Escaping the display isn’t simple. Once I examined the Mild Cellphone III in March—a telephone designed to strip away apps and concentrate on the fundamentals—I shortly discovered what number of little issues I wanted my smartphone for, from accessing my house’s safety cameras to authentication apps so I may register to net providers on my laptop computer. Typically it is simply not simple to go chilly turkey. However that is the place the Minimal Cellphone steps in.
That is an Android telephone with a bodily keyboard and an e-paper touchscreen. It seems like a Kindle had a child with a BlackBerry. Not like most anti-smartphone merchandise that provide a curated suite of primary telephone capabilities, the Minimal Cellphone allows you to entry any app by way of the Google Play Retailer like a standard Android telephone. However the expertise is hampered by the tiny, 4.3-inch e-paper display that wants fixed refreshing. The keyboard may also gradual you down. This irritating smartphone expertise is form of the purpose.
I obtained 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 not doomscroll!” I heaved a sigh, put my telephone down, and went to mattress. This isn’t to say that I magically awakened the subsequent day with the perfect sleep of my life—utilizing your telephone earlier than mattress can have an effect on sleep—nevertheless it did show one factor: The Minimal Cellphone did its job of chopping my time spent on social media.
Ghost Metropolis
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
The distinction in construct high quality between the Minimal Cellphone and the Mild Cellphone III is stark. The latter mixes glass and metallic, whereas the Minimal is nearly solely plastic. It feels light-weight, and I’ve to say, just a little low-cost. It does not assist that instantly after unboxing it, the telephone’s again was already grubby with smudges, nearly like I had simply eaten a bag of Cheetos (I want). Perhaps that is why the corporate sells Dbrand skins to cowl it up.
On the precise 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 enlargement if 128 GB is not sufficient. The quantity buttons are divided by an “e-paper refresh” button, in all probability the button you may press essentially the most.
That brings us to the 4.3-inch touchscreen, which is … not nice. That is largely as a result of whenever you scroll or transfer by way of net pages and menus, there’s lots of ghosting—a faint picture of the earlier textual content you had been observing. Even one or two scrolls and you may need to hit that e-paper refresh button liberally to take away these artifacts—that shortly turns into an annoying step.
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
It additionally does not assist that the monochrome display does not play properly with lighter colours on choose web sites, although pages with principally black and white textual content, like WIRED.com, look advantageous. Fortunately, I had no issues studying the matte display in any lighting state of affairs. You’ll be able to modify the display’s shade temperature and brightness to fit your eyes, and there is no glare.
Transferring all through the Android 14 working system can really feel just a little gradual, however that is largely simply the velocity of the e-paper display. From a efficiency standpoint, it appears to chug alongside advantageous with the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset inside. Granted, I don’t advocate making an attempt cellular video games.
The house display reveals a listing of shortcuts to core apps, like Cellphone, Messages, Digicam, Calendar, and Calculator. There is a Notes app, and it defaults to opening Google Preserve. (You’ll be able to take away and add new ones by long-pressing the app title within the drawer.) I’ve used the telephone like every other I check, even utilizing Google Maps to navigate and Google Pockets for tap-to-pay at bodily retailers, although you may have a subpar expertise with some apps greater than others.
Lite Cellphone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
You will not need to do sure issues on the Minimal Cellphone. Watching movies, taking part in video games, and scrolling by way of social media don’t mesh properly with an e-paper display and the gradual refresh fee. YouTube movies and Instagram Reels alike really feel such as you’re observing a strobe mild, with the display flashing with each body. Press and maintain the e-paper refresh button, and you will find an “extremely” refresh setting that makes this just a little higher, however the high quality considerably diminishes, and every little thing seems like a blob. (I often saved it at “hybrid,” which switches to extremely when scrolling or when a video is taking part in.)
