When HMD Global took over the Nokia cellphone brand, the company didn’t just use the name for modern smartphones, but also a series of candybar-style feature phones that bring classic Nokia designs back to life.
The latest exampls? The Nokia 6300 4G and Nokia 8000 4G. The former is a 49 Euro (~$60) phone that HMD says its most affordable phone to date with support for the popular WhatsApp messaging app. The latter is a 79 Euro (~$95) phone with a larger screen, higher-resolution camera, and a “glass-like” design.
Both phones feature Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a microSD card for up to 32GB of removable storage. And both run KaiOS, a lightweight operating system designed for feature phones with support for apps including YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
With small non-touch displays, numeric keypads and navigation buttons, these probably aren’t the best phones for heavy texters. But the phones’ 1,500 mAh batteries should provide up to four weeks of standby time or 7+ hours of talk time. Try getting that from any modern smartphone.
The Nokia 6300 4G has a 2.4 inch QVGA display, a VGA rear camera, while the Nokia 8000 4G has a 2.8 inch screen and a 2MP camera.
Both phones have micro USB ports, 3.5mm headphone jacks, and support for FM radio – but only when headphones are plugged in, since the phones use the headset cable as an antenna.
HMD says the phones are available in “select markets,” so pricing and availability may vary by region.
If you never expect to take a nice looking photo or need a good looking map then this is the phone for you. A used phone is a much better value than this. This has to be a joke.
There’s still a lot of older folks that actually prefer simple feature phones like this, and want nothing to do with smartphones, new or used. They just want a basic device to make occasional phone calls and any additional features come secondary to physical buttons and an easy-to-use interface.
Not my cup of tea, but I understand the appeal and it’s not always about price and value.
Also people who want a second phone, or one which can let them get away from the always-connected life (though WA functionality makes this a bit less relevant for that).
I’ve been waiting for a hotspot-enabling candybar for a while, just haven’t found one to replace my trusty 301 yet. If they release this as a US LTE bands variant (dual-sim preferred), this will work.
I often miss being able to carry around my tiny Motorola SLVR L7. Really wish they made an updated version to work with 4G networks. For being a ‘feature phone’ by today’s standards, it was always capable of handling the basics and had a premium feel every bit as nice as my larger smartphones.