It’s about a years late, but the Barbie Phone is finally here. This is not a smartphone, but a clamshell-style feature phone that’s all pink and features Mattel’s Barbie logo. The handset has a shiny mirror on the front and a bunch of accessories like charms and gemstone stickers to dress it up, so you can really soak up that late 90s and early 2000s nostalgia. It even says “Hi Barbie” when you turn it on.

This is a genuine collaboration between Mattel and HMD, the company that used to make Nokia-branded smartphones. It’s part of HMD’s move toward making its own smartphones, along with feature phones developed in partnership with big-name companies. That includes the Boring Phone from earlier this year, born from an odd partnership with Heineken.

The Barbie Phone runs KaiOS, an operating system designed for feature phones that adds a few smartphone capabilities, such as 4G connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS and access to apps like WhatsApp, Google Maps and YouTube. It still feels like you’re running the Symbian operating system from older Nokia phones, but with modern features. That said, HMD says that because it’s running the latest version of KaiOS 3.1, not every app will be compatible or available yet.

Photo: HMD

HMD’s new flip phone can make calls and send texts out of the box. The company is on a bit of a crusade to reduce screen time and distractions, so the idea is to use this phone as a second phone for when you don’t want to be pinged while you’re kicking it at the beach with the Kens.

HMD isn’t the first to build a product around this concept of unplugging from always-on life. There have been a few similarly minded phones over the years, like the Light Phone or 2018’s redesigned Palm . Along similar lines are the app timers and other screen-time-reducing features built into Android, iOS, and even the feature phones HMD made under its Nokia brand, like the Nokia 3310.

Think pink

The Barbie Phone’s exterior lid has a reflective finish that acts as a mirror (remember the LG Shine?) with a hidden digital clock in the middle. Flip it open and you’re presented with a nice 2.8-inch display. You can use the built-in backlit keypad for texting, and there are a bunch of little Barbie-themed tidbits here and there, like a palm tree icon around the number 7. And by my count, six Barbie logos, whether it’s full text or just the letter B.

Photo: HMD