This Flip Phone Changed My Digital Habits

[@stevemuzak8526]

I was on a vacation and took that phone with me. Using that phone for a month was like liberation. I was relaxed for weeks. Greatest feeling ever.

[@frankcampanelli858]

I’m not wondering if by chance you were on vacation in the Caribbean. From what I’m reading about this phone it only works (supposedly) in North American countries. Can’t see that being true though.

[@binjabdu]

@@frankcampanelli858 check the bands, in switzerland it is working

[@yorusuyasoul69420]

It works in dubai ​@@frankcampanelli858

[@Puerile.]

A QWERTY version of this would be a sick communicator device. Yes, there are those Unihertz phones, but their keyboard layout is... quite odd.

[@JessicaFEREM]

The clicks iphone case is probably what you're looking for. it's an iphone 14/15 case that gives you keys that the designer of the blackberry keyboard helped design.

[@JMANE187]

I had a Cat S22 Flip it’s easy to text if you use swipe gesture I remember not having a problem with it and also typing fast still

[@Puerile.]

@@JessicaFEREM Going back to the iPhone just defeats the purpose of the video. Also, Clicks just makes it very unpocketable. It has its place, but not for digital minimalism.

[@cholst1]

Never had a QWERTY keyboard on a phone pre smartphone. T9 was the shit.

[@Apocalypse12344]

I just ordered one of these. It seems that this phone is exactly what I´ve been looking for, the middle ground. I´m able to listen to music, record audio diary entries, look at maps and contact people via Whatsapp (I wouldn´t use it otherwise, but literally 100% of the people I know use that instead of regular messages). It has features I´ll mostly use not for comfort, but for security and as tools, apart from listening to music, but I´ll allow myself that since music somewhat helps with my anxiety disorder, and it helps me control my mood & stay calm (so you could argue that it´s also being used as a tool I guess :D). And I think what you mentioned about the ergonomics of the device holds up. For example, if I´m visiting a city or place I´ve never visited before, I can still feel secure that I do have a navigation app available, but because reaching and using it is not as convenient, I´ll rather just try to get to where I need to go without it. That said I´d still have the option to look the route up, which gives a sense of security. Overall, seems like the best of both worlds. We´ll see once it arrives and I get to test it, I´m so excited!

[@JW39655]

Pro -tip to anyone looking to get this- it has talk to text option so you dont have to type on the small screen or do swipe, i find talk to text very convenient, and it being the google based talk to text it is really accurate as well.

[@emmashaye]

I have this phone and I love it! My only problem is that I'm a social media manager, and sometimes I need to post stories to IG on the go, so I haven't been able to ditch my iPhone yet. But if I can find a way to get around that, I 100% recommend this phone!

[@JessicaFEREM]

maybe try the clicks iphone case? it's a blackberry keyboard for the iphone 14/15.

[@spencers-adventures]

I agree there are definitely just some things that only a smartphone can do. It’s an expectation in the workplace many times! The Cat can do social media obviously but I imagine it would be pretty tough to manage accounts/post reels etc from it. The smartphone is great for what it’s meant to do, it’s just a bit much sometimes haha

[@CortneySweetheart]

Awesome review thank you ❤

[@Luncheon23]

Thank you for this honest and balanced review. As someone who does not use Instagram, Facebook and most other social media, but am reliant on email for work, I think this phone may be a good recommendation as it offers all the essentials. The only issue is that of weaning myself off the smooth user experience of conventional touchscreen phones, in particular KZbin! Looking forward to your next video!

[@spencers-adventures]

Thank you :) I’m glad you liked the review! I may try out the Jelly Star mini smartphone and review that later - full smartphone function just super small/same ergonomic issues of the CAT 👍

[@edwsec]

I love this phone, but after almost a month of use, I'm going to return it. It has issues with the lock screen, where the lock icon overlaps with the time digits. However, the most important problem is that it lacks any kind of support. Since it has such an old version of Android and can't be updated, it has many security flaws. I work in the IT sector, and it makes me feel very insecure to have applications that could potentially be exploited by hackers on a phone like this. And that's even though I only use it for Telegram, but I know the phone is still vulnerable. That's my reason for returning it and looking for another option. I've seen the 'Jelly Star,' but it has the same issue-it's not up to date with security patches, something that is essential nowadays, especially if you link your Gmail account.

[@blackboxbs8642]

Unless you are a VIP i dont think you are in any danger. Most hacks are phising and 2FA exists.

[@Mobocracy2000]

I actually managed to break mine lol! fell while listening to music in the shower and the back cover poped off, killing the battery. plan on getting a new battery soon as I went straight back to old habits on my iPhone 10. mine seemed to have a bad keyboard too.

