kai os is all about bringing internet to the developing contries like brazil where i live... here locked phones are ilegal and this phone is about r$ 400 ($ 80)
@@PinguimFU That's what I love about it! The Google apps are definitely a big help. It really proves that the low-spec hardware is capable of these things, it's just that decent software wasn't built for it until now.
When I was younger I had a monochromatic CDMA Nokia flip phone, in which the only enterainment available on that phone was a flashlight that can do morse code, and flicking open the phone itself like they did in the movies. Boy, I was so happy with those
@@x5nash870 Yes you see company like black berry or syberian had the issue of Microsoft and Intel dominating the industry so they choose Google to lead them to salvation. All these elements like snapdragon , qualcomm , Android where bits and pieces that Google scooped up to create the future of ultra portable computing. The usage data says Google products have the best performance and company that support Google have prospered.
I just love this man´s dedication to retro tech and trashy low tech stuff. A good way of relaxing and remembering the good old days. Thank you Michael. Keep up the good work!
There're smartphones for only $40 with $30 per month unlimited talk & text, and you can use wifi hotspots to go online with. So this model's really behind the curve.
@@RisingRevengeance Nah I think we all expected better, phones were already more functional in 05" See the Nokia N-series, E-series, Blackberry, Nokia Communicator, Sony Ericsson P900... Symbian and Windows Mobile were things and they were OK for the day, but nobody did anything like as much with a Nokia N95 as they do with their smartphones.
My dad uses a flip phone like this because he isn't literate enough to really use any new technology. He still uses a VCR, and antenna to watch TV. He's never used a computer. There is a big market for these with older people who were left behind with the rapid advancement of tech.
Definitely is a market for that, but it’s a market that is likely constantly shrinking as older generations either have family to set things up, or they’re dying off.
15 years ago, this phone would've blown people's minds! Full web browsing on a flip phone! Not something your average person would want today, but if you're on a super small budget or need a backup phone with some smartphone capabilities, this is a good one.
This device is a dream-come-true for those who need by social requirements to have an app such as Whatsapp, and the overall ability to call, but who are also aware of privacy issues as it not only runs KaiOS, but also has a removable battery. And it definitely saves on time as well, given that battery most likely gets an easy five days or even far more. Love it. Absolutely love it.
@@breakcoregirlxd Pretty sure there were at least some flip phones back then that ran Symbian, so it doesn’t seem entirely absurd. I didn’t have a data plan at the time and I’m not sure RUclips had a Symbian app (because I doubt Flash would’ve worked on such a phone) so I can’t confidently say it was possible but it at least seems plausible.
@@breakcoregirlxd Plenty of phones supported JavaME, for which RUclips had an app as far back as 2008, and the mobile site existed before that. AFAIK Symbian supported JavaME and so did MontaVista Linux (the OS motorola used on quite a few phones like the ROKR E2).
My fliphone could not run youtube because there was no flash support but i did have one of those phones with a keyboard that could play youtube videos with a app but one day it just stopped working
What you were struggling with was T9 Predictive text. Basically, instead of repeatedly pressing a key for a certain character, you would just press that key as if you were thinking to type that letter. Repeating this for all letters, the predictive text would find an appropiate word, somehow, and it would be much easier for you to type this way. I got used to this really quickly back in my childhood with my Nokia 2610, it was quite fun to get specific GIF images or .jar games
There actually is a massive use case for a device like this that was missed. I took a cross country road trip a few years back that involved towing a camper through rural Montana. One of the first things I did when I realized how bad my phone signal was in some areas was pick up a cheap prepaid phone like this as a backup device. Since most of these types of phones work on multiple networks, they can be a bit more reliable than your normal phone. The fact it also has those extra features is just a bonus.
I wouldn't call a KaiOS phone a "smartphone", while it indeed have modern features, it's just a web-based browser. You can't install native apps, only web apps, so you are limited to what HTML5 and built-in APIs period. It's funny tho that Steve Jobs originally wanted the iPhone to have the same limitations (being unable to install third party native apps) and that's why the Appstore only launched a year later.
This is probably true. This phone certainly isn't as advanced as an iPhone or flagship Android phone. I was calling it a smartphone on the basis that it has a web browser, app store (that allows 3rd party apps), WiFi connectivity, etc. Although looking at KaiOS's site, they use the term "smart feature phone" to describe the devices that their OS runs on. So you could say it's a hybrid of sorts.
It’s nice to see how much these Tracfones have evolved in recent years. Meanwhile I’m still using a dumb Tracfone from 2013 which barely does much, but at least I only have to charge it once every two weeks.
@Timothy Balla As a general rule, the cell phones before the smart phone era always had a better battery life, in part due to the few things they can do, and in part because nobody uses the old "dumb" phones for extended periods of time like they do with smart phones.
Last Tracfone I had was a LG 800, half smartphone based on java, kept it as a alarm clock since it had a nice and loud speaker, shame it didn't have a feature to set the time manually, so I had to adjust the alarm times.
imagine our smartphones where never invented and we would still use flip phones but with all these features and high quality screens, cameras etc. i would like to live in a world like that cuz flip phones where nice and an iconic piece of the 2000s
Ever since smartphones came about, I've always been jealous of the high end flip smartphones they have in japan. Not sure how popular they were/are(?) or if they still make them but they seemed to basically look like a smaller-than-normal smartphone attached to an equally sized keyboard, to this day I'd give that kind of phone a shot in a heartbeat if it was possible to import one and use it on my country's networks for a reasonable price (and performance, battery life, etc)
@@HIGH_DEFINITION_VIDEO unfortunately its fake.. there is no kio os... It's this thing called (brew) which is a propriety cell phone that can use java_c+ aka java proprietary. I Know this because I got error message for script while trying to use pc website like how you can do on Android thus it's impossible for that flip phone to have any sort of OS.
Seeing people struggle with the numpad for typing text always amuses me. I remember back in the day people would blast though the keys with no problem whatsoever, many times not even looking at the buttons you were pressing.
Me too. Recently had to buy a touchscreen phone because the screen died on my Alcatel Go. Never understood why people joke about typing on a t9. I'm probably faster using that and don't need to constantly look down
When I worked as a janitor we'd have to use phones like this. Some people like to laugh at phones with physical keys, they obviously never had to take a phone call while wearing thick gloves.
