The Nokia 225 4G vs Nokia 6300 4G
By Edward Willis (gopher://encw.xyz and http://encw.xyz)
Published Jul/12/2024

I want to make clear that what follows are just my thoughts, and this is not 
intended to be a journalistic review of either product.

The Nokia 225 4G and 6300 4G are basic/feature phones made by HMD Global. The
225 runs an operating system called S30 and the 6300 runs KaiOS.

The hardware is similar, with both phones having a plastic shell, and removable 
backplates which reveal user replaceable batteries, and SD card slots. Under 
the battery of either device you will find your SIM card mount. Both phones 
also have a headphone jack, FM radio reception, and bluetooth. Oh, and 
they both have weeks of standby on a full charge. Only the 6300 has wifi.

Where the 6300 4G hardware differs from the 225 4G, and from older Nokia's that 
I've used, is in the number and location of buttons. The power/wake button is 
on the top of the phone, and pressing the face buttons will not wake it. That's 
unfortunate, because the phone is tall compared to Nokias of old and the top of 
the phone is annoying to reach. The 6300 4G has a central D-pad below the 
screen, and six buttons around it.

The software situation is different too, with the 6300 4G offering up an app 
store; the Kai app store.

The 6300 4G doesn't feel like the feature phones of old; it's stuck halfway 
between dumb and smart. The 6300's KaiOS is too busy IMO. It's got a little 
card system that pops up widgets on the screen to give advice, it's got a quick 
menu, as well as the regular one. It wants you to connect to the internet; one 
of those cards that pops up is a prompt to connect to the internet. It feels 
somewhat like a Fisher-Price rendition of Android.

If you're looking for a smarter dumb-phone, or a less smart smartphone, I guess 
the 6300 4G is worth a look.

The 225 4G is much simpler and much more in-line with classic phones like the 
3310. If you operated one of those, then the 225 4G will make you feel right at 
home. The 225 4G can access the internet through wifi and mobile data, but 
unlike the 6300 4G it doesn't feel like it cares if you ever do.

I can't tell you what the browser is like on either phone as I didn't buy them 
for network functionality and have no data on either phone. Neither can I tell 
you anything about the app store on the 6300 4G, except that it exists.

PS: Yes, both phones have versions of snake. No, they're not very good.

Update Aug/9/2024: The original article incorrectly stated that the 225 ran
KaiOS and had wifi. Thank you, Henry, for the corrections.