[rcthompson]

I assumed that flip phones and old laptops were eliminated because companies were stealth-marketing their (new) products by "encouraging" TV shows to have their characters use them. I'm pretty sure I've seen at least a few clear-cut "product demo" moments in some shows, where the camera spent a little longer than was really necessary showing the device and the character's interaction with it. See also the transition from "Action Movie OS" to real life operating systems.

[drawkbox]

Probably. The old phones before flip, home phones/office phones you could hang up all intensely. The flip phones replaced that with hanging up with the massive flip, but got annoying when everyone is using smartphones. Now when they hang up they can't tap the phone harder to hang up. A tension moment has been taken.

[rcthompson]

On the other hand, we, as the owners of similar devices, get to empathize with the characters' silent frustration at not having anything to slam down.

[icebraining]

Some of them are pretty blatant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzMVMPd_4Y

"Don't believe me? Bing it!"

[rcthompson]

Yep, that's exactly the kind of thing I've noticed.