TCL Flip 3 review: I used this retro-style flip phone for a week like it’s 1999

The TCL Flip 3 targets our grandparents — the folks who used rotary dial phones as kids, enjoyed twirling their fingers around corded landline phones, and used Motorola flip phones in the early 2000s.

When TCL said that it wanted to send Mashable a TCL Flip 3 to review, I wondered whether there would be interest for it, considering that our readership skews toward the younger side.

Credit: TCL Flip 3

However, I had a light bulb moment. As a tech reviewer, I’m surrounded by smartphones all the time — glaring screens that suck you into the dregs of the internet, from social media platforms like Instagram,and X (formerly Twitter) to streaming sites à la TikTok and YouTube. We’re constantly being fed dubious ads, tabloid slop, vapid celebrity news, mudslinging election stories, misleading AI-generated content, and more. I just want to disconnect, but it’s difficult to do that with my daily driver smartphone: the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

So I thought, why not give the TCL Flip 3 a try for a week? I can tap into a little bit of nostalgia while disconnecting from the constant barrage of digital noise. Here’s my experience with it, but first, let’s dive into the price and specs.

TCL Flip 3 price and specs

The TCL Flip 3 is $99.99 via Walmart and comes with the following:

• Qualcomm QM215 quad-core processor

• 1GB of RAM

• 16GB of storage (up to 512GB via SD card)

• 4G LTE

• 1.77-inch external screen

• 3.2-inch internal display

• A 5MP camera

TCL Flip 3 is compatible with three U.S. carriers: Verizon, Spectrum, and U.S. Cellular. For this review, I used the TCL Flip 3 on the Verizon network.

TCL Flip 3 design and build quality

If you saw the TCL Flip 3 on my desk, there’s no way in heck you’d think it’s a modern phone. However it is, indeed, a phone that launched this year, amid the swath of ultra-modern devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and more.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

When you first saw the title, you may have thought that the TCL Flip 3 is one of “those” flip phones, à la the Galaxy Z Flip 6, that have a slight nostalgic touch with its clamshell form factor, but by and large, it has all the bells and whistles of a cutting-edge smartphone — and then some (e.g., glitzy AI features, dazzling OLED screens, and more).

However, you’d be mistaken. The TCL Flip 3 is a flip phone, but it’s a dumb one, which I’ll delve more into in subsequent sections. This retro-style flip phone comes in a colorway that TCL calls “Stone Grey.” The chassis is anti-fingerprint and anti-grease, so I felt free to get my grubby fingers all over it.

The serious dark-gray body makes it look like a phone you’d see in some early 2000s movie about Wall Street bankers or C-suite top dogs.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Open the TCL Flip 3, and you’ll find your typical flip phone layout that will be familiar to elder Millennials and older generations. It’s got the navigation pad in the center — equipped with the word “OK” — allowing you to navigate menus and options on the screen.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Next, you have your “Send” and “End” buttons. And finally, below them, you’ll find the satisfying, clicky keypad with the T9 text input.

TCL Flip 3 texting and typing

When I committed to using the TCL Flip 3 for a week, I underestimated just how little I miss the T9 texting input.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

On my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, sending a text to a friend would take less than a minute. On this dumb phone, however, typing a single message takes three-to-five business days.

At least three letters are integrated into each key, prompting you to cycle through to the right letter you want. Let’s say I want to type the word “Hey,” here’s how the process works on the TCL Flip 3:

1. Tap on the number 4 (which houses the letters “G”, “H,” and “I) twice to get to “H.”

2. Next, you’ll need the letter “E.” Tap on the number 3 twice to get to it.

3. Finally, for the letter “Y,” hit number 9 three times.

Now repeat this process for every single word you want to type in your message.

On the plus side, there is a predictive text feature, which can help you get to your desired words faster.

Ironically, the TCL Flip 3 is designed to appeal to older folks who are already accustomed to the T9 text input, but I’d feel nervous about grandma and grandpa owning this phone. In the case of an emergency, I’d want them to have access to a faster, modern on-screen keyboard.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

(It’s worth noting, though, that the TCL Flip 3 has a dedicated emergency SOS button that lets users quickly call for help.)

Texting with the TCL Flip 3 was certainly the most challenging part of using it for a week. I can’t tell you how many times I was tempted to throw it aside and use my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra instead. No wonder “chatspeak” was so popular back in the day.

Logging into accounts on the internet via the TCL Flip 3 is, as you can imagine, an absolutely nightmare, too; 0/10 do not recommend.

TCL Flip 3 call quality

TCL claims that the Flip 3’s call quality is “pristine,” and while I wouldn’t go that far, the Flip 3 definitely sounds crisp, clear and loud.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

While calling friends and family, they sounded sharp, vivid, and distinct. They said that I sounded great, too.

Thanks to the clamshell design, once I’m finished talking to them, I got to slam the clamshell phone with a satisfying shut that I haven’t felt in years.

