💾 Archived View for gemini.ctrl-c.club › ~sennomo › goflip4 › part03.gmi captured on 2023-07-10 at 16:01:34. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-17)
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When choosing the Alcatel Go Flip 4, I knew I'd be sacrificing some things.
I was honestly ambivalent about losing the touchscreen. I don't enjoy touchscreens, and they have a lot to do with what I dislike about most smartphones (including the phablet phenomenon), but their versatility is impressive. If I were getting a phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, losing the touchscreen might not be so bad, but we're talking about T9 typing here.
I spent some time learning about KaiOS. I had read a bit in preceding months in various articles, but I decided to put some real effort into finding out what I was getting into. I even downloaded the simulator and made a "Hello World" app for it.
I understood that KaiOS was basically built on an old Firefox engine, so a lot of websites (and web apps) should work, even if awkwardly. I learned tha a number of Google apps had been ported to KaiOS, which sadly does matter to me still. The KaiOS Store even touted two MFA apps, and MFA is becoming increasingly common.
Unlike some people who recently bought a flip phone, I wasn't trying to "get away from Android" or "end my doomscrolling". In fact, seeing that I could tether a device was another selling point. I could whip out my "old" Samsung and use it as a pocket computer. It might seem silly to carry the Samsung and the Alcatel, but carrying both of them is *still easier* than carrying one phablet.
Long story short, I knew that if I absolutely needed an Android app, I could still use an Android device through the Alcatel's connection. And again, at a mere $100, if the experiment failed, I wouldn't feel horrible. (By contrast, a Samsung Z Flip cost $1000 and looked very fragile.)