Video: Cancelled Nokia 235 prototype with YunOS (based on Android) shows potential
Feature phones are dying slower than expected and they still make a good chunk of all mobile phones bought in the world. Of course, smartphones represent the majority on the global level, but the market for feature phone is still big enough that quite a few manufacturers are investing there and so is Nokia Mobile. We recently saw the company launch the new Nokia 125 and Nokia 150 in India, and we also received info about 3 additional 4G feature phones in the product pipeline.
Let me show you another weird stuff. pic.twitter.com/CXd5OMaYIt
— Hikari Calyx (@Hikari_Calyx) August 28, 2020
Well-known member of the Nokia community Hikari Calyx got his hands on a Nokia 235 prototype with model number TA-1177. Interestingly enough, we saw TA-1177 passing some certifications around a year ago. The device was running YunOS based on Android 4.4. The Nokia 3310 4G that was only available in China also used a version YunOS and, fun fact, the model number of that device was TA-1077.
The video shows a really snappy prototype that is also capable of installing Android apps. The CPU-Z app running on the device showed a huge 5.46″ display (if that’s correct), Android 4.4.4, dual-core Cortex A53 SoC with cores clocked at 1.3GHz, 184MB of RAM, 0.12GB of internal storage, FM Radio and WiFi.
In any case, an interesting device. Having an Android-based feature phone OS could also solve some of the app problems. I’m sure that a lot of folks remember how long it took for KaiOS, running on some Nokia feature phones, to bring Whatsapp on board.
