Sure guys, why can't someone just build you your personal phone at the same price as the iPhone whose development costs are amortized over seval billions consumers :-/
Yeah, all of that would be great. Good ideas all round, and thank you for gathering all these sensible requests into one centralized list.
Slight problem, and it's not clear whether you've realised this: everybody else in the world knows that we can't have everything! Still, it's good to have goals, even if they can't be met, and it'd be monstrous to mock the ambition on display - which I do declare we should in fact salute. Good on you sir/madam, for not being a cynical jaded asshole like the rest of us.
Making one isn't "that" hard once you factor in China's production capabilities. The problem isn't even making it, the hardware part. ( Ignoring IP for a second )
Once you have all that, it is how do you sell it, and sell enough unit to even have a ROI. And that is ignoring UI / software.
I don't think people on HN understand, hardware business is brutal.
What's the point of complaining about use of jargonisms in a specialist-leaning spaces?
Anyone with a resemblance of a functioning brain (that is, any "normie" included) can understand "ability to install and run custom aftermarket operating system, or modify pre-installed one", assuming they know what an "operating system" is. And if they don't know what it is, that can - and should (!) - be explained too.
This ability matters to people who don't know any much about any computer programming, because it affects their ability to use the devices they own. They may not know how it all works, but they do express regrets when something doesn't work the way they expect or want it to work. And we all know and hate enshittification here, don't we? Personally, I'm tired of saying "no, because Apple/Google decided only they can control this, and neither you or me can change this on this device" to "can this work so-and-so" questions.
And "open bootloader" is a jargon shorthand for that. Crude, because it should be actually more like "bootloader that can be configured to validate software integrity with user-provided key material", but most people familiar with the space and lingo get the right idea anyway, and shorthand needs to be short. And this is Hacker News, not a Wendy's, so jargon is more than expected.
If someone (a "normie") reads something and don't understand it, we should all be encouraging them to ask questions and try to give them accessible answers. Not shield them from this knowledge, not fetishize mindless consumerism, not behave like snobs, and especially not dismiss something important only because it's not commonly understood.
For marketing materials that target "normie" audiences, it should be just phrased in "normie"-accessible way (look how Valve does that with their hardware), but when we're compiling a HN wishlist from HN comments, complaining about jargon is silly.
In fact, jargon is only "low resonance" until it isn't; plenty of key social and political issues resolve around jargon terms normies have no more fucking clue about now than before, but it doesn't stop them from discussing it like they were experts - all it takes is bunch of pundits on the news to say the jargon words out loud with straight face, be it "open bootloader" or "MRNA vaccines" or "COVID-19 pandemic" or "fracking" or "monosodium glutamate", and suddenly everyone is an expert.
It's just a matter of the topic having a popularity spike.
My point was just that nerds are indeed bad at communicating their knowledge to the "normie" world. Because they forget what is daily lingo for them - is just black magic to them.
Everyone - save for people with developmental difficulties or ahedonia - has a specialty, something they know that the majority of other folks don’t. Every such domain of knowledge (useful or otherwise) has its shorthands and jargonisms.
Some domains of knowledge lag behind their technological adoption. Which is natural and fine, except that society at large got infected with this silly idea of normalizing mindless consumption with a shallow (if any) underlying mental model. In other words, the nerds are actively told to shut up and keep their mumbo
jumbo talk to themselves and spare people from knowing how things work under the hood.
So it’s not just that those silly nerds bad at communicating. That too, but it’s meeting with the unwillingness to learn is what makes it truly bad. It’s in the very idea of a “normie” - an anti-knowledge, ignorance-normalizing, curiosity-dampening attitude - that’s to blame. Not that nerds use nerdy words on nerdy websites and that usage spreads to less nerdy areas - that’s part is just life as usual.
BTW, those “loud idiots” are the actual normal people learning and making mistakes (including the mistake of overconfidence - especially easy to make when something feels important) and having opinions. Modern mass communications changed the world’s landscape, so instead of a few peers in their kitchen they’re broadcasting their knowledge (including the errors in it) to orders of magnitude more people and that sometimes gains traction - but that’s a separate issue, very far from nerds and their words.
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.
The problem is everyone has a different list of deal breakers that they need in a "dumb" device. It starts off simple, such as calls and texts, but some people want to play music, or get directions from maps, or maybe contact relatives with Whatsapp... Eventually you just end up with a smart phone.
