Hands-on and review of Nokia 2780 Flip

Abdulla had a chance to play with Nokia 2780 Flip, which Is a US-exclusive mobile phone that looks identical to the 2660 Flip at first glance. However, there is a lot of details that make this phone better than the globally available 2660. Abdulla also considers this phone is quite close to being the ultimate feature phone available today.

The 2780 fixes most of my complaints about the Global 2660. The price is set at about US$90 and some retailers outside the US already have it in stock also.

The box brings the handset, which is available in either blue or red, product brochures, a usb-c charging cable and a charging brick.

Here goes the video from Abdulla, or you can check the text below if you can’t watch it.

 

 

Hardware

The 2780 has a 1.77-inch display on the outside that shows the time and notifications. The form factor is very similar to the 2660, and when it’s flipped open you have a 2.7-inch display. The keys are large and smooth, making it a very good option for people with disabilities. The D-pad is also top notch, with nicely defined clicks

The display has pretty poor viewing angles but works well enough in the sun. The resolution is not super sharp but it serves its purpose.

On the right side are the keys for the volume rocker and an emergency call key with which you can contact a pre-selected person in emergencies. What is the most surprising thing, this phone comes with a USB-C charging port!

The back holds a 5-megapixel camera with fixed focus and a torch next to it. The camera resolution here is acceptable, although the software to use it’s very basic and you shouldn’t expect much in terms of smart processing.

To access the battery, the device must be closed and the back cover is easy to remove. There you’ll find the 1450 mAh battery and a SIM card slot as well as a micro SD card slot if you want to expand the memory.

The whole phone is made of plastic, and the same high-quality workmanship as seen on the old Nokia models in more expensive segments is unfortunately not present here. The phone looks cheap but also cheerful.

 

Unlike the 2660, you don’t have the option of buying a dual-sim card variant with the 2780. But it also supports 4G connectivity, Voice over LTE for HD phone calls, and it runs on a better processor, the Snapdragon 215 with 512 megabytes RAM and 4 gygabytes of internal memory, which is expandable. KAI OS, the operating system here, takes up a lot of that space and requires more powerful hardware than the simpler S30+ platform found on the 2660.

 

The call quality seems very good, especially for the price you pay. The speaker is loud enough but doesn’t offer much in terms of clarity.

Other important features include BlueTooth 4.2 support, WiFi and WiFi hotspot support. There is also a 3.5 mm headphone jack and wireless FM radio support too.

 

Software

The 2780 is the first Nokia device to run KaiOS 3.1. Abdulla didn’t use it extensively enough to determine if it has similar issues to the other older KaiOS 2 devices, but he noticed a smaller selection of apps available for the device. For an international audience, the phone doesn’t have a Whatsapp app, which could be a hindrance for some, especially if you’re using it as your only device. The web browser is also not fantastic unless you’re using the basic functions. But it supports a QR code reader, has Google Maps, and you can enjoy a very basic but functional YouTube experience. Apart from Whatsapp, there are no music streaming apps on the platform, so you have to manually page load MP3s the old fashioned way if you’re into music, or use the FM radio.

Another limitation is that the phone only supports up to 1000 contacts, but luckily you can transfer your contacts from an Android device to the device via Gmail contact sync. As for other features, the phone has a voice recorder, a notes app, an email app and so on.

There are also games pre-installed, the most notable being Snake, which runs quite well, although it is not the faithful remake on the S30+ powered Nokia Feature Phones.

 

As for battery life, Nokia claims that you can get up to 18 days of standby time and about 7 hours of talk time with this device. The latter seems about right, but if you rely heavily on 4G, the battery will drain pretty quickly, within about 2 days. For light use, you should be able to get about 5-6 days.

 

How does it compare to the Nokia 2660?

The 2780 has a more powerful processor, a smarter operating system with an app store, USB C, a 5-megapixel camera. WiFi Hotspot is also a very nice feature that the 2660 doesn’t have. But the interface isn’t as responsive and simple as the 2660 Flip. The plastic also feels a bit flimsier, and both lack Whatsapp support, which might be important to some.

For almost the same money, this is a good featurephone, although the lack of WhatsApp and dual sim support might prevent some of using it as primary phone. If you can put up with these two issues, it’s a much better all-rounder than the 2660 Flip, where the sacrifices in daily functionality aren’t as abrupt compared to your average smartphone. Both devices will appeal to different target groups: the 2660 for those looking for an almost complete tech detox, while this device is for those looking for a bridge between mobile phones and smartphones.