I got a new phone, the Minimal Phone. It is an e-paper phone with physical keyboard, both rarities in current smartphones. My Samsung S24 is a bit over a year old, pretty much new for me, but I’ve been wanting an e-paper phone for a long time and the S24 was somewhat disappointing in some ways. I’m hoping the e-paper display will reduce eye fatigue, reduce screen time, and help with sleep issues. I haven’t switched over and won’t until I get a case for it, plus there are some issues that I’m hoping get fixed with an upcoming software update.
I had been following the Minimal Phone since before I got the S24. But it was a new company and crowdfunded, meaning I would’ve been stuck on my broken old phone until they designed and shipped this, which was optimistically estimated for August of last year but ended up being January of this year for a select few and within the last couple months for most. There were many problems along the way. There were repeated delays, it took a long time to get FCC certification, problems with and confusion over shipping and tariffs, and network and software issues still exist. Early April was when I finally decided to go for it, after some had shipped and FCC certification happened. It didn’t arrive until end of June. I’m glad to have finally got it.
I have only had it for a little bit and haven’t been using it as a phone, just playing with it and reading web pages and stuff, so I can’t give a good review. But I’ve run into issues just doing that which I can comment on.
First off, it seems pretty cool. The e-paper display is not quite E-ink (the brand) good, but is still really nice, especially in light. It is greyscale and has normal e-paper issues with fast moving content, like ghosting and flashing. I’m mostly used to those issues from the e-notes / e-readers I’ve had. The keyboard is nice, though some software changes might help with typing other characters. I kind of wish there were number keys, but there are space trade-offs. I’m still getting used to thumb button typing instead of swype. The device looks nice and is a little bit shorter, a little wider, probably a little lighter than my S24.
The screen seems a little shorter than some things seem to expect. Fixed elements sometimes take a lot of screen height, making the main part of websites / apps short. It’s been hard to get a good font size to fit enough but be easily readable. Websites sometimes have poor contrast between text and backgrounds, which can be hard to read on greyscale. If text is thin and off-black-or-white, it can be a bit grainy, especially on fast refresh mode.
The front light is kinda too bright on its lowest setting. It isn’t needed at all when there’s a decent amount of ambient light, and when there isn’t it’s usually nicer and more comfortable to not wash out low light vision. I’d like it if it could auto-switch from minimal light mode in the dark to no light in the light.
The device has dedicated touch buttons for back, home, and app switcher. They seem a little bigger than they need to be and maybe could’ve been nice as physical buttons. Relatedly, there are no onscreen buttons for that functionality. The new gestures navigation mode mostly doesn’t work. I like it mostly for the edge swipe to go back, but that doesn’t work very well on this device for some reason. So I’m getting used to the touch buttons.
The camera is not very good from what I’ve heard and may require me to keep my S24 around or get a small dedicated camera for hikes and other events that need better photos.
The home screen / launcher seem nice and minimalistic, but need some improvements. In particular, since there is a physical keyboard, one should be able to start typing an app name and initiate a search. Right now that requires a swipe then tap first. The home only allows eight apps plus clock and calendar (by pressing time / date) and two customizable swipes. I’ll have to see if that will be enough, especially if I want “Add to home screen” from the browser, like for Google’s weather. I hear there are some other good minimal launchers, but will stick with this one through the next update at least.
It would be nice if the device were more water proof, enough that I’d at least be comfortable with it getting rained on or dropped in a puddle.
I ordered the official case, but it isn’t done yet. Should be this month. I will worry less about drops with that.
It came with a plastic cover for the screen. I’m not sure if that was intended to be used as a screen protector, but I am for now, at least until I get the case. It seems to have a bit of glare in the light though. Worse, it’s developing tiny scratches. So I think it will have to go at some point.
I haven’t tested cell usage. I’ve heard of some / many people having trouble, but mostly with AT&T and Verizon, and mostly just with outgoing calls, where a reset or switch to airplane mode will fix it. I’m currently on T-Mobile now, which seems to be better. Incoming calls and SMS is the biggest worry, since I don’t know when those would be coming in.
Hopefully issues will be fixed with software updates and it will make a great next phone. I can then sell my S24 or keep it as a camera and other special use device.