Each evening is women’ evening with HMD’s Barbie telephone

I grew up throughout a really attention-grabbing age in know-how. I’ve seen the evolution of the cellphone into the smartphone everyone knows and love at the moment. I keep in mind getting the Motorola V60i, my first cellphone, again in center college to make use of whereas out with buddies. Throughout my youth, the now classic cellphone was a giant a part of my life. It allowed me to speak and move the time. I lengthy thought the times of T9 texting and taking part in Snake had been behind me as I obtained my palms on the iPhone 4S and by no means regarded again. No less than till I started using HMD’s Barbie phone.

All year long, I saved 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 sizzling pink, bedazzled jewels and stickers.

HMD’s Barbie telephone is a break from trendy smartphone luxuries

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

HMD’s Barbie telephone is correct according to retro units. It retains that basic clamshell flip phone-style design. With that comes the elimination of all trendy software program and help. The Barbie telephone is a bare-bones bundle. It contains a 2.8-inch important show and a 1.7-inch show on its clamshell exterior, surrounded by a reflective floor. It presents a modest 5-megapixel rear digital camera. With solely 512GB of RAM and operating Qualcomm’s 215 processor, you are taking a look at a tool that may as nicely have been ripped from the clutches of 2003.

In its advertising and marketing main as much as its October launch, HMD positioned the Barbie telephone 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 telephone on impulse and slogging by means of every social media platform, catching up on the newest unhealthy information. With minimal app entry to Calendar, Electronic mail, Snake, and Google Maps. As an alternative of Spotify, I have been introduced again to having built-in MP3 participant help to load my favourite tracks. That does imply you will be solely disconnected from the bigger bubbles of your smartphone ecosystem. HMD’s Barbie telephone runs KaiOS, and is outdoors the Android ecosystem fully.

Nevertheless, abandoning modern software program and specs comes at a value. With an archaic digital camera at your disposal, there’s little or no motive to shoot images or seize video on the Barbie telephone. Except you are going for a classic low-res type, you will doubtless be dissatisfied within the grainy and poor distinction from most images.

The telephone additionally operates on T9, so I needed to brush up on my abilities. I used to be nervous at first, particularly having to sort in my Wi-Fi password. Fortunately, after just a few 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 telephone lie within the IP

Every part that makes the Barbie telephone distinctive comes from its license

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

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 machine as nicely. 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 telephone arrive too late?

I would be remiss to not take into consideration the reception to this telephone in 2023

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

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