Escape the screen Not easy. When I tested the lightweight phone III in March (a phone designed to strip the app and focus on the basics), I quickly discovered how many small things I needed, from security cameras that access the house to authentication apps so that I could log in to Web Services on my laptop. Sometimes it’s not easy to go to a cold turkey. But that’s where the smallest phone calls intervene.
This is an Android phone with a physical keyboard and an electronic paper touch screen. It looks like the Kindle has a baby with blackberries. Unlike most anti-smartphone products that offer a range of basic phone features suites, the smallest phone allows you to access any app through the Google Play Store, such as a regular Android phone. But the need for a continuous refreshing small, 4.3-inch e-paper screen is hampering the experience. The keyboard will also slow you down. This frustrating smartphone experience is the point.
I went to bed one night and doomed the ceremony for my usual bedtime. As my wife zoomed in through Tiktok, I looked at the phone and cried to my wife: “I can’t be destined!” I sighed, put down my phone and went to bed. This is not to say I woke up the next day with the best sleep of my life – using my phone before bed able It affects sleep, but does prove one thing: the minimum number of calls does the work of the time I spend on social media.
Ghost City
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
The difference in build quality between the smallest phone and the lightweight phone III is obvious. The latter mixes glass and metal together, while the smallest is almost entirely plastic. It feels lightweight, I have to say, it’s a bit cheap. It didn’t help immediately after unboxing, the back of the phone was already applied, almost like I just had a bag of Cheetos (I hope). Maybe that’s why the company sells DBrand Skins to cover it up.
On the right edge is a power button with a fingerprint scanner, and it is quite reliable. There is a USB-C charging port and headphone jack at the bottom. On the left edge is the SIM card tray, if 128 GB is not enough, a MicroSD card is supported for storage expansion. The volume button divided by the “E-Paper Refresh” button is probably the button you will get the most buttons.
This put us in the 4.3-inch touch screen, which is not very good. This is mainly because when you scroll or browse the web pages and menus, there are a lot of ghosts, which are a faint image of the previous text you are staring at. Even with a scroll or two, you need to follow the e-paper refresh button to freely delete these artifacts, which will quickly become an annoying step.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
It doesn’t help that monochrome screens have poor colors on featured sites, although pages with black and white texts (like wired.com) look good. Thankfully, I have no problem reading a matte screen in any lighting situation. You can adjust the color temperature and brightness of the screen to suit your eyes and there is no glare.
Moving across the entire Android 14 operating system will feel a bit slow, but that’s just the speed of the e-paper screen. From a performance standpoint, it seems to be closely related to the Mediatek Helio G99 chipset inside. Of course, I don’t recommend trying mobile games.
The home screen displays a list of shortcuts for core applications such as phones, messages, cameras, calendars, and calculators. There is a note-taking app that opens Google Keep by default. (You can remove the app name in the drawer for a long time and add new ones.) I’ve used my phone like anyone else I’ve tested, even though using Google Maps for navigation and Google Wallet and Google Wallet pay at physical retailers, although you have a higher experience with some apps than others than others.
Lite Phone
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
You don’t want to do something on your smallest phone. Watching videos, playing games and scrolling on social media doesn’t blend with e-paper screens and slow refresh rates. Both YouTube videos and Instagram reels feel like you’re staring at the strobe lights, and the screen flashes on every frame. Hold down the e-paper refresh button and you’ll find an “Ultra” refresh setting that makes it better, but with a much lower quality and everything looks like a blob. (I usually save it on “hybrid” and switches to Ultra when scrolling or video playback.)
