Not to shill but if you're struggling with apps on your (i)phone, I can't recommend https://www.foqos.app/ enough. My weekly screentime (as measured by my iphone, not true screen time) is <1hr. NFC tag is optional you can literally buy a candy bar and tape the barcode to an index card and that will work. The physical layer is massive. Now my problem is just limited to desktop which is easier to control.
Every single time one of these new "minimal", "dumb", "lightweight" phones comes up today it's just marketing wrapped around a kneecapped Android device. I am in the market for something simpler that does nothing more or little else than play local media/audio, read common document/text formats, ordinary SMS, current standard of telephony, and a different OS than Android. I have not seen anything like this yet.
> Every single time one of these new "minimal", "dumb", "lightweight" phones comes up today it's just marketing wrapped around a kneecapped Android device.
Except the Commodore Callback[1], which is based on Linux (SailfishOS). It's pretty minimal and should meet your requirements, in theory.
It was a 302 redirect to http://www.rim.com/careers/ around 2008-2010, according to the Wayback Machine. It could have been around for longer unarchived, of course.
Yeah this type of "distraction free" device is fundamentally impossible because these days the "not distraction" things cannot be done without full Android apps. If you don't allow apps you have a phone without:
Why is this phone barely lighter than an iPhone air with a massively bigger screen, two camera lenses, etc? I'm glad it's not heavier, but I would have hoped for it to be the lightest phone -- by far. (Minimal 2 is 7g lighter than iPhone Air).
Small size (72mm is maximum width for use by one hand), jack port, physical buttons, aluminium body, open bootloader... Ok, I'm listening. But that price...
Why do we even need 12 GB RAM for distraction free phone? Why there is no microSD port?
Wonder why they chose a different layout for the symbols on the physical keyboard than the default keyboard for Android. I'm sure that'll confuse a lot of people considering migrating, or worse, having to switch between them.
Haptic feedback on virtual keyboards is just fine if you ask me. I'm not sure why it needs mechanical keys, I don't really see how that adds anything of value on a phone these days.
I'm typing on my pixel 6 Pro and it still feels satisfying.
It should be useful when trying to type in a vehicle that's shaking a little. Your can tap another key by mistake on a virtual keyboard amidst the shaking, but not really on a physical one where you're grabbing and navigating the keys with your thumbs prior to pressing.
Virtual keyboard haptic feedback seems more like gimmick. If it actually serves a functional purpose, I'd be surprised and interested. Maybe if you had feedback activate as you glide through the keys, but Google's keyboard at least doesn't.
> mechanical keys, I don't really see how that adds anything of value on a phone these days
When you get old, your ability to type reliably on a phone's touchscreen keyboard starts to go down the pan. Having actual tactile "things" to land on can make it easier.
I too am a keyboard diehard (typing on a unihertz titan 2, i traded out my headphone jack for this physical keyboard so I am interested in this minimal phone 2 since headphone jack. if it had microsd card slot and removable battery it would be perfect, other old features like fm radio and IR blasters are bonus gravy to me), and likewise I'd prefer a blackerry priv style device where they portrait keyboard slides behind the screen, or a droid 2 style device where the keyboard is a landscape slider.
I'm going to have to think carefully about why I should NOT order this device.
The most exciting thing for me about this phone is the physical size. It's not a "phablet" like every other phone these days, it's basically Nexus 4 sized (perfect size for my big hands) which means easy one-handed use.
Not sure if I will actually get one since my Pixel 4a 5g (w/ LineageOS + microG) is still going strong, but I will admit that I'm tempted by this.
I'm not sure about a return to keyboard, it's not large enough to actually type on, and swipe seems to be a much faster alternative to pecking at the keys.