[@crouton-mt]

I own this phone and it's such a weird thing It has excellent hardware but Android 11 and its apps really isn't optimized for keypad usage so I end up using the Touchscreen for alot of things The annoying bit is that I have to press the pound key every time I'm in a searchbox to disable the predictive text used for the Keypad The phone also takes a whole minute to boot up but I swear they purposely stall it so the fancy Cat boot screen plays A fix for the slow OS is to uninstall every default app and make sure any apps you download are to an external MicroSD (it's still slow but it helps alot I could even run a DS emulator after this) i bought it for 40$ so I definitely got what I paid for and then some I take the flip everywhere with me since its waterproof and it takes decent photos if you use OpenCamera with Camera2 API (yes this phone has it) the camera has some strange black and white effect but this doesnt show up when you take RAW though it still shows in video

[@reachnandini]

Ok then I won't buy

[@JMANE187]

I had the CAT S22 Flip it was a great phone. The only issue I had was it didn’t have Android Auto (need gps for work), a little heavy for the small size, and no fingerprint sensor. Otherwise it was a great phone and using swipe gesture to text was fast and quick.

[@spencers-adventures]

That’s fair! I just use the GPS and sit it in a cupholder but it’s not nearly as convenient lol. Hopefully they’ll make an update to this one day, because it’s a pretty unique device 👍

[@JMANE187]

@@spencers-adventures yeah if I had to go back I would say screw it and do what you do with the phone. I don’t need the large screen and to use android auto I can figure out directions from a small screen. Not ideal, but doable. That’s the point of the phone though.

[@gobindgurung3234]

It has minor network issue(network bug i guess) or maybe its globally unlocked phone.Specially when you are receiving or attending lots of call per day and all of a sudden you can't make a call or receive any call and only get aware when by receiving miscalls notification.But after rebooting phone manually, problem get solved but temporarily only**..

[@JessicaFEREM]

There's a phone called the Unihertz Jelly series that are basically just the top half of this phone. it still has a headphone jack and has all the performance of a normal smartphone, it's just very tiny, and shaped like a jellybean.

[@spencers-adventures]

Yeah I've had my eye on it! It's a very nice looking device too - perhaps one day I'll review it :)

[@gblargg]

Isn't the top half of this phone just a normal smartphone, albeit smaller?

[@gblargg]

9:27 You can use video call apps on this, just not Apple's proprietary ones. Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, etc. work.

[@rynomclaughlin1595]

Beware, you can't use data on AT&T with this phone, its incompatible and AT&T will remotely put a data block on your line if you try to use this phone. Even if you put your SIM card in a different or new phone you'll have to call AT&T to have them take off the block on data, it's why I returned this phone for a Pixel 8a. I really wanted to use this phone but can't.

[@dacoolestzzz]

mines arriving this week and I plan to mainly use the web, google maps, spotify, yt, discord and subway surfers lol

[@JessicaFEREM]

I'm glad that people can still get their phones dumb-ish but still smart. there's also the clicks iphone case that turns your iphone 14/15 into a blackberry that I thought was really cool. also iOS allows you to delete most every app on your phone, iirc you only have to have 7 apps installed related to basic functionality like safari/settings/appstore/etc.

[@spencers-adventures]

I looked that up, it’s a very cool case!

[@zooboumafou]

Smartphone are so addictive.

[@mar_cel]

Just got home, opend youtube and there was your video :)

[@Mike-qo8nm]

Can you use apps like KZbin with the screen closed? Just for sound

[@gblargg]

Probably not, but NewPipe works fine on this (and any) smartphone when screen is off.

[@lordmarc4639]

U did good on this video.

[@carlblack7780]

What provider do you in Canada? Will Rodgers and Bell work?

[@spencers-adventures]

I would imagine yeah! I use Koodo and there are no issues and I imagine Rogers or bell would be the same.

[@kendallroysdealer]

Great video. Thanks, Casey Affleck

[@Sakurasan2023]

Great video 📹 👍

[@PurdyDecoys]

Are you able to put parental controls to block app downloading and web searches? Helpful video!

[@AngelTheDuro]

You can there are a couple options such as bulldog blacker, blocksite, google parental controls and qustodio. Personally I use qustodio free trial and works great

[@DesertPunks]

Run this thing daily, it has some inconveniences for sure but my screen time is way down!!

[@spencers-adventures]

It’s such a good little phone. Great to hear from you buddy!

[@DesertPunks]

You've been a huge inspiration, I'm happy your channel's blown up!

[@Landon-vp7un]

That's great I use a flip phone too The flip is making a come back it's great way too stop smart phone a diction Great video

[@spencers-adventures]

Thank you!

[@RandoReport]

It's a great dumbphone, but I had a problem with the touch screen. I couldn't enter any text on the screen and often got a lot of random symbols and gibberish. Even using a stylus didn't help at all. I'm sure that the point is to use the screen less, but it made me hate the device. I sent it back and am happily using a Pixel 6a now.

[@DriMarqangel]

I had this phone and I wanted to love it, however the lack of Android Auto was a deal breaker for me.

[@dormioTV]

great video :)

[@CaptainVece]

Probably a silly question but how's the GPS? That's probably my only concern when buying these type of phones since I have a terrible sense of direction.

