The aim of turning your phone right into a extra conscious instrument to attempt to scale back your display time, is not a brand new one. However the best way the Minimal Phone goes about it’s a little totally different.
Not like different digital detox units, Minimal tries to offer customers as a lot performance as they could want, due to full Google Play Retailer entry and many customization choices for the show and bodily keyboard. However whereas the gadget goals to offer you what you want, the burden for deciding what that’s falls on you, somewhat than the phone maker.
The result’s a phone with a break up identification. For some, this lacking hyperlink between fashionable smartphones and early BlackBerry-style ones could also be precisely what you are after to attempt to reduce down in your phone utilization. However for others, the Minimal Phone goes to really feel like a compromise at greatest and at worst far too excessive to really be helpful as a major gadget.
You may must be anti-distraction, however pro-customization to get probably the most out of the Minimal Phone. And in the event you’re not sure in case you are or aren’t but, then learn the remainder of this Minimal Phone overview so I may also help you determine if this phone is your ticket out of being a slave to screens.
Minimal Phone overview: Specs
|
Beginning worth |
$499 ($399 throughout pre-order window) |
|
Show |
4.3-inch e-paper (600 x 800) |
|
Refresh fee |
As much as 20Hz |
|
Rear cameras |
16MP predominant |
|
Entrance cameras |
5MP selfie |
|
Chipset |
MediaTek Helio G99 |
|
RAM |
6GB / 8GB |
|
Storage |
128GB/256GB, with expandable storage |
|
Battery |
3,000 mAh |
|
Charging |
10W wired, 15W Qi wi-fi |
|
Working system |
Android 14 with Minimal Launcher |
|
Water/mud resistance |
IP54 |
|
Dimension |
5.59 x 3.077 x 0.34 inches (144 x 79 x 8.6 mm) |
|
Weight |
165 grams (5.82 ounces) |
|
Colours |
Black, white, black and white |
Minimal Phone overview: Value and availability
The Minimal Phone usually prices $499 for the bottom mannequin with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage, As of this writing, although, Minimal is working a promo the place the phone solely prices $399.
Both approach, that is sufficient to qualify the Minimal Phone for our greatest low cost telephones web page, the place glorious units just like the Google Pixel 9a and Nothing Phone 3a dwell.
For further RAM and double the storage, you’ll be able to as an alternative pay for the $599 model of the Minimal Phone. However that is at present right down to $499, throughout the promo interval, too.
Purchases are solely supplied through Minimal’s web site, and no foreign money aside from U.S. {dollars} is accepted. Technically, the Minimal Phone continues to be in its pre-order part, however orders are resulting from arrive in July, in keeping with the shop web page.
For U.S. customers, Minimal additionally provides its personal knowledge contracts for the phone for anybody who would not plan on shopping for the gadget outright. The service is not reside but nevertheless, with no particular launch date given on the time of writing.
Minimal Phone overview: Design and show
There is a shocking quantity occurring with the design of the Minimal Phone, contemplating the gadget’s anti-distraction mission. The fundamental flat-edged rectangular form is acquainted sufficient for fashionable smartphones, however the wider-than-average facet ratio means the Minimal Phone seems quick and squat.
Nonetheless, you could not discover that facet ratio instantly, as your eye will in all probability be drawn to the precise keyboard on the phone, sitting beneath bodily navigation keys. Discuss throwbacks.
Your coloration choices for the Minimal Phone are both Pebble white, Onyx black, or Fusion, which provides you a white keyboard and again panel, and black bezels across the display. I am not into the two-tone design, however the all-white and all-black variations each look stylish and suitably easy. That’s, till you get your fingerprints everywhere in the phone, with the shiny end of the again panel making them look very apparent.
Talking of black and white, the Minimal Phone makes use of an e-ink show, like an e-reader. That display has a 3:4 facet ratio, typically seen as a “productive” facet ratio because you get extra horizontal house in comparison with a narrower 20:9-ish ratio of most smartphone shows.
Minimal additionally touts this show having no blue gentle emission, one thing that may have an effect on sleep high quality in the event you use screens near bedtime.
As this is an e-ink display, you get a really low refresh fee in comparison with different fashionable telephones which regularly go as excessive as 120Hz. The exact figures aren’t given within the Minimal Phone’s menu, however I’m informed that the quickest out there refresh fee is 20Hz, certainly one of three selections together with a slower mode and an experimental dynamic mode.
Selecting your refresh fee comes with a compromise. The slower pace makes the display simpler to learn due to how e-ink screens work, whereas the quicker pace feels just a little extra pure however offers a a lot blurrier expertise.