The only one of these I purchased had the App Store disabled, but I would be interested to see the games in the emulators. Also a smart TV remote, if you're replacing them there at minimum $7.
Edit: also, it seems you don't understand how T9 autocomplete works. (and yes, this method is what we used before modern QWERTY smartphones, it's not a recent addition to feature-phones) You just have to press the button for each letter once and it searches the dictionary to guess what word you're typing. For example, toy type Michael, you would press 6424235, and then scroll along only if it didn't already guess "Michael" in the autosuggest. You can also press # to change to manual typing and capitalisation, or just numbers. Also pressing * brings up an interactive symbol selection, which I find is usually easier for anything other than basic punctuation. The reason it's only manual typing on the Wi-Fi password and e-mail address is because autocomplete is useless there as you're not writing words or sentences, each character is important. Original comment / anecdote below: Early last year I got a Pay-as-you-go phone just as everything went into lockdown. (I work as IT support in a school and didn't want to give my personal number out) It was an Alcatel with KaiOS, though not a flip-phone. I don't pay anything for it as I only receive calls (caller pays in the UK, I use my personal phone on an unlimited mins contract, set to withold my number, when I'm calling someone for work) and have set up remote Voicemail, so I can call the voicemail number from another phone to hear the voicemails for free. I've got like £5 credit on there in case I *do* want to call someone from it, or send a text, but haven't used it in months. I was aware these still existed, often aimed at poorer countries that can't afford smartphones - see the recent increase in Indians coming online in recent years as one example. The "JioPhone" that is out there is a KaiOS "feature-phone".
finally someone who remembers the T9. I thought that was really cool back then, it definitely made my typing faster. besides that, I think the OS is pretty interesting and the performance of it seems to be really good. I would have loved to have an OS like that before (the back then crappy) Android phones swamped the market.
Nice to see your take on these. I used a Nokia one that had what looks to be an earlier version of KaiOS. First thing, in the App Store it was using “T9 style” predictive text to make typing a bit easier. You don’t need to press the key multiple times in that mode, just once for any letter on that key you want next, and it’ll try to figure it out. When you were writing the email address, it switched to the “abc” mode you were expecting. The RUclips and Twitter apps are the mobile website, yes. The mouse cursor is actually way, way more common for older devices than you’d think. IIRC the browser for S60 Nokias and the BlackBerry browser could do this too. I really liked the simplicity of these devices mixed with modern function, but unfortunately I found the OS to be quite buggy and unreliable over time. Plus... yeah, that camera was not great!
@Kamey the OS wasn't what I cared about though. The only thing I mentioned was having a physical slide-out keyboard. I don't care about the OS, was just saying a keyboard would be nice if they made a phone like that that'd work in modern times
@Kamey "that'd work in modern times" C'mon, don't make me read for you. Old slider phones are ancient and either don't work on cell networks anymore, or the proprietary OSes are just too ancient to run anything, or they're slightly newer Android phones with the same issue of it being too old an Android version to really run anything at all.
Technically no, Alcatel-Lucent was acquired by Nokia a few years ago. However Alcatel-Lucent didn't make cell phones themselves and had licensed the Alcatel brand to a Chinese company to make cell phones, and that licensing agreement has continued under Nokia, though if it will be renewed when it expires remains to be seen
Plainrock124 had a series "Bored Smashing - Grocery Store Phones" and this reminds me of him. He destroyed 2 flip phones in the series (one basic flip phone, one android flip phone; both Alcatel and both were from Tracfone)
So, if you don't know, an Indian company called Jio launched a similar phone in 2018 called JioPhone. It wasn't a flip phone though. It had the all the exact same features, except it had a dual core processor, but had a front camera and memory expandable upto 128GB. At the time it was available for around $20, now its around $10. I had one, and used it to death. Now its bricked and looks outdated but at the time it was so fascinating for me. You might wanna check it out...
This is the perfect phone camera for capturing evidence of aliens or ghosts, it has the perfect vibe. Also, the actual use case for this phone is leaving it in a drawer or backpack in case there's a real emergency, your actual phone breaks, you are going to be walking through the really bad part of town at night, you are going camping, etc. I would absolutely leave one of these in every one of my first aid kits or in the boot of a car with a recharge voucher and powerbank. Even going to a bar where I'm going to be slightly wasted would work.
Apparently flip phones never really faded from popularity as much in Japan. I searched quickly to check my memory and there are some really cool phones with a lot of features, almost tempting, the SHARP AQUOS SH-06G in particular. Thanks for saving my ass with XP overviews and tutorials, especially that MajorGeeks unofficial Service pack 4. Although I'm struggling with an Alienware D9T and ATA drivers, I bought a 3.5" drive and discs after failing at n-lite multiple times since I'm a rookie squared. Cheers!
Ooh, fun! I have to say I find these “feature phones“ fascinating though I’m still not entirely clear on how big their target market is and how long they’ll stick around, seeing as I assume they mostly sell to developing countries and possibly elderly people. It’s very interesting to see you play with it though.
Theres still a market of feature phone geeks in America such as myself. I go nowhere without my trusty Nokia 3390b in tow! With that being said though none of us who buy feature phones here in the US want features like 4g calling, internet browsing or wifi... We all like feature phones BECAUSE they lack those annoying features.
@@ponysoftonline4533 I mean, 4G and associated features are pretty inevitable though, sooner or later cellular networks will drop legacy support. I’m honestly surprised they haven’t already, and I assume it’s another part of why phones like this exist.
@@fakepro5848 Ironically one of the results is these things almost all have Google Assistant as part of their solution to work around the inability to have a proper keyboard, so these seemingly low-end devices appear pretty advanced to the user (though tbh it really doesn’t take much on the device to connect to Assistant, but still).
I legit love the Alcatel Tracfones. They're so cheap, and yet so capable. Man if you told me something that cost $20 and then like $10 a month-ish could do everything it can do just like 2 years ago I would have laughed at you. KaiOS is legit revolutionary and phones like these are super important. More people with major budget struggles need to look into these as a viable option.
I think I can explain the "weird" smartphone interface for typing. Nowadays, the most recent keyboard phones tend having a feature called "smart text". With this feature on, you only have to click each keyboard button once, and when you end writing the word you wanted, the phone tries guessing which word you wanted to write. In your phone, you choose what word you wanted to write by using the arrow keys and the "OK" button. You can probably disable this feature in the phone's settings.