[@spencers-adventures]

It’s a bit wonky sometimes (arrow representing you doesn’t always point the direction I’m moving) but it does always get me where I’m headed! I haven’t used that much lately so further testing is needed in that area. I use it more so as a reference rather than a full on navigator in the way I would have used my iPhone(mounted to the dash of my car)

[@CaptainVece]

@@spencers-adventures Good to know; thanks for the reply!

[@ashikrojan]

can i use spotify in it

[@Alomah79]

Yes!

[@miosz5808]

can you show me how dualingo work on it?

[@spencers-adventures]

I can likely make a KZbin short on it in the future 👍

[@adamwragg4606]

Does look and sound good, can't go wrong for that price. I'm just unsure how id be able to use Spotify and audible while I'm out on my round at work 😅 otherwise I'd probably give this a go

[@spencers-adventures]

I’m certain you can use Spotify and Audible on it actually! I didn’t download those apps but you could 👍

[@adamwragg4606]

@@spencers-adventures oh OK 🤔👌 I may well give it a try then. I do give myself times of no distraction now, when I walk to walk for instance. I've got a long way to go though

[@spencers-adventures]

@@adamwragg4606 that’s great you’re taking space to leave devices behind already, that may be all you need!

[@adamwragg4606]

@@spencers-adventures I obviously take my phone to work as I need it, if not for anything else, contact purposes but I leave it in my pocket while walking to work and just take in the outdoors ☺️ try and appreciate the world we live in

[@mpk_666]

Hey Spencer , does google pay work?

[@spencers-adventures]

No I don’t believe it has an NFC, so Google Pay is not possible unfortunately

[@wildace4535]

spencer I feel like you should try to get your hands onto a pager/beeper

[@spencers-adventures]

I would love that honestly!

[@QuentinPlisson]

Can this phone read QR codes ?

[@Yetipunk]

I have one and the best thing is it's so heavy when you put it in your pocket it pulls your pants down if you're like me and have no butt...all legs baby lol

[@Justmylukc]

How do I know if it works with mint mobile ?

[@spencers-adventures]

I looked that up online and found a Reddit thread with users sharing that it worked on Mint without issue. This phone comes set up for T-Mobile and Mint uses T-Mobile’s towers so it should be all good 👍

[@gblargg]

Works fine with Tello (a similar MVNO), which uses T-Mobile.

[@veggie-vamp8617]

How is it you are able to keep your smart phone while testing out these dumb phones at the same time? Do you have two separate numbers? For someone who’s not even 30 yet, I’m very technologically challenged and have no idea how this all works, but I’d love to try out a dumb phone while not giving up my smart phone entirely.

[@spencers-adventures]

Good question! What I do is just take the SIM card out and switch it, and export my contacts to each new phone I'm using! Right now my smartphone and Punkt are just kicking around without a SIM in it, because I only ever use one at a given time. And if I ever needed my iPhone for something I can use it on wifi still 👍 hope that helps!

[@gblargg]

I've used Google Voice for over 10 years, gives me the same phone number on every phone (I have many). I'm not bound to a particular cellular carrier or card. If a phone has no SIM card, I can still do calls and texts over Wi-Fi.

[@carrodaspamonha3580]

is this phone android auto capable?

[@spencers-adventures]

Not sure! My car is too old for that option lol

[@jeremykrall1694]

Unfortunately, no it isn't.

[@carrodaspamonha3580]

@@jeremykrall1694 tks

[@sanaat9262]

Is there a KZbin less dumb phone is ,it possible to watch KZbin on the cat 22 for very long ?

[@spencers-adventures]

I couldn’t see myself happily watching a lot of KZbin on here. It’s pretty well good for using KZbin to get some specific information, but for longer viewing I’d want a bigger screen. Hope that helps!

[@FullaEels]

Ive seen these japanese flip phones from like, 2015 that run android, and tbh a more modern version of that would be cool. Apps available if you need them, etc Clamshells are more durable by design, less dominant in your pocket.

[@Dave_Parrott]

They still are making new models. Have to import from Japan, though.

[@4minyte888]

i wanted to know ur service provider

[@spencers-adventures]

I'm in Canada, and I use Koodo

[@bentahu1097]

I was wondering if this can run banking apps? If anything id want to keep those apps

[@spencers-adventures]

I think you can but this doesn’t get new android security updates so I’d be a bit worried about running banking on here. People certainly do though and this device is capable of it

[@gblargg]

@@spencers-adventures Yep, mine only has a 2022 update, and probably no more.

[@OdinsCloud]

Every review of a phone is some metro sexual-urban perspective.

[@reachnandini]

Why did you punkt? S22 is surely better. Thats not very frugal

[@spencers-adventures]

The Punkt is something I purchased close to 2 years ago now, before I was sharing on the channel. The CAT S22 was purchased with the intention of reviewing the device on the channel to help people wondering about it, and I’ve enjoyed it since that time. I don’t think it has any bearing on frugal/not frugal

[@reachnandini]

@@spencers-adventures okay