American device manufacturer Orbic entered the Japanese market in 2023 and has been selling relatively low-priced Android smartphones and tablets. With the spread of smartphones, the presence of feature phones is fading in Japan. However, looking globally, "KaiOS" has emerged as the "third mobile OS" after Android and iOS.
KaiOS was developed as an operating system for devices without touchscreens for emerging countries such as India and Africa, and has been shipped to more than 175 million "smart feature phones" to date. The "Orbic JOURNEY Pro 4G" equipped with KaiOS finally arrived in Japan on 2024, July 26th. The retail price is 19,800 YEN (~133 USD).
First, let's take a look at the exterior. The sub-display that is used when the phone is folded can display the clock. The area around the camera ring is accented in red.
The hinge opens to about 150 degrees. It cannot be fixed at an intermediate angle, so you can only choose between fully open and fully closed. The left side is equipped with a USB Type-C port and a camera shutter key.
On the right side are the earphone jack and volume keys, and a strap hole on the hinge. The battery is replaceable, has a capacity of 1800mAh, and has a continuous standby time of about 150 hours (but the device is not waterproof or dustproof). Charging is done via the USB Type-C port on the left side of the main unit.
The size is a little large for a feature phone, with a width of 60.9 mm, which is nearly 10 mm larger than the current feature phone products of domestic mobile carriers.
Looking at the key layout, the keys on the numeric keypad are spaced far apart, so you won't accidentally press adjacent keys. There is a directional pad in the center of the top, and the keys on the top right and top left are the main keys used to operate apps.
The numeric keypad is localized for Japan. The top right and top left of the D-pad are soft keys whose functions change depending on the situation. What's somewhat unique is the key arrangement on the left and right of the clear key. The camera icon key on the right will launch the camera no matter what app you have open. The left key only works to turn the speakerphone on and off during a call. The left speaker key is used to switch speakers during a call. You will probably not use it much during normal operation.
The display is a 3.2-inch LCD with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and a pixel density of 116 ppi.
As a calling device, you can use it by inserting a nanoSIM. The APN has presets for each Japanese carrier, and you can communicate just by selecting it from the settings screen. This device does not support "eSIM," which does not have a physical card, or "dual SIM," which can recognize two or more SIM cards.
Voice calls are supported by VoLTE (Voice over LTE), and the call quality is high and quite satisfactory. The maximum continuous talk time is 5.6 hours.
The standby time is long, up to 150 hours, so if you mainly use it for calls, you can probably use it for several days without needing to charge it again and again. The messaging app can only be used for SMS. It does not support MMS, so you cannot send images or videos. The Mail app allows you to set up a Gmail account, and also syncs your Google account contacts with your device's phone book.
For Japanese input, a toggle input method is used. Users who are accustomed to mobile phone input can intuitively understand this. When entering text, you can press the "#" key on the bottom right to switch between input modes such as "aiu," "abc," and "123." Kana-kanji conversion is also possible. However, the kanji conversion performance is not very high. For example, users who are accustomed to smartphone input systems may find it lacking, as it is not possible to convert hiragana into English words. It also has a basic predictive text system that predicts the next word to be typed, but it doesn't seem to have the ability to learn from what the user types.
The KaiOS app store claims to offer over 1,500 apps for sale worldwide, but the number of apps that can be searched for on the device is much smaller. This may be because some apps have regional distribution restrictions. Currently, most of the apps that can be accessed through the Orbic JOURNEY Pro 4G are casual games. KaiOS has a high market share in emerging markets, especially India, where casual games that can be played on devices with limited specifications are particularly popular.
Tool apps cover a wide range of genres, from basic ones like "weather forecasts" and "news" to "QR code readers," "RSS readers," "Internet radio players," "Mastodon clients," and "cryptocurrency wallets." The app is not available for paid download, and the only means of monetization appears to be through advertising.
There are very few popular apps on smartphones. For example, streaming apps such as Spotify and Prime Video are almost unavailable. Major messaging apps in Japan such as LINE are also not available. It is important to note that even though you can download apps from the app store, this does not mean that you can use them in the same way as on Android.
The browser installed in KaiOS can browse all the sites optimized for smartphones. However, scrolling behavior is not smooth and requires getting used to it. Use the cross key to select links within a page. Sites that are vertically stretched, such as sites for smartphones, are relatively easy to operate.
However, on PC versions of sites, you operate the cursor by clicking the up, down, left, and right buttons, just like moving a character with the cross key in a retro game. Also, when browsing PC websites, the low screen resolution is a big restriction.
It is difficult to distinguish the text on the site when it is reduced, so you have to repeatedly zoom in using the "1" key and zoom out using the "3" key to browse. It's not so much that it's "unusable," but the impression is that the efficiency of obtaining information is far inferior to that of a smartphone.
You can also operate Google Maps by making full use of cursor operation and zooming. Web browsers and other apps have a sharing function, but URLs can only be shared via "email" or "messages." It seems best to exchange URLs with PCs via email.
The camera has a retro feel and takes surprisingly good pictures. The Orbic JOURNEY Pro 4G has a 5-megapixel camera on the back.The image quality is not particularly good when viewed on the low-resolution screen of the device. However, when viewed on a PC, the pictures are surprisingly good.
It has a somewhat retro feel, as if it was taken with a high-end smartphone from 10 years ago, such as the iPhone 6 (main camera is 8 megapixels). The resolution is sufficient. There seems to be little lens distortion. There is some noise, but it is within the acceptable range. It is easy to blur when taking pictures indoors, but the color reproduction seems to be good.
KaiOS's casual games give you a sense of nostalgia and newness at the same time. The Orbic JOURNEY Pro 4G can be said to be a feature phone equipped with KaiOS that specializes in calls and SMS, but also includes "smart" functions. In addition to high-quality calls with VoLTE, it can also sync with Gmail and Google contacts, making it quite practical as a phone for calls only.
On the other hand, the types of apps are limited, so you cannot expect it to be as easy to use as a multi-function device like a smartphone. The KaiOS app store has a lineup of simple apps, mainly casual games, but many of the popular apps are not available.
In addition, the usability is also very different from modern smartphones. There are some unique difficulties with scrolling behavior, cursor operation, and text input. However, it is precisely because of these limitations that the Orbic JOURNEY Pro 4G could be a good option for people looking to wean themselves off smartphones.
For users who want to break away from extreme smartphone addiction, this device, which is specialized for calls and SMS but also allows for minimal web browsing, will provide the right balance.
Source: businessinsider