+1 ^ With a name like
Hennessy, I begin to wonder if the owner will be able to open it in a drunken stupor :blink:
...or if they will know which side faces in. :icon_eek:
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I can just see them trying to take a picture of someone and facing the screen side out, or opening the flip and trying to use the phone upside down (i.e. keypad to the ear)!
I hope it's safe to drop into your favorite glass of cognac!
But seriously... There are several neat things I like about it.
1) When using it while open but as a PDA rather than phone, the dedicated Menu, Back, Home and Camera buttons are on the keypad.
2) Better still, there's also a dedicated Camera shutter button - the center button on the directional pad.
3) Also, you can operate the apps from either the open flip orientation with the inside screen or closed with the outside screen, although when closed you're relegated to the touch-screen buttons for Menu, Back and Home.
All in all, this is a big move in the right direction for these devices. The flip format has been a huge success in the portable cellular phone world, and frankly I am surprised they were both willing to move away from that layout so quickly, and as well surprised that the disappearance of flip phones has been so passively accepted by the market. There's something comfortable about the way the flip phone feels against the cheek when holding, and as said before it gives you an added level of privacy in that it comes down next to and somewhat in front of your mouth. I also know that the flip phones, particularly the ones from Motorola were some of the best sounding phones ever made in regards to how you sound on that phone to the other party.
Take any microphone and take it from 1" away from and in front of the mouth, and instead move it to 2" away and to the side...the result is a dramatically lower sound level, and I'm not talking half as loud, but it could be as much as 1/10 as loud. You may have seen on TV or in concert how the singer has the microphone very close to their mouth, they practically eat the microphone at times. Also in recording studios, singers often have their lips touching either the foam windscreen on the microphone itself (in the case of Dynamic microphones), or touching the circular screen barrier (pop filter) between them and the microphone (with Condenser microphones).
With the microphone in closer proximity to your mouth, the sound is far more distinct, the frequency response is greater, the difference between the level of your voice versus the background at the microphone element's diaphragm surface is far greater, further reducing the level of background noise, the phone's amplifier circuitry (which imparts noise and distortion), doesn't have to try so hard to increase the volume of your voice and as a result also increase the background noise, and there is therefore less distortion overall. These are the primary reasons why it's better to be close to the microphone in a recording studio and reduce the amplification.
I'm personally excited for this product and I bet there are plenty of young & middle-aged people who would still find this phone more appealing than the "mini-Tablet/PDA" style as well.