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TCL Classic Flip Phone Review (Cricket Wireless)

TCL Classic flip phone review will give some insights about the phone’s performance and features that may be useful for your future references in deciding on a new device.

TCL Classic Flip Review

The TCL Classic flip phone was launched on June 2022. There is a range of flip phone options, and the TCL Classic is one to consider. This phone puts their shoes on as a dedicated phone for anyone seeking specific needs. Despite the simple looks, the TCL Classic flip phone has some attractive points.

This phone offers an intuitive display with tactile keypads to make it easy for users to navigate the device. It can also take pictures and videos with its rear camera. But how about the overall performance? Is it good?

If you’ve thought of buying a flip phone but have zero ideas about it, it’s better to follow us through this TCL Classic review. After reading the full review, we hope you will decide what you should buy to fulfill your needs.

Specifications

TCL Classic flip phone specifications:

Weight139g
Dimensions107.1 x 55 x 19.8 mm
OSAOSP based on Android 11
Screen size2.8-inch (internal), 1.44-inch (external)
Resolution240 x 320
ProcessorMediaTek MT6739-CH
CPUQuad-core (4×1.5 GHz Cortex-A53)
RAM512MB
Storage4GB
Battery1,850mAh, Removable
Camera2MP
FeaturesWi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB Type-C, HAC M4/T4

Design

TCL Classic Flip Phone
TCL Classic Flip Phone

When you first see the TCL Classic, you may notice there is nothing special about this phone’s looks. It is just a small and lightweight device with a dimension of 107.1 x 55 x 19.8mm and a 139g weight. With those measurements, you will feel comfortable holding the phone.

You will see a tiny 1.44-inch external screen on the front outside of the device. Above it, there is a single camera embedded. The phone color comes in Volcano Black; it’s a doff color, but if you can see, there is a texture to make you easily grip it. Meanwhile, at the back, there is nothing much going on.

Inside the phone, there is a 2.8-inch main screen. It also comes with a tactile and large keypad to make it easy to input the text. There are also three shortcut keypad buttons, such as starred contacts, messages, and undo buttons.

Read also: TCL Classic Flip Phone User Manual

Display

TCL Classic Flip Phone Display

The TCL Classic flip phone features two display screens – typical specs on flip phones. The main screen is placed inside. It’s a 2.8-inch internal screen with 240 x 320 resolution. If you’re new to this phone, you’ll feel the display isn’t big enough. However, it’s the bare minimum you can get.

Despite the small size, the main screen is comfortable in most people’s eyes. Since it’s a QVGA screen quality, you might notice some flaws, like a dull interface and the ‘not-so’ color accuracy.

The other display is placed outside of the phone. It consists of a 1.44-inch external screen. Like other external screens on flip phones, this external screen only shows any phone’s notifications. Like the message and call you received, the date and time, the phone’s signals, and the battery capacity.

Camera

TCL Classic Flip Phone Camera

The camera is the least priority of a flip phone. You won’t see fancy camera features and specifications on the TCL Classic. It only has a single camera. The camera quality itself is not that good. It’s a 2MP resolution – yes, it’s such a low megapixel.

However, we’re not expecting much with it. The 2MP camera is enough to take a realistic picture (not for social media purposes!). Besides taking pictures, users can also record 480p video quality.

There are no advanced features to enhance the picture or video’s quality. You won’t even find an LED flash to help you get a brighter picture while taking it in dim situations.

Storage

The TCL Classic flip phone is equipped with 4GB of internal storage. It’s a decent space for a feature phone. Despite the virtual spaces, users can only get 1.8GB capacity because it was eaten up by the phone’s systems and pre-installed apps. However, we think it’s enough since you can’t do much with a feature phone.

You can try these two options if you’re urged to add more spaces to the device to save more files. First of all, you can regularly clear the phone’s caches. But, if you want a more convenient way, you can add the MicroSD to add more space, up to 8GB of external storage. But you need to spend some money since it isn’t included in the box.

Read also: TCL Flip Go Review: A Dedicated Flip Phone For Simple Activity

Performance

For the phone’s daily operations, the TCL Classic flip phone relies on 1.5GHz Quad-core MediaTek MT6739-CH. Not the best processor, but it’s quite familiar and dependable in a flip phone range. Instead of the high and blast performance, this chipset is concerned more with power efficiency and practicality.

The chipset comes along with 512MB of RAM. RAM (Random Access Memory) is supposed to store all of the phone’s caches from the running apps. The bigger RAM, the more spacious the phone’s operation. And, with 512MB, it’s a relatively small size.

We understand that as a low-spec phone, it doesn’t need a high amount of RAM since it focuses on the phone’s energy efficiency. However, it’s below the bare minimum. Users are very limited in using the device in professional matters. Forget about multitasking. We can’t even barely have a smooth app launch with this.

The TCL Classic flip phone has AOSP based on Android 11 to operate the systems. If you don’t know about AOSP, it’s an Android Open Source Project. It means the developers can build the OS based on Android 11 but with some customizations to be usable on their device.

Even though it’s Android 11, the AOSP version has some limitations here and there. Users can’t get more advanced features available on the original versions. The interface will also be different. It’s a little bit dull.

We find no sensors on the TCL Classic flip phone. Forget about a fingerprint reader or face recognition. You won’t find those two in this phone. The only feature we notice on this phone is their Hearing Aid Compatible M4/T4 feature.

Connectivity

The TCL Classic flip phone features 4G connectivity. This main network can still work perfectly in most places around the world. We can still access a fast and stable internet network with this connectivity. However, if you’re not in the mood to use the data connections or no network available. You can still use Wi-Fi connectivity to connect to the internet.

This phone also supports an HD Voice Call to give you a clear voice call quality. Besides those, you can also use Bluetooth and USB Type-C to share files. You can even turn your phone into a mobile hotspot with this device.

Battery

For the battery, the TCL Classic flip phone is equipped with a 1,850mAh battery capacity to power up the device. It’s not as large as smartphones, but it’s a standard size for a feature flip phone. It can last a day since it doesn’t have large apps. They claim it can last up to 10 hours of 4G talk time and 15.6 days of standby time.

The removable battery type is one thing we should compromise on. Why? Because we think these battery types are quite difficult to handle. It may be easy to insert in and out, but every time it’s broken, it may take a while since it’s not widely sold in the market.

Verdict

As a flip phone, TCL Classic has an outdated look, but the features inside it fulfilled the customers’ needs. If we conclude, the TCL Classic flip phone has a 2MP camera, Android 11 AOSP versions, and a 1,850 battery capacity.

But it also has some downsides, such as low RAM and low-quality display screens. After all, we think you can get flip phones with higher specs – or even smartphones with this price point.

Pros: 2MP camera, Android 11 AOSP version, long-lasting battery

Cons: low RAM, low internal storage