Your demonstration being consistent with my own tries and observations show that this flip phone is not too good for internet and not too good for sending text messages. Using the internet and sending text messages IS POSSIBLE, but if those are what you want on a mobile device, then a smartphone is much better - much less difficult and much less frustrating.
Agree! I have one of these, and use it primarily for phone calls, secondarily for internet (like while waiting for a ride or in the doctors’ waiting room). Texting and internet access, like you say, is possible, but can be slow and the texting takes forever
I had this phone, but I never used it, so I cancelled the plan and you do not know what pain is until you have experienced cancelling the subscription on one of these.
The LG flip phone I had in 2011 had a browser that you could do searches and a camera. It didn't play RUclips video. It also couldn't connect to wifi. This phone is a lot better.
I used to use Alcatels phones pretty fine for their price and it's actually good Also it had some cool fetaures you can't see in other phones so that's cool
That's crazy !! $19.99 for 60 minutes !! In the UK you get unlimited data, texts and minutes for £20 a month , pay as you go . About $17 . Just mental how expensive plans in America are 😮😮
My father who is 70+ Uses a very similar flip phone from T-Mobile same KaiOS and all. He never was into cell phones. He finally got used to them in flip phone style at the age of 58. It took a lot of to get him into one really, He loves his flip phone now & He recently discovered the weather app couldn't be happier.
I almost feel like it would be worse to have a flip phone than to not have a phone when it comes to bullies. If you live in a bad neighborhood I definitely wouldn't want one. When I was bullied it was the early 2000s and I was 6-7. No one had a phone. A good thing, because I didn't get a smart phone until late freshman year of highschool. I wonder how many grade schoolers have cell phones now. I know I see kids with smart phones a lot, but how common is it actually?
Also, the 1st generation iPod touch that I still have today even has a RUclips app but it no longer works. Could be because the original iPod touch is a little old, from 2007. At least this phone is pretty recent.
I used to work in a warming house, where they had cheap flip phones like this inside in case of an emergency. We weren't allowed to use our smartphones, so I played around a lot with that flip phone when I was bored. It had a full internet browser with that same curser, but I was surprised that it actually worked. I went to RUclips, Google Images, News, etc. These cheap phones actually work for some basic functions, which surprised me.
@@nobodycares607 it highly depends on your country, in most countries outside of North America, prepaid is actually the most common option, and postpaid/contract is mostly for people who bundle their home Internet and cable TV service with their mobile service.
I would absolutely loved to have this phone. This is basically my dream phone back then. We all know that back then, Phone got lots of feature but is clunky and slow, i wanted those but lighter and much more fluid to use. Thanks for bringing light to this man, i'll see if i could get one for Mom. Also, subscribing.
That google assistant functionality makes that form factor infinitely more practical, especially for the elderly and poor sighted. I remember using a Nokia 6120 classic as a daily driver for years and after finally getting an iPod touch and experiencing a full qwerty keyboard on a mobile device, I never looked back. I use modern smartphones for my daily driver but I can see a phone like this becoming an emergency backup
@@guilherme3537 isn’t it spanish? Or is it another one of those things where the language is so similar that its the same in both? Because I speak spanish and understand it perfectly, idk any portuguese at all
@@guilherme3537 well once again the languages are similar so i understood it a bit but not fully. Here’s my guess: “Hello, it is (?) portuguese my friend! Hugs from Portugal.
I wonder if they still sell tracfones with double or triple minutes for life. We have a few of them still in a drawer somewhere...basically what happens is you buy one of those 60 minute cards, but if you redeem it on a triple minutes for life phone, you'll receive 180 minutes instead of just the 60 you paid for
Something like this would be great when visiting big events or other places where you would have a high risk of pickpockets but still want something to contact people if needed
I still use an old phone from 2008 when I go out where there's a lot of people, or I go for a long walk in the woods. Cheap insurance to not lose my smartphone.
@@ycrep1993 Yeah, ironically, older flip phones from 10 years ago have better cameras than the modern ones. Presumably because they were more high-end back then.
I own an Alcatel OneTouch phone which is not a flip phone and RUclips or other websites are too big for the screen and videos don’t play. They could’ve changed the resolution and get html5 support for the phone.
Be just like a similar joke, "Why did the Publix store manager terminate me in 2010 from my job that I had there? Because I was just too hard for him to manage I guess, lol".
@@BillyRazOr2011 Does this phone have an FM Radio? I found out that an FM radio tuner in the phone is a very useful feature a couple of years ago when we had Hurricane Michael come through and our power and cell phone signal went out, however using the fm radio feature in my smartphone, I could still listen to the news and music even with no internet at all. Most flagship phones don't have this feature, but its very handy to have like for emergencies.
@@sburton015 In 2000s and early 2010s, there's have integrated FM radio in every smartphone as well, but it's required to connect with earphone in order to use as FM antenna. This feature can be used for non-internet users or older ages person to listen musics and news for purposes. But until since Android 6 or 7 was released, FM radio didn't have it's own anymore. I think most smartphone companies had ditched their FM functionality in just couple years ago. To this day, we still can download FM radio app for listening news, musics etc., but it's required to connect internet on services, that's why this modern era didn't use those old-fasioned FM radio anymore.
@@sburton015 Mine have 3 old smartphones that have own FM radio functionality, it's very awesone to use as even when there's no WIFI or data internet in services. But recently I upgraded to Samsung Galaxy A31 smartphone and it's nothing have integrated FM radio anymore. Very sad on modern phones..... RIP on FM smartphones
Yeah I own this phone. Honestly, I think that the only thing better than this is a Nokia 3310. Yes, that's right. Smartphones are pieces of overly-fragile and expensive pieces of crap. That's not a lie either. Ok well it is a lie, I just don't prefer smartphones unless it runs Android. I just want to see Apple make a phone that actually has a Home Button, and a headphone jack. And make sure that it isn't an SE. One more thing, I happen to own a similar model, the Alcatel GO FLIP 3, and it is is overpriced AF. It cost my dad $100 USD to get me one. A tip for navigating through RUclips on that thing, you can press & hold a certain direction and it will glide in that direction. So the repeated tapping isn't actually required except for fine movements. And, the auto correct is actually predictive mode, which means you can type each number key, and it will automatically come up with suggestions for what you may be trying to type. Once you have typed the word you want, press 0, and that will put a space after it. In fact, I typed this entire message on my GO FLIP, and as you can see, I am quite the expert. (This took 15 minutes to type, BTW)
Fun fact: I actually have the exact same model (granted I put a 16gig sd card in mine) and it has quite the capability! I personally wish I could still use my RAZR V3 but as we all know, providers are doing away with 3g towers.
