Escaping the display screen isn’t straightforward. After I examined the Mild Telephone III in March—a telephone designed to strip away apps and give attention to the fundamentals—I rapidly discovered what number of little issues I wanted my smartphone for, from accessing my residence’s safety cameras to authentication apps so I might check in to internet companies on my laptop computer. Typically it is simply not straightforward to go chilly turkey. However that is the place the Minimal Telephone steps in.
That is an Android telephone with a bodily keyboard and an e-paper touchscreen. It appears to be like like a Kindle had a child with a BlackBerry. In contrast to most anti-smartphone merchandise that provide a curated suite of primary telephone capabilities, the Minimal Telephone allows you to entry any app by way of the Google Play Retailer like a traditional Android telephone. However the expertise is hampered by the tiny, 4.3-inch e-paper display screen that wants fixed refreshing. The keyboard will even sluggish you down. This irritating smartphone expertise is type of the purpose.
I acquired into mattress one night time, prepared for my standard bedtime doomscrolling ritual. As my spouse was zooming by way of TikTok, I checked out my telephone and wailed to my spouse, “I can’t doomscroll!” I heaved a sigh, put my telephone down, and went to mattress. This isn’t to say that I magically awoke the following day with the very best sleep of my life—utilizing your telephone earlier than mattress can have an effect on sleep—but it surely did show one factor: The Minimal Telephone did its job of reducing my time spent on social media.
Ghost Metropolis
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
The distinction in construct high quality between the Minimal Telephone and the Mild Telephone III is stark. The latter mixes glass and metallic, whereas the Minimal is nearly totally plastic. It feels light-weight, and I’ve to say, slightly low cost. It would not assist that instantly after unboxing it, the telephone’s again was already grubby with smudges, virtually like I had simply eaten a bag of Cheetos (I want). Possibly that is why the corporate sells Dbrand skins to cowl it up.
On the suitable edge is an influence button with a fingerprint scanner baked in, and it is pretty dependable. The underside homes the USB-C charging port and a headphone jack. On the left edge is the SIM tray, which helps microSD playing cards for storage growth if 128 GB is not sufficient. The quantity buttons are divided by an “e-paper refresh” button, in all probability the button you will press probably the most.
That brings us to the 4.3-inch touchscreen, which is … not nice. That is largely as a result of once you scroll or transfer by way of internet pages and menus, there’s a whole lot of ghosting—a faint picture of the earlier textual content you have been gazing. Even one or two scrolls and you will need to hit that e-paper refresh button liberally to take away these artifacts—that rapidly turns into an annoying step.
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
It additionally would not assist that the monochrome display screen would not play properly with lighter colours on choose web sites, although pages with principally black and white textual content, like WIRED.com, look fantastic. Fortunately, I had no issues studying the matte display screen in any lighting state of affairs. You possibly can regulate the display screen’s shade temperature and brightness to fit your eyes, and there isn’t any glare.
Transferring all through the Android 14 working system can really feel slightly sluggish, however that is largely simply the velocity of the e-paper display screen. From a efficiency standpoint, it appears to chug alongside fantastic with the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset inside. Granted, I don’t suggest making an attempt cell video games.
The house display screen exhibits a listing of shortcuts to core apps, like Telephone, Messages, Digital camera, Calendar, and Calculator. There is a Notes app, and it defaults to opening Google Maintain. (You possibly can take away and add new ones by long-pressing the app title within the drawer.) I’ve used the telephone like some other I check, even utilizing Google Maps to navigate and Google Pockets for tap-to-pay at bodily retailers, although you will have a subpar expertise with some apps greater than others.
Lite Telephone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
You will not need to do sure issues on the Minimal Telephone. Watching movies, enjoying video games, and scrolling by way of social media don’t mesh properly with an e-paper display screen and the sluggish refresh fee. YouTube movies and Instagram Reels alike really feel such as you’re gazing a strobe mild, with the display screen flashing with each body. Press and maintain the e-paper refresh button, and you will find an “ultra” refresh setting that makes this slightly higher, however the high quality considerably diminishes, and the whole lot appears to be like like a blob. (I normally stored it at “hybrid,” which switches to extremely when scrolling or when a video is enjoying.)
