Minimal Phone Review: A Distraction-Free Middle Ground

Escaping nan screen isn’t easy. When I tested nan Light Phone III successful March—a telephone designed to portion distant apps and attraction connected nan basics—I quickly recovered really galore small things I needed my smartphone for, from accessing my home’s information cameras to authentication apps truthful I could motion successful to web services connected my laptop. Sometimes it's conscionable not easy to spell acold turkey. But that's wherever nan Minimal Phone steps in.

This is an Android phone pinch a beingness keyboard and an e-paper touchscreen. It looks for illustration a Kindle had a babe pinch a BlackBerry. Unlike astir anti-smartphone products that connection a curated suite of basal telephone functions, nan Minimal Phone lets you entree immoderate app done nan Google Play Store for illustration a normal Android phone. But nan acquisition is hampered by nan tiny, 4.3-inch e-paper surface that needs changeless refreshing. The keyboard will besides slow you down. This frustrating smartphone acquisition is benignant of nan point.

I sewage into furniture 1 night, fresh for my accustomed bedtime doomscrolling ritual. As my woman was zooming done TikTok, I looked astatine my telephone and wailed to my wife, “I can't doomscroll!” I heaved a sigh, put my telephone down, and went to bed. This is not to opportunity that I magically woke up nan adjacent time pinch nan champion slumber of my life—using your telephone before furniture can impact sleep—but it did beryllium 1 thing: The Minimal Phone did its occupation of cutting my clip spent connected societal media.

Ghost City

The quality successful build value betwixt nan Minimal Phone and nan Light Phone III is stark. The second mixes solid and metal, whereas nan Minimal is almost wholly plastic. It feels lightweight, and I person to say, a small cheap. It doesn't thief that instantly aft unboxing it, nan phone's backmost was already grubby pinch smudges, almost for illustration I had conscionable eaten a container of Cheetos (I wish). Maybe that's why nan institution sells Dbrand skins to screen it up.

On nan correct separator is simply a powerfulness fastener pinch a fingerprint scanner baked in, and it's reasonably reliable. The bottommost houses nan USB-C charging larboard and a headphone jack. On nan near separator is nan SIM tray, which supports microSD cards for retention description if 128 GB isn't enough. The measurement buttons are divided by an “e-paper refresh” button, astir apt nan fastener you'll property nan most.

That brings america to nan 4.3-inch touchscreen, which is … not great. This is mostly because erstwhile you scroll aliases move done web pages and menus, there's a batch of ghosting—a faint image of nan erstwhile matter you were staring at. Even 1 aliases 2 scrolls and you'll want to deed that e-paper refresh fastener liberally to region these artifacts—that quickly becomes an annoying step.

It besides doesn't thief that nan monochrome surface doesn't play good pinch lighter colors connected prime websites, though pages pinch mostly achromatic and achromatic text, for illustration WIRED.com, look fine. Thankfully, I had nary problems reference nan matte surface successful immoderate lighting situation. You tin set nan screen's colour somesthesia and brightness to suit your eyes, and there's nary glare.

Moving passim nan Android 14 operating strategy tin consciousness a small slow, but this is mostly conscionable nan velocity of nan e-paper screen. From a capacity standpoint, it seems to chug on good pinch nan MediaTek Helio G99 chipset inside. Granted, I do not urge trying mobile games.

The location surface shows a database of shortcuts to halfway apps, for illustration Phone, Messages, Camera, Calendar, and Calculator. There's a Notes app, and it defaults to opening Google Keep. (You tin region and adhd caller ones by long-pressing nan app sanction successful nan drawer.) I've utilized nan telephone for illustration immoderate different I test, moreover utilizing Google Maps to navigate and Google Wallet for tap-to-pay astatine beingness retailers, though you'll person a subpar acquisition pinch immoderate apps much than others.

Lite Phone

You won't want to do definite things connected nan Minimal Phone. Watching videos, playing games, and scrolling done societal media do not mesh good pinch an e-paper surface and nan slow refresh rate. YouTube videos and Instagram Reels alike consciousness for illustration you're staring astatine a strobe light, pinch nan surface flashing pinch each frame. Press and clasp nan e-paper refresh button, and you'll find an “ultra” refresh mounting that makes this a small better, but nan value importantly diminishes, and everything looks for illustration a blob. (I usually kept it astatine “hybrid," which switches to ultra erstwhile scrolling aliases erstwhile a video is playing.)