Feature phones, those mobile devices that are often and derisively referred to as “dumb phones,” are getting smarter thanks to the Android operating system. In general, feature phones are either of the flip or candy bar variety, and they tend to be more affordable than smartphones because they mostly focus on voice calling, text messaging, traditional numeric keypads, and battery life; however, quite a few of these devices are extending their functionality while retaining their retro sensibility.
Reliance Jio, a cell phone manufacturer that has enjoyed significant success with its JioPhone line, recently announced that it will look into incorporating the Android mobile operating system in future products. The latest version of the JioPhone is one of the most advanced feature phones in the market thanks to KaiOS, which is a fork of the mobile Firefox OS that failed to catch on years ago. While the JioPhone has an impressive collection of HTML5 apps, the problem is that its hardware configuration is not robust enough to handle WhatsApp and other mobile features that consumers want.
The problem for tech firms such as Reliance Jio is that they have to walk the line between form factor, cost and intent; in the case of the JioPhone, the company has to decide if it should incorporate a touchscreen without sacrificing the numeric keypad once it chooses Android as its operating system.
Advanced feature phones have been met with mixed reactions. In 2016, Kyocera introduced the Dura XE model, which is essentially a very powerful flip-phone powered by Android running on a Snapdragon 210 chip; this is not exactly a budget feature phone since it costs $270, and this is what Reliance Jio will have to consider in the near future.
In overseas markets such as Japan, advanced feature phones are sold to elderly users who are interested in the candy bar and flip-phone form factors. The Musashi flip-phone manufactured by Freetel, a company based in Tokyo, merges the old with the new thanks to a clever design that combines a touchscreen complemented with an intuitive numeric keypad. With a $249 price tag, the Musashi is a pricey feature phone.
Yet another concern for feature phone manufacturers is the upcoming Voice over LTE revolution, which will be the next generation of push-to-talk communications. Should VoLTE prove to be popular, feature phones will have to considerably upgrade their hardware to integrate this new functionality, thus increasing overall cost.
