A feature phone is always an attractive prospect for me to have, at least as a backup phone. They are small, the battery last forever and they’re relatively cheap too. The one setback of a feature phone is that most of them don’t support 4G SIM cards anymore. At least for smaller telcos such as Unifi and Umobile that offer the cheapest plan with the longest network validity. It makes no sense for me to pay more expensive telcos like Celcom or Maxis just for my backup phone.
Hence why I decided against a feature phone. At least until a 4G feature phone like this Nokia 8110 4G comes along. A second hand unit goes for under 300 ringgit so it’s still relatively affordable for me. The most important thing is this phone finally support 4G SIM cards and consequently 4G connectivity. Spec-wise, it’s really modest - Qualcomm 205 mobile platform, 4GB internals and 2MP rear camera. The chassis of this 8110 is fully plastic with a curved banana-like design earning its glorious nickname, you guess it - the banana phone.
This phone is powered by Kai OS instead of the outdated Symbian OS. The best thing about Kai OS is that it is supported by many popular developers hence why they can offer some of the more mainstream apps like WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube, Gmail, Google Map and Facebook just to name a few. While the apps are interesting, the 8110 has no touchscreen so for all your input operation, you have to painstakingly type on the keypad numerous times to navigate and also spell out words. Just like the good old days eh? Not really. After years of comfortably typing on a glass screen, going back to keypad typing is nothing short of torture.
That aside, the addition of popular modern apps is a welcome feature of this phone. If you really need to check your social media accounts or checkout messages on WhatsApp, you can do all those readily on this phone, typing-torture regardless. Naturally, using those apps plus 4G or Wi-Fi connectivity drains the battery much faster compared to being just on standby.
I originally planned to give this phone to my son so he can use it at his dormitory and leave his iPhone at home. You know how’s hostels like, people lose or get their smartphone confiscated all the time. At least with this cheap Nokia, you don’t feel the pain too much if something untoward happen to it. Alas, like I’ve explained before, typing on this phone is a pain in the ass, so much so that he’d rather risk using his iPhone at school than use this abomination. I can’t blame him for that.
So would I recommend Nokia 8110 4G or similar 4G feature phones? As a backup phone sure but never as your daily driver.
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