Consumer Cellular Iris Flip Review

As with any classic flip phone, texting is always a big pain point; however, the Iris Flip incorporates some unique features that make the process a bit easier.

To send a message, you have two options. The first is your standard T9 predictive text typing, in which you use the keypad, type out words based on the number, and then scroll through your options. Back in the day, when all we had was flip phones, this was the best option. By today’s standards, however, it feels really dated and clunky.

Luckily, the Iris Flip has voice texting. So whenever you’re typing a message, you can hold down the center button. This triggers the speech-to-text function, which allows you to speak, and the phone will automatically type out your words. If the Iris Flip were my primary phone, this would probably be the way I send all of my messages. It’s much faster than manually typing, and it was able to accurately transcribe my words.

Best of all, this feature is not confined to sending text messages. On any of the phone’s apps, when presented with a box for text entry, you can hold down the center button and use speech-to-text. For example, when I opened the browser and wanted to visit our website, I could say, “TheSeniorList.com,” and the phone entered this into the URL field.

On their website, Consumer Cellular calls the Iris Flip “The Smart Flip Phone.” While I think it’s a stretch to call this phone a smartphone, it does incorporate some smart features that I think could come in handy.

As mentioned above, it has the speech-to-text functionality. It also has a dedicated voice assistant. From the home screen, when you press and hold the center button, you’ll activate the voice assistant. This allows you to open various features and even ask questions, much like Google Assistant.

For example, when I say, “Open messages,” it will open the messages app. When I say, “Open the internet,” it will open the internet app. When I ask it a question, it will perform a Bing search for my question and display the search results.

The one downside of this is that, unlike Google Assistant, which will often provide you with answers through a voice response, the Iris Flip’s voice assistant will only conduct an internet search. For example, when I asked my Jitterbug Flip2 how many tablespoons there were in a cup, the phone itself responded, “There are 16 tablespoons in a cup.”

With the Iris Flip, asking the same question simply opened up a search on the browser. I then had to use the clunky browser controls to scroll over to the answer. This really exemplifies the limitations of having smart features on a flip phone. Some notable exceptions to this, however, would have to be YouTube and Google Maps; the latter allows for live turn-by-turn directions. Both of these KaiOS apps appear to be optimized for a flip phone’s controls, and I could see these being much more useful.

Elsewhere the built-in KaiOS store gives you ample access to a variety of apps, however, these aren’t all that useful, unless you want to play Ten-Pin Bowling on your phone or read the portable Quran. You won’t find anything like WhatsApp, Facebook, or even email apps here.

As a reviewer of cell phones made for seniors, I must say that sometimes it’s the little features that really stand out. In the case of the Iris Flip, what really stuck out to me was the dedicated QR reader.

In the wake of Covid-19, as we all know, many restaurants have shifted to using QR codes to access their digital menus. And while I definitely see the efficiency of this model (not to mention the way it saves restaurants money), I can’t help but think of people who don’t have smartphones and, therefore, can’t read QR codes.

Luckily, the Iris Flip has a QR reader. With this, you can open the QR reader app, scan QR codes, and scroll through whatever webpage it directs you to.