Every night is girls’ night with HMD’s Barbie phone

I grew up throughout a really fascinating age in know-how. I’ve seen the evolution of the cellphone into the smartphone everyone knows and love at present. I bear in mind getting the Motorola V60i, my first cellphone, again in center college to make use of whereas out with pals. Throughout my childhood, the now classic cellphone was an enormous a part of my life. It allowed me to speak and cross the time. I lengthy thought the times of T9 texting and enjoying Snake had been behind me as I obtained my fingers on the iPhone 4S and by no means regarded again. At the very least till I started using HMD’s Barbie phone.

All year long, I stored up with HMD’s Barbie phone. This Mattel-licenced Barbie Cellphone is paying homage to early 2000s Nokia units. This retro flip phone has taken me again to center college and early highschool days when telephones did not have entry to social media, content material creation instruments, and a plethora of how to have a espresso delivered to my entrance door. The HMD Barbie Phone is a blast from the previous, spattered in scorching pink, bedazzled jewels and stickers.

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Barbie Cellphone

This nostalgia-fueled flip cellphone is impressed by Mattel’s Barbie line. That includes a 2.8-inch show and a 1.7-inch show on the clamshell, journey again to the early 2000s. HMD designed its Barbie cellphone to be a break free from social apps. 

Model

HMD

Show

2.8-inches

RAM

512MB

Storage

4GB

Battery

1,450mAh

Rear digicam

5-megapixel

Colours

Energy Pink

Worth

$129

Launch date

October 1, 2024

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HMD’s Barbie cellphone is a break from fashionable smartphone luxuries

There is a discernable trade-off in not gaining access to social media

HMD’s Barbie cellphone is correct consistent with retro units. It retains that basic clamshell flip phone-style design. With that comes the removing of all fashionable software program and help. The Barbie cellphone is a bare-bones package deal. It encompasses a 2.8-inch important show and a 1.7-inch show on its clamshell exterior, surrounded by a reflective floor. It gives a modest 5-megapixel rear digicam. With solely 512GB of RAM and operating Qualcomm’s 215 processor, you are taking a look at a tool which may as properly have been ripped from the clutches of 2003.

In its advertising and marketing main as much as its October launch, HMD positioned the Barbie cellphone to be a tool to “disconnect” from “distracting apps.” This consists of not gaining access to X (previously Twitter) or doomscrolling on TikTok. There’s one thing quaint about not opening up my cellphone on impulse and slogging by means of every social media platform, catching up on the newest dangerous information. With minimal app entry to Calendar, E mail, Snake, and Google Maps. As a substitute of Spotify, I have been introduced again to having built-in MP3 participant help to load my favourite tracks. That does imply you may be totally disconnected from the bigger bubbles of your smartphone ecosystem. HMD’s Barbie cellphone runs KaiOS, and is exterior the Android ecosystem fully.

Nevertheless, abandoning up to date software program and specs comes at a value. With an archaic digicam at your disposal, there’s little or no purpose to shoot photographs or seize video on the Barbie cellphone. Until you are going for a classic low-res model, you may possible be dissatisfied within the grainy and poor distinction from most photographs.

The cellphone additionally operates on T9, so I needed to brush up on my abilities. I used to be nervous at first, particularly having to kind in my Wi-Fi password. Fortunately, after a number of digits, muscle reminiscence started to kick in. As soon as I used to be arrange, I fired off some texts simply to show to myself I nonetheless had the ability.

The novelties of the Barbie cellphone lie within the IP

Every little thing that makes the Barbie cellphone distinctive comes from its license

HMD’s cellphone would not be all that noteworthy in 2024 with out its half partnership with Mattel. The Barbie license giveaway to a strong array of novelties and on-device options. The Barbie cellphone ships in a big field stuffed with equipment to customise your cellphone with. Alongside the bottom cellphone and branded case, you obtain two additional Barbie-inspired again covers, stickers, gems, and a beaded lanyard to connect to the cellphone. Whereas not historically one thing I care about or search for from a cellphone, it is exhausting to argue that it isn’t enjoyable to customise the look of your gadget.

The Barbie affect additionally extends into the on-device expertise. Even when turning on and activating the cellphone, customized Barbie audio performs over the speaker. There’s a whole Barbie-inspired UI on the gadget as properly. The Contacts menu icon is the long-lasting facet profile picture of Barbie. The Gallery app is a Malibu-esque icon and Messages even present textual content bubbles between the long-lasting character and Ken. Even the alphanumeric keyboard has small Barbie-inspired icons imprinted on it. If all of that wasn’t sufficient, they went forward and baked a Barbie-themed model of Snake. Whereas none of those are essentially promoting options, it is extra in regards to the sum of its components. A full-blown nostalgic Barbie expertise is what you are shopping for into.

Did HMD’s Barbie cellphone arrive too late?

I might be remiss to not take into consideration the reception to this cellphone in 2023

The fandom round Barbie feels timeless. There is a unending cycle of youngsters changing into hooked up to the dolls and larger IP, rising up and feeling nostalgic for Barbie. Due to that, I feel HMD’s Barbie cellphone will at all times have a distinct segment viewers. Nevertheless, I can not deny that the viewers for this cellphone would have been exponentially bigger had it launched final summer time.

Within the throes of recognition with Greta Gurwig’s Barbie movie, the zeitgeist for the IP was at an all-time excessive. I may solely think about the waves of followers heading into the theaters with their HMD Barbie cellphone final summer time. However alas, die-hard followers can now buy a branded cellphone for $129.