Maybe swipe typing isn't as popular as I first thought.
hi there, I've done pocket PC, palm pilot graffiti, palm treo integrated and dockable keyboard, landscape slider keyboards, stylus only qwerty keyboards, Swype the app, Gboard, heliboard, t9 physical keys, messageease, and im sire some others.
day 1 the plb is slower than swipe typing because it needs getting used to. But the trick is one can focus one's attention on the content being typed /learn to touch type on a physical keyboard that on screen keyboards cant do, because of lack of consistency of on screen kbs always shifting layouts on you, at least with coming and going but usually also ruining the dot menu for common punctuation depending on if the input field is trying to be an email or a number or whatever.
dont try to help me keyboard, just give me a ctrl character, consistent shortcuts, and don't lag half the time I enter some text input, so I've typed out 4 words before the phone realizes anything has happened.
so yes i think you are right that swipe typing has value and more people should use it. but its lipstick on a pig for most of osks not being reliably static enough to let muscle memory / touch typing grow.
my unihertz titan 2 also has capacitive keys, i turn them off because I want the kb as dumb as possible (though i add keymapper android app to give me vim style arrow keys), but swipe typing would be possible on my or this device with just software support if there were demand for it / someone got their llm to vibe it up.
Sorry, I just see a physical keyboard on a phone, and I cannot be convinced that it's a good idea. We're past that. If it were truly minimal, it wouldn't have a physical keyboard. It would have a full-screen display with a minimal but useful OS and UI/UX.
I get why these types of devices are appealing from an "oooh new shiny" perspective but let's be honest: the smartphone design is essentially perfected. Software keyboards are far better than physical ones at that size due to the adaptive keyboard touch target re-sizing that goes on behind the scenes. Just use your existing phone and delete all the distracting stuff, it'll be far more reliable than some small-batch manufacturing run of something like this.
Maybe I’m just bad at it, but it’s been 16 years since I gave up my blackberry and I’m still way less accurate with touch screens. This is across flagship phones from both android and iOS.
I recently received my clicks power keyboard and after 2-3 weeks of usage am substantially slower and less accurate; that being said, I never developed "blackberry" muscle memory.
It's kind of cool, I like that there are people trying to do something else, but I don't how it's "minimal" or discourages heavy use.
It's an Android phone, with pretty decent specs. Nothing is stopping you from installing social media apps and doomscrolling all day and night, and chances are you will do that if that's what you do with your phone, just as you can just delete social media apps from your current phone.
The custom UI and physical keyboard are innovative though, I don't think I've seen a physical keyboard with touch support before, and I wish them the best.
Perhaps that's good, though. The market for truly minimal phones seems to be rather small. I've had a chance to buy a new Commodore phone and they are really cool, but in the end I decided against it because I wasn't even sure my banking apps were going to run on it and I do need some social media on my phone even if I don't use them often. For example, everybody uses Whatsapp where I live. If you need to buy another phone to complement your minimal phone, it's kind of pointless.
so I'm tempted to order this even if its a premium price point. My question is how close to kickstarter buyer beware is this company?
I ordered the Astro Slide 5G and never received it, so much for me getting to see what all of the psion fuss was about, so this device is both tempting and making me remember past regrettable experiences.
Like a lot of similar devices, it looks cool, but, just like a lot of similar devices which have a physical keyboard, it will probably never be released with anything else than a US qwerty keyboard, so I'm already out.
Update: didn't scroll down enough! Indeed they have. Neat.
I would like more information on what Degoogled means and whether it’s still possible to install 3rd party apps by some other means. Nice looking device, I expected it to cost more. Also, does this only work in the US rn?
I kind of like the idea of this being a reflash to install apps, if that's how it works it makes it more intentional.
Though you can probably just install Aurora Store or F-Droid and install from there. Some apps don't work (you'll notice they didn't show Uber in the examples) and recently I've been having issues with Aurora and suspect its days are numbered so I'd be concerned about the future of that before buying something like this.
The single input box with different prefixes for actions - @people, #call, - todo etc is very nice. I wish I could have such a powerful input box in my Home Screen. iPhone or even a trimmed down android with such an interface would be cool.
I’m not a fan of the physical keyboard, the broad shape(they say one handed use immediately followed by a video of someone using both hands to type). I’m okay with the candy bar all screen phones of today. The UX is pretty cool if I can have it on my “regular” phone..
