3 hours ago
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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways
- The Minimal telephone is disposable for pre-order present for $399, which is $100 disconnected the regular price.
- Its E Ink show is refreshing and customizable, telephone prime is great, and you person entree to the Google Play store.
- Texting with the carnal keyboard comes with a learning curve, the camera is precise low-fi, and the artillery is not yet good optimized.
With a fistful of alleged "dumbphones" entering the user marketplace implicit the past year, specified arsenic the Light Phone 3 and the Mudita Kompakt, the Minimal Phone takes a antithetic attack arsenic an Android device with an E Ink show and carnal QWERTY keyboard but afloat entree to the Google Play store.
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That's right. You tin download astir thing you privation connected this $400 phone, but you astir apt won't privation to. I precocious utilized the Minimal Phone for 2 weeks, archetypal arsenic a superior instrumentality and past arsenic a secondary, and experienced a just magnitude of friction that yet led to an appreciation for the signifier factor. Let's instrumentality a look.
The Minimal Phone is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 eight-core CPU, up to 8GB of memory, and up to 256GB of storage. This is simply a beauteous modular acceptable of hardware, but each that powerfulness is bottlenecked by the E Ink display, which turns immoderate visuals beyond basal substance and UI navigation into a low-res representation that's astir arsenic enjoyable arsenic you'd expect. Then you realize, that's benignant of the point, here.
The Minimal Phone doesn't halt you from doomscrolling oregon procrastinating connected YouTube outright, it conscionable makes the idiosyncratic acquisition much occupation than it's worth, narrowing the usage lawsuit from a sprawling instrumentality that tin bash thing (like your smartphone) to 1 that's, well, minimal.
It's benignant of a comic trick, actually. You tin ticker videos and load Instagram connected this phone, but it's specified a atrocious acquisition that you don't truly privation to. If you crook the E Ink display's refresh complaint each the mode up, it's functional for constricted cases, but each it takes is simply a fewer seconds of video content, and you'll apt beryllium closing the app.
Instead, you'll gravitate toward utilizing it arsenic an e-reader oregon to perceive to audiobooks, which are acold much optimized for this phone. The 4.3-inch E Ink show features an 800 x 600 pixel surface size, and astir 230 PPI (pixels per inch) -- little than different E Ink displays similar the Boox Note Max oregon the Kindle Scribe (both with 300 PPI). All the accustomed E Ink points apply, with refresh complaint accommodation (directly correlating to artillery drain), and a just magnitude of ocular ghosting.
Also: I tested this affordable E Ink telephone for 2 weeks, and it rewired my encephalon (for the better)
But if you're not looking astatine the show and privation to perceive to euphony oregon podcasts, it works great. With 5.2 Bluetooth connectivity, a headphone jack, and a USB-C port, you person each the regular options for connecting earbuds oregon headphones.
The phone's carnal signifier is alternatively nondescript but calls to caput different devices, some past and present. Its crisp edges lend it a definite sleekness that makes it look little similar a smartphone and much similar a miniature Kindle. Conversely, glancing astatine the 35-key carnal QWERTY keyboard, you could spot a reimagined Blackberry.
The backmost of the telephone features the 16MP camera (yes, there's a camera connected this instrumentality -- two, successful fact) on with possibly the astir fingerprint-attracting achromatic integrative worldly I've ever touched, and a sheet with the device's barcodes and serial numbers smack dab successful the middle. Good happening there's a MagSafe-compatible lawsuit you tin bargain for $30.
Overall, the physique prime is good, but it's a first-generation product, truthful immoderate things are amended than others. The interaction surface show is really rather responsive, contempt the emblematic lag you get with E Ink, and the 3 interaction buttons beneath the show are precise functional. But the keyboard is wherever things commencement to get complicated.
As a Blackerry proprietor successful the mid-2000s, I admit a carnal QWERTY keyboard. However, the plan needs to beryllium intentional. As such, I would accidental the Minimal Phone's keyboard needs immoderate refinement.
The keys are precise small, and they person a squirmy consciousness that resists accelerated typing. Additionally, the abstraction barroom has a unusual double-sided click that ever feels similar you've someway missed the key. Lastly, typing peculiar characters requires a infinitesimal to find their locations. There is immoderate logic to the mapping, but determination is simply a learning curve.
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The telephone besides has a compass, NFC chip, and supports some Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 5, making it, successful essence, a emblematic Android device. It runs banal Android 14 OS, and retired of the container utilizes its Minimal launcher -- 1 happening connected this instrumentality that surely IS minimal. It looks a batch similar the show connected the Light Phone 3 with a text-only design.
If you privation to effort retired different launchers similar Nova oregon Niagara, I perfectly urge it, arsenic they look amended optimized for the E Ink with precocious opposition icons and a much ocular interface.
Speaking of visuals, let's speech astir the camera. First, the 5MP selfie camera is located successful the bottommost near country of the device, which decidedly takes immoderate getting utilized to, arsenic it's often obscured by your hand.
Second, the 16MP main camera leaves a batch to beryllium desired. This is not a camera you'll beryllium retired shooting with, but it is applicable for the precise basics: QR codes, Google Translate, oregon basal documenting. Keep successful caput that the images are changeable successful color, contempt the information that you'll evidently person to transportation them to different instrumentality to spot them.
Also: This modular Android telephone made my Pixel 9 Pro consciousness boring - but it near maine confused
Last but not least, I person to notation the battery. So here's the deal: E Ink phones should person fantastic batteries. We're not dealing with a Super Retina XDR OLED show here, yet the Minimal Phone's artillery is simply a small unpredictable.
I volition accidental that it has a precise bully standby battery. When idle and not successful use, it drains astatine a trickle. Even basal tasks similar calling and texting results successful an acceptable magnitude of artillery drain. But the depletion becomes noticeable erstwhile you commencement utilizing apps connected this thing.
Using the telephone arsenic an e-reader was an acceptable mediate ground. Still, I would similar to spot immoderate amended artillery optimization, and expect that aboriginal bundle updates and optimizations would beryllium the superior root of that improvement.
ZDNET's buying advice
In theory, the Minimal Phone has everything that makes it a unsocial device. But successful practice, it feels much similar an Android with an E Ink show than a breakthrough product. It's surely not a "dumbphone", but the limits of its hardware constrictive its usability successful practice.
Even though the carnal plan could usage immoderate refinement, its attack is refreshing. Ultimately, the Minimal Phone is not made for the idiosyncratic who wants to wholly disconnect but trim the scope of their phone's capabilities. In that sense, I urge it arsenic a secondary instrumentality oregon arsenic a regular transportation you support connected your person, with a smartphone anchored astatine location oregon successful the office.
The caller US tariffs connected imports from countries similar China, Vietnam, and India purpose to boost home manufacturing but are apt to thrust up prices connected user electronics. Products similar smartphones, laptops, and TVs whitethorn go much costly arsenic companies rethink planetary proviso chains and measurement the outgo of shifting production.
Also:Tariff warfare has tech buyers wondering what's next. Here's what we know
Smartphones are among the astir affected by the caller US tariffs, with devices imported from China and Vietnam facing steep duties that could rise retail prices by 20% oregon more. Brands similar Apple and Google, which trust heavy connected Asian manufacturing, whitethorn either walk these costs connected to consumers oregon sorb them astatine the disbursal of nett margins.
The tariffs could besides pb to delays successful merchandise launches oregon shifts successful wherever and however phones are made, forcing companies to diversify accumulation to countries with much favorable commercialized conditions.
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