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 Before my time! I suppose you had to use the old Telephone Exchange Names as well? (I always wondered about them watching shows as a kid. What the heck???)
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He's in Wales, which used carrier pigeons during his youth. Look up dovecote.
My hometown in Canada still had exchange names before I reached my teens.
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When I moved to Grand Canyon in the 90s I would ask people for their phone number to put in the computer at the pharmacy the response was four digits NO Prefix Better yet one day I had a busy signal all day so at lunch I ask others if their phone was working yep works fine I said mine has had a busy signal all day OH no problem you need to find the Frontier phone guy he is some where driving around the village So after finding him I ask what was wrong he said come with me we went to a building and he ask what my phone number was we walked down an isle of rotary switches he took out a screw driver and raped the switch he said ALL FIXED
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Of course sir! If one requires ones workers returned to work, one asks for "Whitehall 1212" and is directly connected!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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As a kid, the only three numbers I was required to memorise by my mother was our own number (Erdington 741); 999; and Whitehall 1212.  I never did find out why she felt that, as a child, I might need to bypass the police call handlers and speak direct to Whitehall... 
There was one occasion when a burglar broke in downstairs, and my mother had to phone 999. She rarely complained about much but the following day she did go on about what a stupid number 999 was in an emergency on a rotary dial phone (the only sort there was then).
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It was a stupid number, but it made sense when it was first introduced: phones then used "pulse dialing" and the obvious number to use - 111 - was far to easy to generate if the overhead wires tapped together in the wind!
In addition, few homes had phones, and call boxes were already set up to allow free calls to the operator from the "0" key - it was easier to modify them to support "free dialing" on "9" as well than one would have been.
By the time we switched to tone dialing it was far, far too late to change it, though they did add 911 so tourists could reach the emergency services (911 was the US choice for the same reason, we went with the same digit three times because it was felt to be easier to remember, as well as to "find in the dark or thick smoke".
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Oh, and Whitehall 1212 was direct to Scotland Yard. 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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And you had to call the operator to make a trunk call, i.e. to an exchange more than about 20 miles away.
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My folks had a landline with the same phone number for over 60 years. When I was a kid (65+ years ago), we didn't need to dial the area code and remembered the 3 digit exchange as 'NOrmandy 8' (n o 8 = 668).
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Yep - Murray 4 was the exchange name while I was a kid.
Remember, growing up is an option, growing older isn't.
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I wonder if it comes with a spiral tether so you can't remove it from the kitchen wall.
Cheers,
Mike Fidler
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright
"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright
"I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.
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I know that Blackberry used to, but they are dying at the end of the year, so it's probably not a good idea to buy one ... BlackBerry breaks up with phone-maker TCL - BBC News[^]
Samsung used to do a cover with a physical keyboard for the S7 and S8, so it's possible they do one for more recent phones, and I think they had a "Galaxy Folder" which was like a flip-phone on steroids.
Other than that, nothing modern at all as far as I know.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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How about a physical add on?
ESP32 + 4x4 keypad + bluetooth?
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Yes. LG has a couple models; however, they are mostly carrier locked and marketed to seniors.
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Pretty sure that's why blackberry users were the last people to give up their devices. Just saying. ![Java | [Coffee]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif)
~d~
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One alternative approach is to get a smartphone with a stylus. I have large fingers, and I find this a godsend.
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I don't have any experience with it, but the Motorola Razor is advertised as a pocket-ready size of a flip phone fused with the intelligence of a modern smartphone.
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Blackberry tried and failed.
This is your chance to make it big. Just buy a ticket to Shenzhen, wait for the pandemic to end, fly there, find a garage shop willing to make your idea and LISTO, you're ready to make it big on the SmartFlipPhone market that hasn't been invented yet.
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someone who has never used a qwerty smartphone can never appreciate the experience. every now and then i search for new models that have the keyboard, but there is nothing. except those 3 phones from Blackberry: Keyone, Key2 and Key2le, which are bulky and expensive.
nothing like the Q10, portable, good build. it doesn't even has to be a quality build, it can be some matte soft plastic like the BB 9720 or the Galaxy S5, it only needs a decent camera and video processing.
2GB and a A55 1.5/2.0GHz will do the job
it's all gone to hell. i think of how Samsung used to make their top models S2, S3, S4... chip looking, but tough. now all they do is models for... fashion designers, hair stylists and wealthy wine experts.
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