Anybody have an idea if it is doable on an iPhone or an android phone?
If you set up a swipe to launch another launcher, you can have all your widgets there, as sometimes that's nice for a multi-app overview of Stuff™ at a glance.
I like the smaller scale. Once, I really cared about having qwerty, but now I don't care with the way touch has progressed (using Futo). It's the experience of the BB I miss. I'm not sure how far Linux phones have come but last I checked they were sluggish and unstable.
I've been looking at this and the Clicks Communicator which should both be out by the end of this year. I'm not really a "dumbphone" person nor am I really a physical keyboard hound. I just want a smaller phone that feels better in the pocket and in the hand. I thought about a Razr but the proportions are a little awkward when opened. Its a little too long.
I get what you are saying. I'm coming from a Sony Xperia 10 IV with a width of 68 mm and it was perfect, albeit a bit tall (21:9 format). Now I use a Motorola Edge 60 Neo with a width of nearly 71 mm with the "traditional" 16:9 format. It is almost as tall and just slightly out of reach of one-handed use for me. The Minimal 2 is wider at 72 mm, the Clicks is even wider. I'm going to look at the Razr, it's frustrating.
-Phone/texting
-Messengers like WhatsApp/Telegram/etc.
-Maps
-Music/podcasts
Ideally with e-ink.
I want something that doesn't compete with a full-fledged smartphone (which I'd still keep for travel and stuff). I want something to take to the office, hanging out with friends, etc, where bringing the smartphone becomes a decision.
I think if you ask 5 people what dumb (enough) phone meant you'd get seven answers.
For some anything after SMS is not dumb enough (ok, this still exists), others would be ok with just a browser, and you said Maps and WA/etc/.
I am not even sure I could give you a good enough definition, I'm kinda happy enough with Android and just ignore any dumb/minimal angle, because if I only take a phone with me I generally want to potentially use it as a computer replacement. There are really only 2 people I call regularly.
> I think if you ask 5 people what dumb (enough) phone meant you'd get seven answers.
Yes, but I think anyone interested in this would know what they don't want: TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, or any other app that wants you to spend maximum time in their app.
Unless we're talking about complete purists who basically want a 2003 level phone that only does call/text, there's lots of flexibility.
Someone who wants a less addicting phone but doesn't necessarily require maps is unlikely to not buy because of a maps app. It's not like they'd spend 3 hours a day getting directions.
I'm happy that this hardware exists but an easier solution is to quit social media, viciously curate your notifications and apps, and install an ad blocker. My phone only alerts me if somebody calls me, asks me a question specifically in a group chat, or DMs me. I never see any ads or any FOMO nags. Life is pretty good.
This. I still struggle a bit with compulsively checking Slack or email during the workday, and sometimes I take extended breaks from HN just to avoid the time suck (among other things) but this + quitting social media entirely 2 years ago means I got my attention span back.
Do you? If you disable all notifications you have to make a conscious effort to open a time sink. In time you'll start to forget, esp if you get busy with something.
And HN is arguably better than doomscrolling TikTok or Facebook, even with the current LLM/Rust/LLM in Rust spam.
Neat. This is pretty close to what I’d be looking for, if I could really afford to pull the trigger on something like this (realistically I can’t - iMessage on laptop is too important for work).
If it natively plugged into the Apple ecosystem, now that would be difficult to refuse.
That really illustrates the issue to me. Personally I don't need it to run GrapheneOS, but I do need a parking app, internet sharing, a TOTP app and MobilePay, others will need different application.
Creating a minimal phone is almost impossible, because it means different things to different people. Mine could be a Nokia style candy bar design, because I don't need a large screen or a camera, but it does require completely custom applications.
Yes, but I don't want to run some form of Android, or have easily available apps. The apps are the distraction, so I would want the browser and the app store removed and only be able to load app via USB or a SD card.
Yeah they talk up privacy but trust is a big component of that. Where's the source? I distrust Google...but I also distrust a company I've never heard of with mobile device data in 2026. It's basically keys to the kingdom now.
