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

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 right this moment. I bear in mind getting the Motorola V60i, my first cellphone, again in center college to make use of whereas out with mates. 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 bought my palms on the iPhone 4S and by no means appeared again. At the least till I started using HMD’s Barbie phone.

All year long, I stored up with HMD’s Barbie phone. This Mattel-licenced Barbie Telephone 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 the way 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 cellphone is a break from trendy smartphone luxuries

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

HMD’s Barbie cellphone is correct in step with retro units. It retains that traditional clamshell flip phone-style design. With that comes the removing of all trendy software program and assist. The Barbie cellphone is a bare-bones bundle. It encompasses a 2.8-inch foremost show and a 1.7-inch show on its clamshell exterior, surrounded by a reflective floor. It provides 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 which may as nicely have been ripped from the clutches of 2003.

In its advertising 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 every social media platform, catching up on the newest unhealthy 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 assist to load my favourite tracks. That does imply you will be totally disconnected from the bigger bubbles of your smartphone ecosystem. HMD’s Barbie cellphone runs KaiOS, and is exterior the Android ecosystem utterly.

Nonetheless, 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 pictures or seize video on the Barbie cellphone. Until you are going for a classic low-res type, you will doubtless be dissatisfied within the grainy and poor distinction from most pictures.

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 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 cellphone lie within the IP

Every part 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 further 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 arduous to argue that it is not 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 enduring aspect profile picture of Barbie. The Gallery app is a Malibu-esque icon and Messages even present textual content bubbles between the enduring 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 concerning the sum of its elements. A full-blown nostalgic Barbie expertise is what you are shopping for into.

Did HMD’s Barbie cellphone arrive too late?

I would 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 children turning into hooked up to the dolls and better IP, rising up and feeling nostalgic for Barbie. Due to that, I believe HMD’s Barbie cellphone will at all times have a distinct segment viewers. Nonetheless, 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.