$20 for 60 minutes? man that’s really expensive. Also the other pre paid options they offer. Way overpriced. “First iPhone in 2007 also had a 2 MP camera”. Well, yes - though that was 14 years ago 😂
Slight correction: this phone has 4GB of storage, not RAM.
I figured since something with KaiOS didn't need 4GB of RAM and the fact that for a $20 flip phone 4 gigs of RAM would be too expensive.
in my kai os device if i long press the numbers on a text box it just puts the number there
kai os is all about bringing internet to the developing contries like brazil where i live... here locked phones are ilegal and this phone is about r$ 400 ($ 80)
the cpu in this phone is the snapdragon 210 from early 2018 - first spec,ed on the low end lg k9
@@PinguimFU That's what I love about it! The Google apps are definitely a big help. It really proves that the low-spec hardware is capable of these things, it's just that decent software wasn't built for it until now.
The music at the beginning, I couldn't stop thinking only about DankPods and his headphone tests.
Don't forget about mics.
I just noticed that!
@@Skiptrac3 YESS
@@Skiptrac3 my beats spekers in my laptop are not gud
Yeah Same, but what's the song called?
When I was a kid/early teenage years, this would have been heaps good. Like I would have been more than happy with this honestly.
same
Yeah exactly
Same! I remember the first time I saw one with a color screen and I was like, "Whoa!!!"
When I was younger I had a monochromatic CDMA Nokia flip phone, in which the only enterainment available on that phone was a flashlight that can do morse code, and flicking open the phone itself like they did in the movies.
Boy, I was so happy with those
@@rogehmarbi and snake bro?
"Hey dude, can I show you a video real quick?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
*They flip out one of these babies*
@MapleMilk: Your friend will tell you to trash it.
@@gotsm9959 what no
@@x5nash870 Yes you see company like black berry or syberian had the issue of Microsoft and Intel dominating the industry so they choose Google to lead them to salvation. All these elements like snapdragon , qualcomm , Android where bits and pieces that Google scooped up to create the future of ultra portable computing. The usage data says Google products have the best performance and company that support Google have prospered.
Me who has a z flip 5: 😏
I just love this man´s dedication to retro tech and trashy low tech stuff. A good way of relaxing and remembering the good old days. Thank you Michael. Keep up the good work!
Glad you enjoy it! Thank you!
@@MichaelMJD Yea same
This is what people in the early 2000's thought phones today would be like
This is what mid-range phones were like in the mid 2000s
There're smartphones for only $40 with $30 per month unlimited talk & text, and you can use wifi hotspots to go online with. So this model's really behind the curve.
@the hevy minus the flip ey look at new phones
Nah I think we all expected better, phones were already more functional in 05
@@RisingRevengeance Nah I think we all expected better, phones were already more functional in 05"
See the Nokia N-series, E-series, Blackberry, Nokia Communicator, Sony Ericsson P900...
Symbian and Windows Mobile were things and they were OK for the day, but nobody did anything like as much with a Nokia N95 as they do with their smartphones.
My dad uses a flip phone like this because he isn't literate enough to really use any new technology. He still uses a VCR, and antenna to watch TV. He's never used a computer. There is a big market for these with older people who were left behind with the rapid advancement of tech.
My grandmother got a smartphone and I was considering having her do that option until we found a smartphone some Motorola for $50
Well I'm a tech nerd and a place like that market will make me feel like an old person
Definitely is a market for that, but it’s a market that is likely constantly shrinking as older generations either have family to set things up, or they’re dying off.
I still use a vcr every once in a while
They chose to get left behind.
I'm glad I still have a couple more days to refund my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
Your so damn
15 years ago, this phone would've blown people's minds! Full web browsing on a flip phone! Not something your average person would want today, but if you're on a super small budget or need a backup phone with some smartphone capabilities, this is a good one.
Sure it’s a good phone, but it seems kinda useless. I’ve seen normal android full screen phones for only 10$
This device is a dream-come-true for those who need by social requirements to have an app such as Whatsapp, and the overall ability to call, but who are also aware of privacy issues as it not only runs KaiOS, but also has a removable battery. And it definitely saves on time as well, given that battery most likely gets an easy five days or even far more. Love it. Absolutely love it.
I remember using RUclips on a flip phone in 2009. It's nice to see that it still works on modern flip phones.
sorry bud gonna have to press X on this one
@@breakcoregirlxd Pretty sure there were at least some flip phones back then that ran Symbian, so it doesn’t seem entirely absurd. I didn’t have a data plan at the time and I’m not sure RUclips had a Symbian app (because I doubt Flash would’ve worked on such a phone) so I can’t confidently say it was possible but it at least seems plausible.
I remember too... 144p resolution
@@breakcoregirlxd Plenty of phones supported JavaME, for which RUclips had an app as far back as 2008, and the mobile site existed before that. AFAIK Symbian supported JavaME and so did MontaVista Linux (the OS motorola used on quite a few phones like the ROKR E2).
My fliphone could not run youtube because there was no flash support but i did have one of those phones with a keyboard that could play youtube videos with a app but one day it just stopped working
20 bucks for only 60 minutes of talk? damn, that's really expensive.
I got my lg rebel 4 for 60 bucks with 2 gigabytes of data, unlimited talk and text, 16gb storage, 2gb ram, and I use it everyday.
Yeah. I spend less than 20 bucks a month on my inferior third world country and I get unlimited data and minutes
Yeah because it's not monthly. The 30 day plans are more reasonable.
@@HIGH_DEFINITION_VIDEO does more than anyone needs a phone to do.
Lmao the USA is wack, man's impressed by a super expensive and time limited Pay as You Go SIM
What you were struggling with was T9 Predictive text. Basically, instead of repeatedly pressing a key for a certain character, you would just press that key as if you were thinking to type that letter. Repeating this for all letters, the predictive text would find an appropiate word, somehow, and it would be much easier for you to type this way.
