Amazing Seller, even Tests the Phone!

Posted by Erik on 20th Nov 2025

I'm beyond happy with how this turned out. I had originally ordered a different NEW device, but the WIFI was not working out of box – he tests everything, you see. Anyway, rather than waiting for another to eventually appear in stock in the color I wanted, I asked if I could swap my order for one of these (Kyocera KY-42C), and Kazuto was happy to help.

Now on to the phone:

This phone packs an MTK6761, meaning bootloader unlocking and rooting. MicroG, FakeGApps, and signature spoofing; I can confirm they all work as intended – on a Japanese Keitai. If this is the route you want to go down, check with Kazuto beforehand to ensure the build number is on 1.080GC or older. Kazuto does not update devices, but you do want to be sure of the build number, as the entry-point for the root was patched in all versions after this firmware and there is no way to downgrade.

Built-In Cursor – You don’t realize how much you wish you had the built-in cursor, until you try a keitai without one. Now, one can install a third-party app to show a cursor overlay and emulate touch presses, but there are a few edge cases (typing + cursor at the same time) where using the original Kyocera KY-42C pointer is more convenient.

Guide / Manual – There is little documentation online about this phone, outside the docomo website. It comes with a paper manual in Japanese and there is an English manual online floating around somewhere too, that’s where I’d start as knowing the hotkeys is very important on this device.

Emoji – This phone is in a weird place where they’ve since ditched the animated/cute 16-bit emojis seen on the likes of Sharp 601sh and older Keitai 2 models, but at the same time it’s also a return to form: the KY-42C does not use the default android/boring/modern emoji set seen on the Keitai 3 models, instead it has a sort of stencil looking set of emojis. Very beautiful.

Kaomoji – included with default keyboard, in English & Japanese.

Performance – On a flipphone? Yes, it performs quite well. The stock launcher does not lag. In fact, I'd argue the RAM (only 1GB) is probably the bottleneck and not the MediaTek Helio A22 chipset. Thankfully, you can disable apps and services you're not using fairly easily, and even with MicroG always running, you won't hit the RAM usage limit often.

SMS / MMS / RCS – Outside Japan, the stock Message+ application will only work for SMS, so sending pictures will not work. Third party apps like QKSMS, QUIK, & Google Messages can send pictures just fine. RCS on microG is W.I.P. as of 11/19/25, but if in the future it's cracked, this phone will be supported so long as it's rooted.

Sounds – Stock ringtones and sounds are nice and have a lot of charm.


Overall: 5 / 5