5-10% of the total phone market since the market is completely saturated with phones that are all essentially the same. If they can pick up another 5% of non-smartphone market then that would be a big increase in their sales.

Also the data plan is $30/mo extra, say you have a phone for 4 years then that's $1440 for the plan , so that's way more than the phone costs.

Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
boringusername
Master - Level 1

hearmenow123 wrote:

boringusername wrote:

As Tikibar said non 4G phones can no loner be activated even though the phase out is a year away, Anyway yes there is a market for among people who want basic phones for these features except there isn't a market for basic phones. Over 95% of new phone activations are smartphones and that number grows each month. As I said if a phone maker made a basic phone with that features they'd well over $200. Possible $250. Now of those that want basic phone with these features how many are willing to pay $10 a month for one? Not many. Verizon doesn't make phones. Right all I see are LG and Kocera even bothering to make basic phones. if they don't wat to make one with all these feature there is nothing Verizon can do.

I'm not sure why I have three people telling me something I already wrote in my original post. The impending phase out of non-4G phones is the reason I'm looking for a 4G compatible phone.

I was naming all the existing phones like the enV, Voyager, Octane to illustrate that there is nothing novel about what I'm proposing. Just a phone that already exists but with upgraded modem to work after 1/1/2020. If anything the software can be simplified, they can get rid of all the "feature phone" stuff like mobile web and media center.

If the smart phone market is 95% then probably LG and Kyocera will only have 5-10% of the total phone market since the market is completely saturated with phones that are all essentially the same. If they can pick up another 5% of non-smartphone market then that would be a big increase in their sales.

Also the data plan is $30/mo extra, say you have a phone for 4 years then that's $1440 for the plan , so that's way more than the phone costs.

No need to get all defensive. We are telling you there are ZERO 4G basic phones with the features you want nor is there likely to be any. The basic phones Verizon has on it's website are the only ones that will work after Dec 31 2019.

These are your choices Basic Phones | Verizon Wireless

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Re: Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?
dexman
Community Leader
Community Leader

That sounds correct. My old Samsung Galaxy S4 was one of the obsoleted models. Ended up recycling it. My S7 Edge is good to go.  

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