TCL officially unveils the Flip 3. And yes, it is an update to the company's current feature phone series. That means it has all the bells and whistles of doubled numbers, and updated connectivity technologies. However, it has one partially specific catch: it somehow rolls back its SoC to the original Flip.
Classic Business Look
The TCL Flip 3 keeps a simple, compact, and durable design, using the classic flip phone form factor. That’s it. Of course, the advantages of protection and modularity are already a given, but those too aren’t exactly something to specifically write home about. Generally not impressive, but hey, it does exactly what it is built to do.
A Singular Downgrade?
This feature phone is powered by the Qualcomm QM215 chipset, which is quite oddly the chipset of the very first original Flip. This makes the Flip 3 technically weaker than the Flip 2, which used the slightly more powerful MediaTek MT6739 SoC.
This supposedly updated unit is also stuck at 1GB of RAM, though at least the storage is doubled to 16GB (most likely eMMC). Its microSD expansion also followed suit, quadrupling from 128GB to 512GB this time. Given the compensating upgrades, I suppose performance still shouldn't be much of a trouble. It can still theoretically tackle any basic tasks that feature phones are designed to do to a snappy-ish degree.
Display Specifications
The Flip 3 features two displays: a 1.77-inch external screen with a resolution of 128×160 pixels, and a larger 3.2-inch internal display with a QVGA resolution of 240×320 pixels. Like the classic phones of old, the external display can show incoming calls, notifications, and discreet alerts.
Camera Performance
Weird SoC choice aside, almost everything else is thankfully upgraded. This includes the unit's camera, which provides an obligatory 5MP rear unit capable of capturing photos and recording 720p video at 30 frames per second. A baseline feature for snapping quick pictures and recording short (perhaps funny) clips.
Other Features
The TCL Flip 3 main connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C, and 3.5mm audio. It is also compatible with M4/T4 hearing aids. Its dual noise-canceling feature makes calls somewhat clearer for the listener on the other side (filtering the Flip 3 user’s voice), supported further by HD Voice functionality.
For the battery specs, it uses a typical 1850mAh cell, advertised to provide 10.5 hours of talk time. It will run KaiOS 3.1 out of the box.
Price and Availability
The TCL Flip 3 is available in a single Stone Grey color variant and is priced at $80. It can be purchased from Walmart (via Verizon), Spectrum, and U.S. Cellular.
As with most feature phones, the Flip 3 is a nice, comfy choice for those seeking a reliable, no-nonsense device for staying connected without the distractions of modern smartphones. In fact, the combination of a smartphone-level (albeit very basic) chipset and “hinged” durability can also make it the ideal starter phone for kids. A perfect unit for hardware-based control of screen time and social media access… or so I hope.
