TCL Classic 18 month review

TLDR: 4.5/5, cheap, durable, dumb, just enough features, but suffers from some very odd software oversights

Inspired by u/ moss_toss's review of the Cat 22, there really arent too many year+ reviews of phones out there.

Price: 70 bucks from the AT&T store. i got it specifically because I did not want to switch plans or fight to get one on my network. I would imagine you could get it cheaper, but this phone is really best if you (or your parents/spouse who you're mooching off of...) have AT&T and you cant be bothered to mess with an unlocked or uncertain phone

Features: Headphone jack, bluetooth, hotspot (mobile, corded, and bluetooth) browser, clock/alarm, calculator, calendar, notes app, MP3 player, email, SD card slot, kaios, camera.

The good features/what i've really used: hotspot. oh man do i love having a hotspot. I didn't look for it while buying the phone, but I've been thrilled to have it-like when my home wifi dropped for 8 whole hours during a videocall and I got to wire it to my computer and keep going.

Browser: Full of issues, but honestly, that's nearly a plus. it does work for basics; looking up hours, addresses, (barely) running youtube. The processor is not strong enough to handle much, and many websites will not load correctly. Doomscrolling is not possible on this. checking if taco bell is still open is.

MP3 player: Works! but by god is it weird. Shuffle only. Can make playlists, but again they'll play in any order. Truly is mp3 only. The phone comes with 5 gb of space, but i put a 128 SD in there, and I have maybe a couple thousand songs in there. they loooove to play at random though. However, i use it absolutely all the time.

Alarm: also works, but here's the design oversight. alarm volume and text volume are the same setting. if your phone is on silent, your alarms will not sound. you have to have your sound on overnight to use this to wake up in the morning.

Camera: not great. Its fine, and no front camera, but I kinda like the grainy look. Id love one with a real camera, but those don't really exist.

Kaios: I don't get the hate, honestly. This phone is really, really dumb. Thats the point; i mean it probably thinks moving the bears out of chicago is a good idea. It does have some strange oversights, and it struggles on the web, but it's very far from unusable. does not have whatsapp anymore, but I dont use whatsapp as it is.

Call quality: Good to very good. I had constant issues with dropped calls with my pixel 7, but speaker, headphones, and just crammed between my shoulder and ear all sound great

Email: never set it up. I have a laptop and as a university student, I check my email there enough.

Some basics: T9 with and without predictive text. I dont use the predictive, so I can't attest to it. I like the buttons on this phone, large and tactile, and if you're good with it/persistent, you can type with mittens on. Has a fun little shortcut of apps corralling to numbers. Battery lasts 2-3 days with moderate use. that fell off pretty quickly from almost a week when i first got it, but has settled at 2-3 for a while. I charge it every other night.

This phone will benefit you if you want to go all the way; this bad boy is real stupid, and does all the basic phone stuff great. The browser is awesome to have, i check the weather in the morning with it. The oversights are annoying, but workable. dont write off TCL all the way, lol