Come on Barbie (Phone), Let's go Party
HMD has officially launched its Barbie Dream phone, and it is a Barbie fan's dream.
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HMD launched its brand with a splash at Mobile World Congress this year by announcing a collaboration with Mattel for a Barbie phone. There wasn't a huge amount of information announced at the time, but there is now.
The new HMD Barbie phone is very bright pink retro flip phone. It's not a smartphone, instead taking us back to simpler times when phones were made for making calls, sending SMS and playing Snake.
Designed in close collaboration with the in-house design team at Mattel, the phone screams Barbie. It comes with two alternative cases so you can customise your Barbie phone like you change your Barbie's outfit. In the box comes a bright, swirly coloured case that reflects the 1992 "Totally Hair Barbie" design, plus a retro-style shooting heart design.
You also get a beaded phone strap, plus a handful of Barbie themed phone charms, like a tiny roller skate, an ice cream, a palm tree, a pair of Barbie sunglasses and a Barbie heart.
The phone also comes with a sheet of stickers and a sheet of sparkly gems, which gives you an even further level of customisation.
Low tech, high design
HMD has intentionally delivered this as a feature phone rather than a smartphone. The flip phone offers a 2.8-inch screen, 128 MB of storage and 64 MB or RAM (really notice that is Megabytes rather than Gigabytes). There is a MicroSD card slot for up to 32 GB of storage, however.
The camera is 0.3MP, or VGA quality. The battery - which is bright pink and removable - has a 1,450 mAh capacity, which is about enough for 9 hours of talk time, apparently. The phone works on GSM/GPRS 900/1800, WCDMA, LTE Cat1 networks, and has dual SIM card slots.
On the software side, there is an MP3 player and FM radio, plus its own version of Snake. "Malibu Snake" replaces apples with watermelons, completing that retro feature phone feeling.
The user interface has been Barbie-fied as well, with simple navigation and a couple of digital wellbeing apps as well.
Pricing and availability
The Barbie Phone is set to arrive in Australia from September 5 for an RRP of $199. You'll be able to pick it up from JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Big W, Officeworks, The Good Guys and Amazon.
