Review: Minimal Phone

Escaping the screen isn’t easy. When I tested the Light Phone III in March—a phone designed to strip away apps and focus on the basics—I quickly found how many little things I needed my smartphone for, from accessing my home’s security cameras to authentication apps so I could sign in to web services on my laptop. Sometimes it's just not easy to go cold turkey. But that's where the Minimal Phone steps in.

This is an Android phone with a physical keyboard and an e-paper touchscreen. It looks like a Kindle had a baby with a BlackBerry. Unlike most anti-smartphone products that offer a curated suite of basic phone functions, the Minimal Phone lets you access any app through the Google Play Store like a normal Android phone. But the experience is hampered by the tiny, 4.3-inch e-paper screen that needs constant refreshing. The keyboard will also slow you down. This frustrating smartphone experience is sort of the point.

I got into bed one night, ready for my usual bedtime doomscrolling ritual. As my wife was zooming through TikTok, I looked at my phone and wailed to my wife, “I can't doomscroll!” I heaved a sigh, put my phone down, and went to bed. This is not to say that I magically woke up the next day with the best sleep of my life—using your phone before bed can affect sleep—but it did prove one thing: The Minimal Phone did its job of cutting my time spent on social media.

Ghost City

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

The difference in build quality between the Minimal Phone and the Light Phone III is stark. The latter mixes glass and metal, whereas the Minimal is almost entirely plastic. It feels lightweight, and I have to say, a little cheap. It doesn't help that immediately after unboxing it, the phone's back was already grubby with smudges, almost like I had just eaten a bag of Cheetos (I wish). 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 baked in, and it's fairly reliable. The bottom houses the USB-C charging port and a headphone jack. On the left edge is the SIM tray, which supports microSD cards for storage expansion if 128 GB isn't enough. The volume buttons are divided by an “e-paper refresh” button, probably the button you'll press the most.

That brings us to the 4.3-inch touchscreen, which is … not great. This is largely because when you scroll or move through web pages and menus, there's a lot of ghosting—a faint image of the previous text you were staring at. Even one or two scrolls and you'll want to hit that e-paper refresh button liberally to remove these artifacts—that quickly becomes an annoying step.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

It also doesn't help that the monochrome screen doesn't play well with lighter colors on select websites, though pages with mostly black and white text, like WIRED.com, look fine. Thankfully, I had no problems reading the matte screen in any lighting situation. You can adjust the screen's color temperature and brightness to suit your eyes, and there's no glare.

Moving throughout the Android 14 operating system can feel a little slow, but this is largely just the speed of the e-paper screen. From a performance standpoint, it seems to chug along fine with the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset inside. Granted, I do not recommend trying mobile games.

The home screen shows a list of shortcuts to core apps, like Phone, Messages, Camera, Calendar, and Calculator. There's a Notes app, and it defaults to opening Google Keep. (You can remove and add new ones by long-pressing the app name in the drawer.) I've used the phone like any other I test, even using Google Maps to navigate and Google Wallet for tap-to-pay at physical retailers, though you'll have a subpar experience with some apps more than others.

Lite Phone

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

You won't want to do certain things on the Minimal Phone. Watching videos, playing games, and scrolling through social media do not mesh well with an e-paper screen and the slow refresh rate. YouTube videos and Instagram Reels alike feel like you're staring at a strobe light, with the screen flashing with every frame. Press and hold the e-paper refresh button, and you'll find an “ultra” refresh setting that makes this a little better, but the quality significantly diminishes, and everything looks like a blob. (I usually kept it at “hybrid," which switches to ultra when scrolling or when a video is playing.)

This plays nicely to the company's goal of giving you the modern-day essentials while stripping away distractions. And truly, it does work in this regard. I was barely on social media during my time with the Minimal Phone, and didn't miss it. The one thing to remember is that since you can install apps like Slack and connect your work email, I found myself still “online” and responding to colleagues even away from my desk. That's a decision to make in the app installation phase, and a test of self-control.

There are some overall quirks with the software. Most Android apps nowadays ask if you want to allow notifications, but I barely got this prompt on the Minimal Phone, which might be by design. Since I barely went on Instagram using this phone, I didn't realize I missed a few DMs from friends, so that's something to make sure you enable if you want. I also had trouble scanning QR codes in the camera app—it wouldn't register. So I took a picture and then used Google Lens to scan them, which worked as an alternative.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

The physical keyboard is solid—not the best I've used but not the worst. The spacebar feels a bit mushy, and some buttons on occasion didn't register the keypress. I wish the Android navigation buttons above the keyboard were physical keys instead of touch buttons—I accidentally went to the home screen a few too many times when scrolling because it's right under the touchscreen.

The 16-megapixel camera is downright abysmal. All the photos look grainy, blurry, and overexposed or underexposed. I also don't know why the company stuffed the 5-MP selfie camera right next to the keyboard, where it's easy to block when holding the phone. There are huge bezels around the screen, so I'm unsure why the front camera couldn't sit at the top.

There's also no 5G support, but I didn't find this a problem. After all, it's not like I was streaming much. That said, I expected battery life to be better. With average use, the 3,000-mAh cell got down to roughly 50 percent at the end of a day, and it lasted me nearly two full days before needing a top-up. Considering all the sacrifices in screen quality and lack of social media, I expected several days of juice. At least there's wireless charging support, and you can even get a MagSafe case to connect it with MagSafe wireless chargers.

The company claims it'll support the software for five years, but Minimal is a new company, and this is its first product. It could make good on its promise, but it could also close up shop—now you've sunk $399 on a device that won't get new Android versions, and it's already out of date.

The price is more stomachable than, say, the $599 Light Phone III. If you don't want to outright ditch your smartphone and swap your personal SIM, Minimal has cell plans (with call and text) starting at $15 per month, if you don't mind having a second number. That makes it more of a full-fledged distraction-free smartphone alternative. (The cell plan is through Gigs, which uses T-Mobile’s and AT&T’s networks.)

It comes down to what you want and knowing this phone’s limitations. I didn't enjoy using the Minimal Phone, despite enjoying my time with the Light Phone III, which has fewer features. The plasticky and somewhat stale design is a turn-off, and the slow, ghosting screen gets old fast. If your goal is to limit screen time without sacrificing access to specific apps, the Minimal Phone does the job, or you could buy a cheap smartphone and be selective of what you install. I think the company will hit its stride in version two.