In the era of 5G phones, would you even consider getting a feature phone? Unless you live in an extremely remote place with completely no 4G connection or your work specifically requires you to use a feature phone for some reason, I can’t think of any good reason to do so. But what about 4G feature phones? I acquired and used a Nokia 8110 4G feature phone recently and here’s what I think about it.
Powering this banana phone is a modest Qualcomm Snapdragon 205 processor and just 4GB of internal eMMC storage. Ridiculous by today’s standard right? Well that’s the beauty of Kai OS that’s running this phone. A lightweight Linux-based OS targeted for feature phones in emerging markets. You get 4G and Wi-Fi connection on this phone which was one of the reasons I got this phone in the first place. But the truly main reason I got the 8110 is Whatsapp support. I got a kid in boarding school and letting him bring an iPhone to his dorm is a major security risk, not to mention specifically forbidden by the administration. So getting him use a feature phone albeit with 4G and Kai OS is the middle ground.
Apart from Whatsapp, Kai OS also supports a few other popular apps like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a rudimentary version of Google Maps. While having those apps on this small phone is great, the user experience is a whole different thing altogether. With no virtual keyboard like ordinary smartphones, you do all your typing on the *gasp* numeric keypad. Needless to say, it’s not the best user experience for this day and age. It was acceptable 20 years ago but a real pain today. Imagine just typing a simple hello would require pressing the keypads 14 times. No wonder my kid begged me to switch back to the iPhone after a week.
Other than the horrible typing experience, watching content such as videos on YouTube is less than stellar. The screen is small and the quality is sub par to say the least. All those shortcomings add up, making it difficult for me to recommend this phone to anyone. And the price tag is not exactly cheap either for a phone with rather limited features, over 200 ringgit in the market. You can get a decent second hand entry level smartphone at that price or any of those cheap Android Go devices. There is simply no concrete reason to get the 8110 4G unless you have a propensity for self-torture.
If you think this semi-feature phone battery will last as long as traditional Nokia phones, you’re mistaken because they really did not last past a day of use despite the lightweight Kai OS. I suspect the main culprit is the battery-hungry 4G or Wi-Fi connection. In a nutshell, the 8110 is a good idea on paper but terrible in real-world use. I would definitely not recommend anyone to buy it.
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