TCL Flip 3 display

The TCL Flip 3 has an external 1.77-inch display that shows you the time, battery life, date, and more after hitting the right side key.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

It can also tell you who’s calling without opening the lid. Internally, you’ll find a 3.2-inch screen with a 240 x 320-pixel resolution. Coming from my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra that sports a stunning 6.8-inch, 3120 x 1440-pixel resolution panel, the TCL Flip 3’s display was a difficult transition.

Icons and text are pixelated and lack the fine detail and smooth edges that I’ve been enjoying on my flagship Samsung device. Plus, it took some time for me to adjust to the smaller screen. (I also found myself touching the screen often to make quick selections, but sadly kept being reminded that the TCL Flip 3’s screen is non-touch.)

The whole purpose of this experiment is to escape the internet, but for the purpose of this review, I decided to play a few online videos to test the display’s capabilities. To my surprise, I thought I discovered the YouTube app on the home screen. But when I clicked on it, it just pulled up “YouTube.com” via the preinstalled browser. Navigating this version of YouTube wasn’t fun.

For example, using the T9 text input to type my query into the YouTube search field was a pain. And scrolling through the results with the central pad was also unpleasant; too many taps were required just to scroll by one video.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Once I found a trailer I wanted to watch (i.e., Thunderbolts), I hit the full screen button and watched the display flip 180 degrees to take advantage of the 3.2-inch screen via landscape orientation. I found myself holding the TCL Flip 3 in an odd manner — in the same way my dad used to hold his camcorder to film my birthdays.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

The display quality is mediocre, which is expected. Colors are dull and the visuals lack crispness. On the plus side, when it comes to using the display outdoors, it does well in challenging conditions. Even with the sun beaming down on it, I could still see the screen very well.

TCL Flip 3 camera

Yes, the TCL Flip 3 has a camera, and of course, it’s just OK.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Here’s a shot of my backyard with the 5MP shooter.

TCL Flip 3 shot
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

And here’s a shot of the backyard with an iPhone 14 Plus.

iPhone 14 Plus shot
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

But hey, what do you expect? It’s a sub-$100 dumb phone. It’s not like TCL is targeting young content creators with this device. Also, don’t expect to easily take selfies with this phone. There only appears to be a world-facing camera.

The TCL Flip 3 also supports 720p video at 30 frames per second, which is, again, as unimpressive as one might assume.

TCL Flip 3 software

TCL Flip 3 runs on an Android-based software called KaiOS.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

No, you won’t find a fully developed app store like Google Play. This means you won’t have access to dedicated apps like WhatsApp and TikTok. Of course, that works for me. Even if I wanted to “crack,” I wouldn’t have the option.

So during this seven-day digital diet, what did I use to entertain myself? Preinstalled on the TCL Flip 3 are five games: Gems, Birdy, 2048, Guardians, and Whack a Mole. Birdy is the best one; it’s similar to Flappy Bird where you need to keep pressing a button to keep it elevated and dodge obstacles.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Aside from gaming, you can also sync your Gmail account via the Email app. Plus, you can access Google Search and use Google Maps for navigation.

I tried to find Spotify and Apple Music in the app store, two music platforms that I subscribe to, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find them. I also attempted to launch Spotify via the web browser, but I received a message that it doesn’t support the TCL Flip 3. Bummer! To play music, I used the FM radio station app. It was alright, but I wanted more control over which songs I listen to.

You can connect headphones to the TCL Flip 3 using Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity. The dumb phone also sports a 3.5mm headphone jack, a port that’s become a rarity — both my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max devices do not have a headset jack.

TCL Flip 3 performance

We weren’t able to run Geekbench 6 on the TCL Flip 3, but the device runs on a Qualcomm QM215 chipset, which is clocked at up to 1.3GHz. This processor is designed for basic tasks, not high performance.

Plus, its limited 1GB of RAM will constrain any multitasking capabilities.

When I ran any tests that required the internet (e.g., running a YouTube video to examine the display), I noticed that the Flip 3 had a few seconds of lag loading sites like YouTube. Again, this isn’t surprising because the Flip 3 is dumb phone designed to handle simple functions like calling, texting, and basic app usage.

TCL Flip 3 battery life

TCL claims that the flip phone has a talk time of 10.5 hours. On our in-house TikTok rundown on the Flip 3, it only lasted about 8 hours and 12 minutes.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

This is disappointing, but not surprising considering the Flip 3’s relatively small 1,850 mAh battery. It also sports two screens, which may contribute to battery drain.

Is the TCL Flip 3 worth it?

Using the TCL Flip 3 for a week was much more difficult than I anticipated. The most challenging part of the experience was the limited entertainment options. Once I switched myself off from social media, and by extension, the internet, I struggled to find the fun. I didn’t realize how reliant I was on the likes of TikTok and YouTube to keep me entertained after a long day at work.

The T9 text input got on my nerves, but even more frustrating than that was learning how to get used to the central navigation pad for moving the cursor around and scrolling through long-form content.

Plus, I had to recharge the TCL Flip 3 every night due to its 8-hour battery life.

While the TCL Flip 3 did help me disconnect from the world because of its limitations, I found myself missing too many creature comforts, particularly Spotify and Apple Music, which would have helped me drown out the noise by immersing myself in some moody music.