Across the sides of the Minimal Phone, you will discover a energy button/fingerprint reader, a headphone jack for your wired audio wants, the same old two quantity keys and a USB-C charging port.
There’s additionally a devoted show refresh button, which is critical due to how e-ink shows solely replace the pixels that want altering, not the entire display, leaving ghosts of earlier photographs, particularly when areas transition from absolutely black to totally white. That ends in smudgy-looking photographs plenty of the time, except you pressure the show to totally replace utilizing the devoted button.
It’s kind of bizarre needing a devoted button to take care of a well-observed quirk of the show know-how the phone makes use of, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly wanted. It is only a disgrace that form of refresh function is not automated. However as soon as you’ve got used it, the display turns into straightforward to learn, whereas nonetheless missing the distraction issue of full coloration.
Minimal Phone overview: Keyboard
There will not be many telephones with correct QWERTY keyboards on them lately, however within the identify of conscious tech utilization, the Minimal Phone provides one. The keys are satisfyingly clicky, and enormous sufficient for me to not make too many typos as I received used to utilizing a bodily keyboard on a phone once more.
Digital keyboard haptics have develop into so good now that I do not miss the Blackberry-style keyboards of the pre-smartphone period. Possibly the Minimal Phone’s keyboard is an enormous draw issue for some potential clients, however I cannot say it is a lot of 1 for me.
I like how the keyboard nonetheless provides autocomplete choices, and provides a particular haptic buzz once you use an emblem to let you realize you’ve got efficiently performed so. You may even set the precise time that you must maintain the alt or shift keys to lock them on or off, in the event you really feel the default is simply too quick or lengthy. And you’ve got the power to arrange customized shortcuts, too.
It’s an expertise that won’t attract many customers for the Minimal phone, however for these customers who do worth bodily keyboards, the one on this phone definitely offers an entire expertise.
Minimal Phone overview: Cameras
Minimal considers images a significant interplay along with your phone, which is why it’s supplied each back and front cameras on the phone. And it’s value saying these are full-color cameras — you simply should export your photographs to a different gadget with a purpose to see them correctly.
The Minimal Phone encompasses a 16MP broad digital camera, which provides an affordable quantity of element because the above comparability with a Galaxy S25 Extremely reveals. However as we are able to additionally see, there is a sturdy blue coloration solid that makes the scene really feel extremely drab. A few of the objects are just a little jagged-looking too within the Minimal shot.
In the meantime, the entrance of the Minimal Phone encompasses a 5MP selfie digital camera, hidden for some purpose within the backside left nook of the phone subsequent to the keyboard.
As soon as you’ve got moved your hand to keep away from blocking the shot, you get some flat, unappealing photographs. The selfie cam on the Minimal Phone is sweet sufficient for recording recollections, and you’ll definitely get away with making video calls with it, nevertheless it’s not laborious to seek out better-quality selfie images within the smartphone world.
Minimal Phone overview: Efficiency
Minimal picked the Helio G99 chipset to run the Minimal Phone. This can be a chip that is been round for greater than a yr at this level, and was by no means designed to be high-performance to start with. Then once more, that is not an issue contemplating the Minimal Phone’s goal, although it ends in some somewhat embarrassing benchmark scores.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
Minimal Phone |
Google Pixel 9a |
iPhone 16e |
|
Geekbench 6 rating (single-core / multi-core) |
722 / 1511 |
1707 / 4512 |
3328 / 8132 |
|
3DMark Wild Life Excessive Limitless (rating / fps) |
334 / 2.0 |
2634 / 15.77 |
2644 / 15.83 |
|
Adobe Premiere Rush time to transcode (minutes:secs) |
2:22 |
1:24 |
0:21 |
In contrast with the equally priced Pixel 9a and barely dearer iPhone 16e, the Minimal Phone is a great distance behind, scoring much less on its general Geekbench 6 check than the Pixel does on its restricted single-core check, and fewer than half of the iPhone 16e’s single-core end result. The outcomes from 3DMark graphics check and the Adobe Premire Rush transcoding check make for grim studying, too.
Energy is way from the Minimal Phone’s listing of priorities, in fact. However provided that the Minimal’s aim is to be as versatile as doable, this lack of oomph might make this much less of a actuality for anybody making an attempt to make use of power-hungry apps, not to mention video games.
With a minimal of 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, the Minimal Phone’s roughly on par with rivals by way of reminiscence. I’ve been testing the higher-spec 8GB/256GB version, however given the Helio chip’s low-tier energy, I’m unsure I’d have felt the distinction of getting 2GB much less RAM to play with.