I read that as "minimum standard", not "minimal" as in "not possible to make it have anything less". People need a keyboard and the screen keyboard on iPhones today isn't pleasant, at least for me. I'm not saying that this keyboard will be better, it may suck even worse, but the lack of a good keyboard experience is the main reason I don't do much with my phone other than order Ubers when I'm on vacation.
I don't think that's a core part of the minimalism. It's about the overall aims (less interruption etc) and their Minimal OS (based on Android) and the fairly simple launcher.
I was excited before I saw battery section. 3600 mAh with 27W charging would be a bigger downshift than comfortable from 6000 mAh and 90W charging.
I pray for +capacity version
Very cool. If they could commit to a looooong time of publishing software updates (esp. security), and if I could trust them to actually do it, I would be very interested.
I hate switching phones and I am not buying short-lived devices anymore if I can help it.
72mm width ain't nothing to write home about, you can find even nowadays phones narrower than that
as for the rest, I fail to see why pay extra for this niche nonsense when you can achieve exactly same thing with whatever Android launcher you prefer, only differentiator of this device is physical keyboard
crap specs with only 90Hz display and MediaTek Dimensity 8300 for 600+ USD and it is not even released yet, but maybe in few months when these specs will look even worse than they already are
Every single time one of these new "minimal", "dumb", "lightweight" phones comes up today it's just marketing wrapped around a kneecapped Android device. I am in the market for something simpler that does nothing more or little else than play local media/audio, read common document/text formats, ordinary SMS, current standard of telephony, and a different OS than Android. I have not seen anything like this yet.
Except the Commodore Callback[1], which is based on Linux (SailfishOS). It's pretty minimal and should meet your requirements, in theory.
[1] https://commodore.net/callback/
For a while Research in Motion (RIM) / Blackberry had a hiring website at https://rim.jobs , until somebody told them what it meant.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=%22rim.jo...
truth is its quite difficult to function today without a smartphone.
banks, uber, food etc etc
edit: remember iphone mini? so "many" asked for it and apple finally made it. it was a flop.
Uber can be done totally headless, without a screen?
Food? Get outta here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBM_(software)
So it still requires a user to have self-control. If people had that, they could just uninstall the problematic apps from the phone they already have.
* Messaging (in 99% of the world)
* Maps
* Uber etc.
Messaging is the really big one.
… if you have root access with adb (assuming android, I don’t know much about iOS)
Why do we even need 12 GB RAM for distraction free phone? Why there is no microSD port?
I'm typing on my pixel 6 Pro and it still feels satisfying.
Gimmick?
Virtual keyboard haptic feedback seems more like gimmick. If it actually serves a functional purpose, I'd be surprised and interested. Maybe if you had feedback activate as you glide through the keys, but Google's keyboard at least doesn't.
When you get old, your ability to type reliably on a phone's touchscreen keyboard starts to go down the pan. Having actual tactile "things" to land on can make it easier.
Not that I’d trade screen real estate for keyboards nowadays, but there’s probably still some diehards out there that want them
I'm going to have to think carefully about why I should NOT order this device.
Not sure if I will actually get one since my Pixel 4a 5g (w/ LineageOS + microG) is still going strong, but I will admit that I'm tempted by this.
ouch and open boootloader
Maybe swipe typing isn't as popular as I first thought.
day 1 the plb is slower than swipe typing because it needs getting used to. But the trick is one can focus one's attention on the content being typed /learn to touch type on a physical keyboard that on screen keyboards cant do, because of lack of consistency of on screen kbs always shifting layouts on you, at least with coming and going but usually also ruining the dot menu for common punctuation depending on if the input field is trying to be an email or a number or whatever.
dont try to help me keyboard, just give me a ctrl character, consistent shortcuts, and don't lag half the time I enter some text input, so I've typed out 4 words before the phone realizes anything has happened.
so yes i think you are right that swipe typing has value and more people should use it. but its lipstick on a pig for most of osks not being reliably static enough to let muscle memory / touch typing grow.
my unihertz titan 2 also has capacitive keys, i turn them off because I want the kb as dumb as possible (though i add keymapper android app to give me vim style arrow keys), but swipe typing would be possible on my or this device with just software support if there were demand for it / someone got their llm to vibe it up.
https://www.clicks.tech/powerkeyboard
It's an Android phone, with pretty decent specs. Nothing is stopping you from installing social media apps and doomscrolling all day and night, and chances are you will do that if that's what you do with your phone, just as you can just delete social media apps from your current phone.