I got used to this really quickly back in my childhood with my Nokia 2610, it was quite fun to get specific GIF images or .jar games
There actually is a massive use case for a device like this that was missed. I took a cross country road trip a few years back that involved towing a camper through rural Montana. One of the first things I did when I realized how bad my phone signal was in some areas was pick up a cheap prepaid phone like this as a backup device. Since most of these types of phones work on multiple networks, they can be a bit more reliable than your normal phone. The fact it also has those extra features is just a bonus.
20usd and comes with a CHARGER!!!
it costs $60 minimum not $20
I wouldn't call a KaiOS phone a "smartphone", while it indeed have modern features, it's just a web-based browser. You can't install native apps, only web apps, so you are limited to what HTML5 and built-in APIs period.
It's funny tho that Steve Jobs originally wanted the iPhone to have the same limitations (being unable to install third party native apps) and that's why the Appstore only launched a year later.
Smortphones don't need to have native apps. I know how it hurts nerds like us, but native apps are becoming a thing of the past.
Web apps are actually quite advanced.
Yeah, more of a “feature phone” than a “smartphone”.
It's like a Feature phone with internet connectivity
This is probably true. This phone certainly isn't as advanced as an iPhone or flagship Android phone. I was calling it a smartphone on the basis that it has a web browser, app store (that allows 3rd party apps), WiFi connectivity, etc. Although looking at KaiOS's site, they use the term "smart feature phone" to describe the devices that their OS runs on. So you could say it's a hybrid of sorts.
KaiOS apps work by running PWAs in a extremely resource efficient embedded web browser, so that's why the youtube one looks like the mobile site.
I'm pretty amazed how efficient the browser seems to be.
@@irides46 at least compared to chrome eating gigabytes of your ram
It’s nice to see how much these Tracfones have evolved in recent years.
Meanwhile I’m still using a dumb Tracfone from 2013 which barely does much, but at least I only have to charge it once every two weeks.
C̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶ r̶o̶m̶ i̶t̶
@Timothy Balla As a general rule, the cell phones before the smart phone era always had a better battery life, in part due to the few things they can do, and in part because nobody uses the old "dumb" phones for extended periods of time like they do with smart phones.
custom rom it
This ones only $20
Last Tracfone I had was a LG 800, half smartphone based on java, kept it as a alarm clock since it had a nice and loud speaker, shame it didn't have a feature to set the time manually, so I had to adjust the alarm times.
The way the cursor moves reminds me of the toy Vtech "laptops" that I had as a toddler
imagine our smartphones where never invented and we would still use flip phones but with all these features and high quality screens, cameras etc. i would like to live in a world like that cuz flip phones where nice and an iconic piece of the 2000s
Ever since smartphones came about, I've always been jealous of the high end flip smartphones they have in japan. Not sure how popular they were/are(?) or if they still make them but they seemed to basically look like a smaller-than-normal smartphone attached to an equally sized keyboard, to this day I'd give that kind of phone a shot in a heartbeat if it was possible to import one and use it on my country's networks for a reasonable price (and performance, battery life, etc)
That's Japan now
When this phone is more expensive than 98 PC
yes
facts
"Are you kidding me? There's a mouse pointer?"
Every BlackBerry phones before 2013: ok...
Blackberry's actually had a touchpad so it was nice
Blackberries were not basic phones at all for their time.
@@invictine what about BB Pearl?
@@GrayDaDolf Dude I literally have a BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 with me right now, it has a touchpad.
@@HIGH_DEFINITION_VIDEO unfortunately its fake.. there is no kio os... It's this thing called (brew) which is a propriety cell phone that can use java_c+ aka java proprietary. I Know this because I got error message for script while trying to use pc website like how you can do on Android thus it's impossible for that flip phone to have any sort of OS.
Seeing people struggle with the numpad for typing text always amuses me. I remember back in the day people would blast though the keys with no problem whatsoever, many times not even looking at the buttons you were pressing.
Me too. Recently had to buy a touchscreen phone because the screen died on my Alcatel Go. Never understood why people joke about typing on a t9. I'm probably faster using that and don't need to constantly look down
When I worked as a janitor we'd have to use phones like this. Some people like to laugh at phones with physical keys, they obviously never had to take a phone call while wearing thick gloves.
Man i remember when in 2012 i watched RUclips on a freaking blackberry, damn nostalgia 😭
Those things were way underrated honestly. BB10 was awesome. Z30 was incredible for the time if only more devs supported it
I used to watch RUclips on a feature phone way back in 2010, before I had gotten my first smartphone. Quality was garbage, but I still enjoyed it.
The only one of these I purchased had the App Store disabled, but I would be interested to see the games in the emulators.
Also a smart TV remote, if you're replacing them there at minimum $7.
Actually there is NES Emulator by BananaHackers which is a group of people who jailbreak and porting Firefox apps to KaiOS phones.
My father bought me that exact same flip phone, it’s actually super useful because of its hotspot capability
it has more functionality than a mifi hotspot and costs less
Edit: also, it seems you don't understand how T9 autocomplete works. (and yes, this method is what we used before modern QWERTY smartphones, it's not a recent addition to feature-phones) You just have to press the button for each letter once and it searches the dictionary to guess what word you're typing. For example, toy type Michael, you would press 6424235, and then scroll along only if it didn't already guess "Michael" in the autosuggest. You can also press # to change to manual typing and capitalisation, or just numbers. Also pressing * brings up an interactive symbol selection, which I find is usually easier for anything other than basic punctuation. The reason it's only manual typing on the Wi-Fi password and e-mail address is because autocomplete is useless there as you're not writing words or sentences, each character is important.
Original comment / anecdote below:
Early last year I got a Pay-as-you-go phone just as everything went into lockdown. (I work as IT support in a school and didn't want to give my personal number out)
It was an Alcatel with KaiOS, though not a flip-phone. I don't pay anything for it as I only receive calls (caller pays in the UK, I use my personal phone on an unlimited mins contract, set to withold my number, when I'm calling someone for work) and have set up remote Voicemail, so I can call the voicemail number from another phone to hear the voicemails for free. I've got like £5 credit on there in case I *do* want to call someone from it, or send a text, but haven't used it in months.
I was aware these still existed, often aimed at poorer countries that can't afford smartphones - see the recent increase in Indians coming online in recent years as one example. The "JioPhone" that is out there is a KaiOS "feature-phone".
finally someone who remembers the T9. I thought that was really cool back then, it definitely made my typing faster. besides that, I think the OS is pretty interesting and the performance of it seems to be really good. I would have loved to have an OS like that before (the back then crappy) Android phones swamped the market.
