Key Takeaways
- Consumer Cellular now carries the Barbie Flip Phone, as of November 1.
- The HMD Barbie Flip Phone, a throwback device, runs on KaiOS 3.1, is limited to 4G LTE, and features a headphone jack.
- HMD, formerly the maker of Nokia phones, is becoming known for its novel ideas, such as the modular HMD Fusion.
Over the years, manufacturers have come out with several novelty phones that have either made a true difference in the industry or crashed and burned, and it’s usually been the latter. Back in 2018, we covered some horrible trends in the smartphone world, including 3D screens, built-in projectors, and dual-screen phones (well, we did say this was published in 2018, one year before the original Samsung Galaxy Fold was released). The tech world moves fast, and some phones and ideas get left in the dust (Amazon Fire Phone, anyone?). What thankfully hasn’t been completely left behind is the idea of enjoyably novelty devices, like the HMD Barbie Phone. It was released this month, and it’s going to soon be available in physical stores.
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Consumer Cellular, which is an MVNO running off of AT&T’s towers, and is perhaps more famously known for its presence in big-box stores like Walmart and Target, now carries the HMD Barbie Flip Phone in stores and online as of November 1. Right now, the phone is available, unlocked, on HMD’s website and goes for $130.
The Barbie Phone is a throwback to phones of old; it doesn’t run on Android (it runs on the Linux-based KaiOS 3.1), is limited to 4G LTE, and has a headphone jack. It only has 512MB of RAM, so don’t try to do heavy multitasking on it (you really couldn’t, even if you wanted to, anyway). While Consumer Cellular has not made this public through its social media channels yet, a representative from the company messaged Android Police with this information. Additionally, there is a page on Consumer Cellular’s website with the phone’s manual and quick start guide.
More wacky Android phones
Source: HMD/Consumer Cellular
The Barbie flip phone isn’t the first, and it certainly won’t be the last, wacky phone out in the wild. There have been a ton of them, and we talked about the most memorable off-the-wall mainstream Android phones we had ever seen as of last December. Few will forget the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, a phone that replicated the feel of a PSP Go and was capable of playing some PS1 games. How about we remember the YotaPhone 2, which came out in Russia in 2014 and featured an E Ink display as a second screen on the back of the phone? Lastly, in 2013, the Neptune Pine brought a fully functioning Android Phone to our wrists before Smartwatches became a mainstream thing.
HMD is no stranger to these wacky ideas. The HMD Fusion is a modular smartphone with interchangeable outfits that add functionality, such as a ring light or magnetic wireless charging, to the phone. We actually mentioned modular phones, such as Google’s Project Ara, in our aforementioned list of wacky Android phones. The Nothing CMF Phone 1 proved that modularity in smartphones can still be successful, and HMD wants the Fusion to continue that trend. The company recently released the HMD Skyline, a device that pushes Android smartphones in the right direction.
Consumer Cellular
Consumer Cellular, an MVNO known for its presence in stores like Walmart and Target, now sells the HMD Barbie Phone.