Doro 7050 (D7050TL) Review: Pros and Cons

The complete Doro 7050 review, a feature phone aim to cater senior consumers’ needs. Is this phone worth to buy? Find out its pros and cons here.

Lately, we’ve seen feature phones, especially flip phones, making a comeback to the current device market.

A flip phone does give that touch of nostalgia, but most importantly, people love them because they are simple and straightforward. That’s our first impression with Doro 7050 (D7050TL). It looks like a reliable phone for basic communication needs.

Focused on being compact and easy to use, Doro features a 2.8-inch screen that displays nothing but the essentials. It came with a price tag of $69.99 on TracFone and Amazon.

Despite small, this phone offers some benefits that surpass its size, such as features catered specifically for senior users. Here’s the complete Doro 7050 review.

Key Specs

Doro 7050 specifications:

• Weight: 122g
• Dimensions: 108.8 x 57.1 x 20.8mm
• OS: KaiOS 2.5
• Screen size: 2.8-inch
• Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels
• CPU: 1.1 GHz Dual-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon 205
• RAM: 512MB
• Storage: 4GB
• Battery: 1350mAh, Removable
• Rear camera: 2MP

Design

Doro 7050 has a classic design that will easily remind you of old Nokia phones. It’s light to carry, being only 4.4 Oz. The material is nothing premium, just a plain plastic body. The TracFone versions come with black and white colors only.

As a flip phone, Doro 7050 offers the satisfying flap that comes with opening and closing it. We find it enjoyable and snappy. The physical keyboard is small but keys are well-separated, so you won’t have any difficulty when typing.

The keys have a curvy design and click sound. In our opinion, people with eyesight impairment would navigate this keyboard easily. Keys also have a backlight, and the fonts come in high contrast prints to make them more readable.

When closed, the front part of the phone reveals a smaller external screen for a quick view. Below the screen lies the notification light: green means new notifications, while red indicates a low battery level.

There’s also the camera and the flash on the front. On the back, Doro puts an Emergency Call button. This button is located side by side with the loudspeaker.

The left side of the phone houses sockets for charging and the headset. While on its opposite, lies the Volume control keys.

Meanwhile, in the bottom, there’s a little hook for users to attach a lanyard or other accessories. This is another nice addition, since the phone is small, attaching a lanyard means you won’t easily lose the phone in your pocket or inside your purse.

Display

Doro 7050 has two display: a 2.8-inch screen as its main display, and a smaller external screen on its front cover. The main screen is a TFT LCD display with a resolution of 320×240 pixels.

Although small, the display offers some great features especially for senior consumers, including themes with adjustable colors depending on what’s comfortable for your eyes.

The display also has adaptable font size, so people with eyesight impairment can adjust the font to their need. It also helps that the display is surrounded by black bezel to increase readability.

However, a small display means limited viewing experience. Although this phone is great for calls and texts, Doro is not for entertainment. This is not a phone where you can comfortably browse social media or stream YouTube videos. The screen is too small for that. Doro 7050 is truly a phone for basic needs.

As for the external display, it has some bonus features. You can see information such as clock, notifications, and battery life with a glance. Although not much, we appreciate this kind of convenience on Doro 7050. Unlike the main display, the external display only shows character in black and white.

Camera

Camera in Doro 7050 has very minimal specifications. Just like this phone as a whole, it supports basic stuff but nothing more. In the case of camera, the 2-MP shooters give an okay result, but far from presentable if you’re planning to post it on social media.

In short, the camera captures decent images. But if you have a penchant for mobile photography, Doro is not the one you’re looking for.

Doro 7050 camera has flash to aid low light picture-taking. It enhanced the picture quality a little, but this flash has a better use than for photography.

It can functions as a flashlight, which we think is a more useful feature. The flashlight feature is easy to access from the standby screen (no need to unlock the phone to use it).

Back to the camera, Doro also provide video recording capability (.3gp video format, 176×144 px resolution). Users can turn on the flash during a recording and use it as an aiding lamp.

Image and video results go directly to Gallery. There’s also a zoom in/out feature. Keeping things basic, Doro doesn’t offer more advanced features such as focus, HDR, or panorama.

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Storage

Doro 7050 has an internal memory of 4 GB. This capacity can store up to 100 call logs and 500 contacts. However, the available space is not much for installing apps and for storing larger files such as camera pictures and video recording. For additional storage, users can add an SD card with up to 64 GB capacity.

Performance

Doro 7050 runs on Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform chipset featuring a 1.0 GHz dual-core CPU. This chipset focuses on bringing 4G LTE to low-end phones while being battery efficient. It only support VGA display and 30 fps videos. So, in short, it doesn’t target high performance. It merely focuses on basic functionalities.

In term of basic functionalities, this phone delivers its job relatively well. There’s a little delay when opening apps. Since it focuses on connectivity, you can access the internet quite fast too. But some times, the phone can’t handle fast browsing it could temporary lag or even freeze.

The strength of this phone lies more on its software and features. Doro claims the phone specifically caters senior citizens.

Therefore the features are crafted in accordance with their needs. It has simple easy-to-use user interface with bold colors and fonts. There is an option to hide unwanted apps and features from the screen.

Doro 7050 uses KaiOS as its operating system. It has the capability to download apps from KaiStore. It means users can install messaging apps such as WhatsApp on their phone, which some people would find it useful.

The OS also offers a Calendar feature with reminder. Messaging comes with predictive text so you can type faster. It has basic Music Player and Video Player apps that support MP3, MP4, 3 GP and other popular formats. You can stay update with KaiOS because the firmware is upgradable via over-the-air updates.

Sounds coming from Doro 7050 is tailored to seniors’ hearing frequencies. The phone produces loud and clear sound both from the receiver or the speakerphone. The phone itself is HAC (Hearing Aid Compatible) with T4/M4 compatibility rating.

There’s also SOS key features (Assistance button). It’s an emergency call button which would instantly call an emergency contact upon pressing once. You can set it up and put a user-defined number as an emergency contact.

To conclude Doro 7050 review based on performance, this phone doesn’t offer mind-blowing features. But it simply has all the crucial functions users would need, especially seniors.

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Connectivity

Doro 7050 offers 4G LTE. It ensures Doro to be reliable for years to come. Despite its minimal performance, Doro is comparable to smartphone when it comes to call quality. The 4G LTE connection provides clear HD call. This phone is HD voice certified and also still supports 3G with HSPA+ data rate.

There’s a Bluetooth feature, but no Wi-Fi and GPS, which is a bummer. We hoped for at least Wi-Fi capability on Doro 7050. It has no USB port for data transfer either. At least this phone still offer FM radio and headphone jack.

Battery

The 1350 mAh Li-ion battery that powers Doro 7050 provides up to 400 hours of standby time. For talk time, it could reach up to 11 hours. This standby time and talk time are comparable to smartphones these days. But in our opinion, Doro would still win because you can use it for a couple of days without charging.

Due to its small screen and minimal performance, Doro is more power-efficient. The small capacity makes the battery relatively quick to charge. Doro’s battery is removable. So, while its charging port doesn’t support a powerbank, you can still use a spare battery when traveling.

Wrap-up

Having examined every aspect in this Doro 7050 (D7050TL) review, we could say this phone really targets a specific kind of consumer.

Get this phone if you’re content with the basics. As long as what you need is to make a call or text occasionally, this phone will work perfectly for you.

For seniors, some special features are beneficial to have. They make living your golden years more convenient. The emergency button, HD voice output, and easy interface are among these useful features.

The price is also affordable at $69.99. With the 4G LTE support, you won’t need to upgrade until a couple of years to come.