Absolutely right about the Jio Phone. Spot on!
I never knew modern flip-phones were this advanced. This video gives some really cool insight.
Nice to see your take on these. I used a Nokia one that had what looks to be an earlier version of KaiOS.
First thing, in the App Store it was using “T9 style” predictive text to make typing a bit easier. You don’t need to press the key multiple times in that mode, just once for any letter on that key you want next, and it’ll try to figure it out. When you were writing the email address, it switched to the “abc” mode you were expecting.
The RUclips and Twitter apps are the mobile website, yes. The mouse cursor is actually way, way more common for older devices than you’d think. IIRC the browser for S60 Nokias and the BlackBerry browser could do this too.
I really liked the simplicity of these devices mixed with modern function, but unfortunately I found the OS to be quite buggy and unreliable over time. Plus... yeah, that camera was not great!
I really hope they make a phone like this, but with a slider keyboard. I miss my slider phone so much, that would kick ass
@Kamey I don't think that's the kind of slider phone they meant
@Kamey the OS wasn't what I cared about though. The only thing I mentioned was having a physical slide-out keyboard. I don't care about the OS, was just saying a keyboard would be nice if they made a phone like that that'd work in modern times
@Kamey "that'd work in modern times"
C'mon, don't make me read for you. Old slider phones are ancient and either don't work on cell networks anymore, or the proprietary OSes are just too ancient to run anything, or they're slightly newer Android phones with the same issue of it being too old an Android version to really run anything at all.
Man I remember when I watched youtube on a nokia brick
Gonna add: No it didn’t have play store, I used Wifi and the browser
Yeah me too, i watched spongebob episode on nokia phone :D
I remember too... 144p resolution...
Wait you had wifi on that thing??
@@hellomine2849 on some Nokia phones you had wifi, but those were expensive at least back in the day or 2011
@@hellomine2849 mine was just 2G. It was enough for 144p youtube
Alcatel is still in business?
I haven’t heard of them in a long time.
I guess they are focusing in developing countries
@@victorhugofranciscon7899 they aren't that popular in developing countries either, chinese manufacturers are more common
We still have Alcatel in South Africa. Smartphones mainly, but still you can buy button phones and landlines.
Edit: Spelling error
Technically no, Alcatel-Lucent was acquired by Nokia a few years ago. However Alcatel-Lucent didn't make cell phones themselves and had licensed the Alcatel brand to a Chinese company to make cell phones, and that licensing agreement has continued under Nokia, though if it will be renewed when it expires remains to be seen
@@St0rmcrash True
Plainrock124 had a series "Bored Smashing - Grocery Store Phones" and this reminds me of him. He destroyed 2 flip phones in the series (one basic flip phone, one android flip phone; both Alcatel and both were from Tracfone)
So, if you don't know, an Indian company called Jio launched a similar phone in 2018 called JioPhone. It wasn't a flip phone though. It had the all the exact same features, except it had a dual core processor, but had a front camera and memory expandable upto 128GB. At the time it was available for around $20, now its around $10. I had one, and used it to death. Now its bricked and looks outdated but at the time it was so fascinating for me. You might wanna check it out...
I would totally not recommend watching RUclips videos on the flip phone 😂
watched on flip phone
@@handlesrtwitterdontbelivethem congratulations
ah technical.
i watched it on FLIP PHONE OF ANDROID 2.1 PATCHED YT
@Innocent Blue Well it would definitely work on the Razr so I will exclude Newer flip phones that actually support RUclips playback
Had that exact phone before, can confirm it actually worked well
Now I use a Pixel. Certainly an upgrade!
Why did you buy ths for 30 bucks u can get a touchscreen cheap crap lol
@@maurisanto7973 budget
@@AGVYT there is literally a 10 dollar tracfone android at dollar general rn
@@maurisanto7973 before he probably didn't have enough money
9:26 I thought my headphones disconnected
This is the perfect phone camera for capturing evidence of aliens or ghosts, it has the perfect vibe.
Also, the actual use case for this phone is leaving it in a drawer or backpack in case there's a real emergency, your actual phone breaks, you are going to be walking through the really bad part of town at night, you are going camping, etc.
I would absolutely leave one of these in every one of my first aid kits or in the boot of a car with a recharge voucher and powerbank. Even going to a bar where I'm going to be slightly wasted would work.
The camera gives an early 2000s feeling...like the rest. I like it!
Apparently flip phones never really faded from popularity as much in Japan. I searched quickly to check my memory and there are some really cool phones with a lot of features, almost tempting, the SHARP AQUOS SH-06G in particular.
Thanks for saving my ass with XP overviews and tutorials, especially that MajorGeeks unofficial Service pack 4. Although I'm struggling with an Alienware D9T and ATA drivers, I bought a 3.5" drive and discs after failing at n-lite multiple times since I'm a rookie squared. Cheers!
I feel like if Apple were to put storage expansion on the iPhone they'll just copy Sony with their PS Vita memory cards and make them really expensive
Not gonna happen, even Samsung is ditching storage expansion.
Eh most of them seem rather focused on cloud storage instead where you pay an endless subscription fee
@@thatoneuser5066 With the huge sale of fake MicroSD cards this is not much news
Buy 128GB get 32GB
@@IsmaelWensder maybe don't buy shit off of ebay... If it's too good to be true than it is
Buy from an official store...
Ooh, fun! I have to say I find these “feature phones“ fascinating though I’m still not entirely clear on how big their target market is and how long they’ll stick around, seeing as I assume they mostly sell to developing countries and possibly elderly people. It’s very interesting to see you play with it though.
Theres still a market of feature phone geeks in America such as myself. I go nowhere without my trusty Nokia 3390b in tow! With that being said though none of us who buy feature phones here in the US want features like 4g calling, internet browsing or wifi... We all like feature phones BECAUSE they lack those annoying features.
@@ponysoftonline4533 I mean, 4G and associated features are pretty inevitable though, sooner or later cellular networks will drop legacy support. I’m honestly surprised they haven’t already, and I assume it’s another part of why phones like this exist.
yeah they're super neat because they have to find different ways to go about interface and app design
@@fakepro5848 Ironically one of the results is these things almost all have Google Assistant as part of their solution to work around the inability to have a proper keyboard, so these seemingly low-end devices appear pretty advanced to the user (though tbh it really doesn’t take much on the device to connect to Assistant, but still).