I’ll squeeze in a point out right here that the Minimal Phone helps Bluetooth 5.2, Android Auto and NFC funds. Usually, this would not want stating for a contemporary smartphone, however for a phone like this, it is good to see you’ll be able to hook up up-to-date audio or wearable gear, hook up with your automotive and make contactless funds as regular.
Minimal Phone overview: Battery and charging
The three,000 mAh battery contained in the Minimal Phone is tiny for a contemporary handset. However with the black-and-white display and low-powered chipset, it is maybe not essential to stuff the phone’s innards with further milliamp-hours.
I would not have minded just a little extra battery capability although. In my ordinary battery check of three hours of YouTube streaming over Wi-Fi, the Minimal Phone drained by a jaw-dropping 78%, somewhat than a extra typical 20% end result that almost all telephones I check like this are likely to hover round.
Granted, this end result was taken on the most refresh fee, so you may possible get a greater end result in the event you diminished it to the phone’s default setting. However with a refresh fee that low, you could as properly be flicking by a photograph slideshow somewhat than watching a video.
I would not fear an excessive amount of about this battery end result as a possible Minimal Phone purchaser although. Whereas it seems dramatic, in the event you’re spending 3 hours watching YouTube on the Minimal Phone, you are doing one thing flawed.
On the charging aspect, you’ve gotten the choice of a 10W wired connection, with a appropriate charger supplied within the field, or 15W Qi wi-fi charging. I am truthfully shocked {that a} phone like this comes with wi-fi charging, however I’m all for it given how ubiquitous charging pads have develop into.
Utilizing the in-box charger, I was capable of fill the Minimal Phone to 19% after quarter-hour 38% after half an hour and about 80% after a full hour. Because of the small capability, it would not take too lengthy to get a superb chunk of the battery recharged. However you’ve got nonetheless received to watch out how you employ the phone if you wish to get the multi-day battery life that Minimal guarantees it is able to.
Minimal Phone overview: Software program and particular options
You would not guess from it, however the Minimal Phone runs on Android 14. That is not the newest Android 15 OS, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a current Android model. What makes the Minimal Phone look so totally different is the corporate’s Minimal Launcher, which transforms the house display and app drawer into the tremendous easy variations you see right here.
Minimal Launcher presents your private home display as an inventory of as much as seven apps, after which an app listing of all the pieces you’ve got received out there when swiping up. However swipe down and also you reveal the acquainted fast settings and notification shade.
Not like different digital detox telephones, you’ll be able to nonetheless set up any Android app you want from the Google Play Retailer. There isn’t any lock-in to pre-selected apps, or the necessity to log right into a separate web site so as to add apps from there — it really works identical to any Android phone you’ve got already used, save for the opposite distinctive options we have already gone over.
The replace schedule for the Minimal Phone is three years of full Android updates and 5 years of safety updates. That’s higher than I thought it is perhaps for a brand-new phone maker however you are able to do higher with phone just like the Pixel 9a, which will get seven years of full updates.
Minimal guarantees that future updates will embody new additions like keyboard remapping, customized shortcuts and Minimal-designed apps together with a messaging app to make use of as an alternative of the default Google Messages. However none of those had been current on the time of testing.
Minimal Phone overview: Verdict
Purity of function appears like the first attribute of those digital detox-friendly units, like how a digital camera phone will supply extra and higher sensors and additional seize choices, or a gaming phone will deal with energy, show responsiveness and enhanced cooling and controls. However the Minimal Phone sarcastically offers you fairly a bit greater than you want.
That is not by mistake, however to ensure everybody has what they need to have, as an alternative of catering to the wants of some imagined common consumer. It is a thought-out compromise, however one which brings the Minimal Phone nearer to common (maximal?) telephones.
The low-powered chip and e-ink display will nonetheless dissuade most individuals from spending large quantities of time watching video or scrolling their feeds, however the truth is you’ll be able to nonetheless entry these capabilities if you want. And having the choice in any respect is maybe too large a danger for individuals who really feel this form of phone is critical for them.
When you’re sure you desire a new phone that is going to pressure you to disengage out of your digital vices, then the Minimal Phone will assist you do this. However there are different methods to scale back your display time, together with ones that do not require you to purchase devoted {hardware} that you could be remorse buying when that you must use a extra demanding app.
I can vouch for the Minimal Phone as a product, even when it is not one I’ll proceed utilizing now that this overview’s performed. However greater than every other phone advice, the most important piece of the puzzle is the way you need and want your phone to suit into your life.