The custom UI and physical keyboard are innovative though, I don't think I've seen a physical keyboard with touch support before, and I wish them the best.
Note that modern flip/soapbar phones (Commodore, KaiOI) usually support some social media, including WhatsApp.
Banking apps are a problem though, and really contribute locking everyone in the iOS/Android duopoly, and that sucks.
I ordered the Astro Slide 5G and never received it, so much for me getting to see what all of the psion fuss was about, so this device is both tempting and making me remember past regrettable experiences.
Previous spotlight on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40609095
Update: didn't scroll down enough! Indeed they have. Neat.
I'd want different containers (sandboxes), depending on the things I'm doing.
Though you can probably just install Aurora Store or F-Droid and install from there. Some apps don't work (you'll notice they didn't show Uber in the examples) and recently I've been having issues with Aurora and suspect its days are numbered so I'd be concerned about the future of that before buying something like this.
I’m not a fan of the physical keyboard, the broad shape(they say one handed use immediately followed by a video of someone using both hands to type). I’m okay with the candy bar all screen phones of today. The UX is pretty cool if I can have it on my “regular” phone..
Anybody have an idea if it is doable on an iPhone or an android phone?
If you set up a swipe to launch another launcher, you can have all your widgets there, as sometimes that's nice for a multi-app overview of Stuff™ at a glance.
But the site is crazy slow, like it's coin mining in the browser lol
I'm sure that's not what's happening, just noteworthy-ly poor performance
Sadly for now they’re too expensive to buy just as an experiment.
-Phone/texting -Messengers like WhatsApp/Telegram/etc. -Maps -Music/podcasts
Ideally with e-ink.
I want something that doesn't compete with a full-fledged smartphone (which I'd still keep for travel and stuff). I want something to take to the office, hanging out with friends, etc, where bringing the smartphone becomes a decision.
For some anything after SMS is not dumb enough (ok, this still exists), others would be ok with just a browser, and you said Maps and WA/etc/.
I am not even sure I could give you a good enough definition, I'm kinda happy enough with Android and just ignore any dumb/minimal angle, because if I only take a phone with me I generally want to potentially use it as a computer replacement. There are really only 2 people I call regularly.
Yes, but I think anyone interested in this would know what they don't want: TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, or any other app that wants you to spend maximum time in their app.
Unless we're talking about complete purists who basically want a 2003 level phone that only does call/text, there's lots of flexibility.
Someone who wants a less addicting phone but doesn't necessarily require maps is unlikely to not buy because of a maps app. It's not like they'd spend 3 hours a day getting directions.
And HN is arguably better than doomscrolling TikTok or Facebook, even with the current LLM/Rust/LLM in Rust spam.
If it natively plugged into the Apple ecosystem, now that would be difficult to refuse.
Some still disagree.
https://minimalcompany.com/#purchase
Creating a minimal phone is almost impossible, because it means different things to different people. Mine could be a Nokia style candy bar design, because I don't need a large screen or a camera, but it does require completely custom applications.
The way I use my phone--mostly for reading--in my case just means that most of the time I would have this thing I don't need taking up space.
But I guess it's good to have alternative, people use things in different ways.
I hate switching phones and I am not buying short-lived devices anymore if I can help it.
as for the rest, I fail to see why pay extra for this niche nonsense when you can achieve exactly same thing with whatever Android launcher you prefer, only differentiator of this device is physical keyboard
crap specs with only 90Hz display and MediaTek Dimensity 8300 for 600+ USD and it is not even released yet, but maybe in few months when these specs will look even worse than they already are