Some people just don’t like smart phones. I know people like that, I’m glad there are options for them.
I legit love the Alcatel Tracfones. They're so cheap, and yet so capable. Man if you told me something that cost $20 and then like $10 a month-ish could do everything it can do just like 2 years ago I would have laughed at you. KaiOS is legit revolutionary and phones like these are super important. More people with major budget struggles need to look into these as a viable option.
I think I can explain the "weird" smartphone interface for typing. Nowadays, the most recent keyboard phones tend having a feature called "smart text". With this feature on, you only have to click each keyboard button once, and when you end writing the word you wanted, the phone tries guessing which word you wanted to write. In your phone, you choose what word you wanted to write by using the arrow keys and the "OK" button. You can probably disable this feature in the phone's settings.
For people that want the timestamp: 11:49
12:35 "WE LIKE THE STOCK" - thank me later
try to use that for like a week (just a video idea)
Believe it or not I watched RUclips on these phones for a long time 😂
At first I didn't think those camera photos were actually that bad.. then the recording played
Your demonstration being consistent with my own tries and observations show that this flip phone is not too good for internet and not too good for sending text messages. Using the internet and sending text messages IS POSSIBLE, but if those are what you want on a mobile device, then a smartphone is much better - much less difficult and much less frustrating.
Agree! I have one of these, and use it primarily for phone calls, secondarily for internet (like while waiting for a ride or in the doctors’ waiting room). Texting and internet access, like you say, is possible, but can be slow and the texting takes forever
Wow those prepaid prices are EXPENSIVE.
On my prepaid smartphone I just pay about 15 dollars/month for unlimited data/minutes
Wow that’s pretty cheap, what provider do you have?
@@10meisterballe Movistar Chile
I’ve seen phones like this for $10 at Walmart and Walgreens
Oh man this phone reminds me of an old Samsung flip-phone that I absolutely loved. I wonder where it went...
It either traveled to the moon with the astronauts or to the recycling center.
Makes me miss my 2006 motorola black Razr i had with cingular wireless
the video quality looks like a 1990 advertisment
I had this phone, but I never used it, so I cancelled the plan and you do not know what pain is until you have experienced cancelling the subscription on one of these.
The LG flip phone I had in 2011 had a browser that you could do searches and a camera. It didn't play RUclips video. It also couldn't connect to wifi. This phone is a lot better.
when your phone bill costs more than the phone
this just got recommended to me an i am sure this video will have a massive blow up
The wall really do be looking like some cobblestone in that video.
I love how like...shocked and surprised he is about everything on it. My favorite part is when he shouts "FM RADIO?!??"
Most people buying burner phones don't want smart phone features like google maps tracking their GPS movements.
I had this phone and everyone in my school was surprised that I can do this.
I used to use Alcatels phones pretty fine for their price and it's actually good
Also it had some cool fetaures you can't see in other phones so that's cool
fun fact : most smartphones in india are prepaid phones.
Nice
I thought everywhere had prepaid, everyone I know has always had it (I'm in Ireland tho)
Here in Brazil too, mostly prepaid
That's crazy !! $19.99 for 60 minutes !! In the UK you get unlimited data, texts and minutes for £20 a month , pay as you go . About $17 . Just mental how expensive plans in America are 😮😮
My father who is 70+ Uses a very similar flip phone from T-Mobile same KaiOS and all. He never was into cell phones.
He finally got used to them in flip phone style at the age of 58. It took a lot of to get him into one really, He loves his flip phone now
& He recently discovered the weather app couldn't be happier.
"for a kid or something"
Top 10 ways to make your kid get bullied
Number 1....
I mean no one will know
I almost feel like it would be worse to have a flip phone than to not have a phone when it comes to bullies. If you live in a bad neighborhood I definitely wouldn't want one. When I was bullied it was the early 2000s and I was 6-7. No one had a phone. A good thing, because I didn't get a smart phone until late freshman year of highschool. I wonder how many grade schoolers have cell phones now. I know I see kids with smart phones a lot, but how common is it actually?
Also, the 1st generation iPod touch that I still have today even has a RUclips app but it no longer works. Could be because the original iPod touch is a little old, from 2007. At least this phone is pretty recent.
It can still work with the power of *JAILBREAK*
the typing is like an old nokia style, you might be able to hold the number to input it
I used to work in a warming house, where they had cheap flip phones like this inside in case of an emergency. We weren't allowed to use our smartphones, so I played around a lot with that flip phone when I was bored. It had a full internet browser with that same curser, but I was surprised that it actually worked. I went to RUclips, Google Images, News, etc. These cheap phones actually work for some basic functions, which surprised me.
This phone's camera gave me a 90's vibe.
3:54 is not 4gb of RAM, is 4gb of internal memory
Not ROM, just internal memory
@@sparkwave2 isn't that the same thing?
ROM? Lol, that's even worse than saying RAM
@@w19ely85 hahah, i fix it
@@w19ely85 ROM means storage idiot
Prepaid phones are a budget option? Damn I guess 90% of my country prefers a budget option lol, including the ones with extremely high end phones.
They are a budget option.
@@nobodycares607 it highly depends on your country, in most countries outside of North America, prepaid is actually the most common option, and postpaid/contract is mostly for people who bundle their home Internet and cable TV service with their mobile service.
Technically, KaiOS is a fork of B2G OS, or “Boot to Gecko,” which sprouted up inside Mozilla after the fall of Firefox OS. Second time’s a charm.
@Nicholas Lovan: kaiOS is fake .
That video quality takes me back to 2006-2008 RUclips lol
I would absolutely loved to have this phone. This is basically my dream phone back then. We all know that back then, Phone got lots of feature but is clunky and slow, i wanted those but lighter and much more fluid to use. Thanks for bringing light to this man, i'll see if i could get one for Mom.
Also, subscribing.
Yes! Finally a phone where you can enjoy RUclips at 144p!
yay the highest resolution yet! but i watch my youtube at 64p!
