The idea of owning a truly basic entry-level phone right now seems laughable but there are those looking for a burner phone, a basic call and text device, or just something that an elderly person can use. Verizon’s Yahoo Mobile prepaid carrier service is bringing something that fits that description with the ZTE Blade A3Y. Yes, you read that right, Yahoo is still alive and kicking albeit under a different company and as a mobile service. This device is available for $50 on their one and only plan (for now) which is at $40 per month.
As mentioned, the ZTE Blade A3Y is a pretty basic device so you probably won’t use it as your main device unless you’re trying to wean yourself off from the internet and other mobile device things. It has a 5.45-inch HD+ TFT display with a 1440 x 720 resolution. It is powered by a MediaTek Helio A22 quad-core CPU which clocks at 2.0GHz. It has 2GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage which you can expand with a microSD card.
It has a single 8MP camera with a dual-LED flash and in front, there’s a 5MP camera. This would have been fine a few years ago but now you won’t even find that on entry-level devices. But it should be good enough if you just need to answer a few audio and video calls. It has a 2,660mAh battery and ships with Android 10 pre-installed. It also has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and a 3.5mm audio jack.
In case you’re interested in other Yahoo products, the phone will come pre-installed with things like Yahoo Mail (ad-free), Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports with Watch Together, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Weather. Sure there are other much better products out there already but considering the phone’s memory and all, maybe you’ll have to settle with these apps as they’ll probably run better there.
You can get the ZTE Blade A3Y for $50 from Yahoo Mobile. In case you want to switch to the prepaid carrier, you can get the phone for free on their $40 / month plan which already includes unlimited data, text, and calling.