You can actually get much "nicer" touch screen smartphones for $20.
link?
i got a used samsung s6 edge for $30
Actually you can get a computer for 15 dollars
back when the alcatel ideal was first released it was an android smartphone for $20
well i got a laptop with i5-2450m from a thrift store for 10$ but that doesnt mean that anyone can do that
The person watching this video with the same phone in the video: I guess i'm not alone.
Xddddd
Plainrock rn: Bored smashing: grocery store phones
where did you get $20 from? The phone costs $60 minimum
That google assistant functionality makes that form factor infinitely more practical, especially for the elderly and poor sighted. I remember using a Nokia 6120 classic as a daily driver for years and after finally getting an iPod touch and experiencing a full qwerty keyboard on a mobile device, I never looked back. I use modern smartphones for my daily driver but I can see a phone like this becoming an emergency backup
Michael: I fear no man...
But that thing...
_Guía de Inicio Rápido_
It scares me...
That's in portuguese and im portuguese yay
@@guilherme3537 hey I'm too, what a coincidence
@@guilherme3537 isn’t it spanish? Or is it another one of those things where the language is so similar that its the same in both? Because I speak spanish and understand it perfectly, idk any portuguese at all
Lets see if you understand this: Olá, é português meu amigo! Abraços de Portugal.
@@guilherme3537 well once again the languages are similar so i understood it a bit but not fully. Here’s my guess: “Hello, it is (?) portuguese my friend! Hugs from Portugal.
Can you make calls on internet when minutes are gone
14:31 this feels like back in 2005 or 2001
I wonder if they still sell tracfones with double or triple minutes for life. We have a few of them still in a drawer somewhere...basically what happens is you buy one of those 60 minute cards, but if you redeem it on a triple minutes for life phone, you'll receive 180 minutes instead of just the 60 you paid for
Why didn't minecraft on a flip ph- never mind kaiOS.
Something like this would be great when visiting big events or other places where you would have a high risk of pickpockets but still want something to contact people if needed
I still use an old phone from 2008 when I go out where there's a lot of people, or I go for a long walk in the woods. Cheap insurance to not lose my smartphone.
@@toshineon I'd love a cheap flip phone for events, but i'll be the very niche market for a cheap flip phone with a high end camera
@@ycrep1993 Yeah, ironically, older flip phones from 10 years ago have better cameras than the modern ones. Presumably because they were more high-end back then.
This 20 dollar flip phone has higher specs than my laptop.
I'm not joking.
😬
1 it contains an ARM CPU which is a lot less powerful than a desktop standard x86 CPU
2 it costs $60 minimum not $20
20$ for 60 minutes?
Mate we litteraly pay 1$ for 60 minutes here, and 10$ for 10 hours!
I own an Alcatel OneTouch phone which is not a flip phone and RUclips or other websites are too big for the screen and videos don’t play. They could’ve changed the resolution and get html5 support for the phone.
Google: "Why can't the bicycle stand on it's own? It's too tired!"
MJD: (staring look at Google assistance)
MJD: WoW! That's really funny... 😏😏
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Be just like a similar joke, "Why did the Publix store manager terminate me in 2010 from my job that I had there? Because I was just too hard for him to manage I guess, lol".
At least these cheap phone are way too useful of many features than normal smartphone. 😂
@@BillyRazOr2011 Does this phone have an FM Radio? I found out that an FM radio tuner in the phone is a very useful feature a couple of years ago when we had Hurricane Michael come through and our power and cell phone signal went out, however using the fm radio feature in my smartphone, I could still listen to the news and music even with no internet at all. Most flagship phones don't have this feature, but its very handy to have like for emergencies.
@@sburton015 In 2000s and early 2010s, there's have integrated FM radio in every smartphone as well, but it's required to connect with earphone in order to use as FM antenna. This feature can be used for non-internet users or older ages person to listen musics and news for purposes. But until since Android 6 or 7 was released, FM radio didn't have it's own anymore. I think most smartphone companies had ditched their FM functionality in just couple years ago. To this day, we still can download FM radio app for listening news, musics etc., but it's required to connect internet on services, that's why this modern era didn't use those old-fasioned FM radio anymore.
@@sburton015 Mine have 3 old smartphones that have own FM radio functionality, it's very awesone to use as even when there's no WIFI or data internet in services. But recently I upgraded to Samsung Galaxy A31 smartphone and it's nothing have integrated FM radio anymore. Very sad on modern phones..... RIP on FM smartphones
Yeah I own this phone. Honestly, I think that the only thing better than this is a Nokia 3310. Yes, that's right. Smartphones are pieces of overly-fragile and expensive pieces of crap. That's not a lie either.
Ok well it is a lie, I just don't prefer smartphones unless it runs Android. I just want to see Apple make a phone that actually has a Home Button, and a headphone jack. And make sure that it isn't an SE.
One more thing, I happen to own a similar model, the Alcatel GO FLIP 3, and it is is overpriced AF. It cost my dad $100 USD to get me one.
A tip for navigating through RUclips on that thing, you can press & hold a certain direction and it will glide in that direction. So the repeated tapping isn't actually required except for fine movements.
And, the auto correct is actually predictive mode, which means you can type each number key, and it will automatically come up with suggestions for what you may be trying to type. Once you have typed the word you want, press 0, and that will put a space after it. In fact, I typed this entire message on my GO FLIP, and as you can see, I am quite the expert. (This took 15 minutes to type, BTW)
Your voice is the same as the Microsoft generated text to speech xD
Is this a dating app?
I think we can all agree this is the perfect device to meet your soulmate
Fun fact: I actually have the exact same model (granted I put a 16gig sd card in mine) and it has quite the capability! I personally wish I could still use my RAZR V3 but as we all know, providers are doing away with 3g towers.
They should of called it the "SmartFlip."
oh man T9, I can't say I miss that tech. Now see if you can survive on that phone for a week ;)
$20 for 60 minutes? man that’s really expensive. Also the other pre paid options they offer. Way overpriced.
“First iPhone in 2007 also had a 2 MP camera”. Well, yes - though that was 14 years ago 😂
ikr for 12€ a month where i live you get unlimited everything
Tracfone was doing unlimited talk and text for this phone for 20 bucks a month at one point.
Yeah the plans he was raving about are horrible. That's how you know TracFone is a sponsor
Thank you so much! I am going to get this for a 6 year old grandchild that would be able to move along with the buttons much faster than me!
If you’ve never watched RUclips on a flip phone, you haven’t really experienced peak interwebs.