Ideally everyone would just have the discipline to just keep what they need on their phone without trying to fix their problem with an overpriced gimmick that they will give up on after a few months.
Those people don’t actually want a dumb phone. They just don’t want to be spied on. That’s not actually that complicated it just makes other people less rich.
Yes!
Also be in control of my phone, not having to "deactivate" bloat and garbage brought to me with every update and preinstalled trash I can only "deactivate" not uninstall.
I do want a smartphone - just not one that is in full control of corporations considering me not really a customer, but an asset for their main business - advertisement. Or well the alternative, a company that thinks I am too stupid to be in charge of my phone (and also introduces more and more advertisement).
That seems excessive. In many parts of the world, WhatsApp is the default app for texting people (ie the one you use to contact a plumber or a restaurant) and not having it means the phone fails at its most basic requirements.
People tell me this all the time. Yet I've never had a WhatsApp account and I do just fine.
The only problems I've had were a single barber that accepts reservations over WhatsApp exclusively - so I go to the barber two shops over and don't need a reservation. And some women from dating apps refuse to talk on the phone before talking over WhatsApp. That's fine, there are plenty of fish in that sea.
> 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.
There are an odd much smaller collection new new-gTLD-like earlier ones that were introduced a long time before the recent ones, it's a real odd historical artifact of ICANN.
In Australia it's pretty great: my driver's license can be provided by an app on my phone and legally must be accepted if it is. So between that and NFC payment support, a phone is the only thing I need to remember to operate outside the house.
It's pretty great as long as it doesn't evolve into them no longer printing the cards and requiring use of their app, consequently on one of their approved OSes.
I mean yes but that is a case of the slippery slope fallacy: the existence of a future possible decision does not affect whether a current decision is a good one.
If they try to move in that direction, we can protest it then. Denying ourselves a useful capability now doesn't stop it from happening anyway, nor make it more likely.
I personally live in a country with a large religious population that rejects the smartphone, so thankfully I personally have not encountered a situation where needing a smartphone is vital. However we've seen many people right here on HN mention how some specific vital service - often government or banking - does require a smartphone.
In my HN Threads feed, the very next item is another HN user mentioning how they have difficulty paying for parking spaces without a smart phone, from this very page. Search "and sadly accept the cost of our principles" on this page to find it.
But I have no interest in winning internet arguments. You win, the cookie isn't worth it to me.
We don't, and sadly accept the cost of our principles. What I generally do, is to put on the blinken lights, and try to hurry up. Up to about 20 minutes or so, it generally works alright.
Pinephone is close to useless. Fairphone 5 I think is as good as it gets if you want to avoid android. It is annoying though that fairphone 6 is not working with linux.
I do too, but I think we're too deep into the duopoly of Android and iPhone now for anything else to succeed. I need 2FA apps, I need my banking app so that I can 2FA the desktop browser banking. I want Audible or some other audiobook option.
I'd love to go back and get a Blackberry, the pre-QNX one, but I think Android is the least-bad option here. We need certain apps, and Android is the only way we'll get them.
I think the iPhone mini sold 5-10 million units per year. I don't view that as a flop, and I don't think it merits sarcasm around how "many" people wanted it.
If small phones were a widely popular thing then there would be a company making them successfully or it would’ve been greater than 5% of iPhone sales. An individual company with zero brand power or presence wouldn’t have any decent sales. This is not even considering that the value proposition would be way worse than just buying a slightly bigger and significantly better phone with more R&D put behind it.
The reality is 90% or more of people don’t care about that or even think about it, this sentiment only exists in online tech enthusiast spaces. If you’re in HN you’re as non-representative of the average consumer as one can get.
I think you should always include the iPhone SE in those numbers. It had similar dimensions, was cheaper and even more minimal. If it weren't for the SE, I would have picked a Mini right away.
Is this what HN has became? 22 hours, 200 comments and not a single positive one. I love it. Great classy look and feel. Well throughout keys for swipe. This is likely my next phone. Only wish is a better camera. Maybe MP03 will improve on that.
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.
What I learned from carrying a phone with "2.5d" screen edges:
They make the screen effectively narrower in terms of usable area, while making the phone physically wider.
Do not want.
Please go back to 9:16 or 10:16 screen ratios. If you need more space for the battery, gently round the back. It feels nicer in the hand even when it's 50% thicker than your competitors.
Also, a fingerprint reader / power button on the back is superior to all other placements, and cutouts of any kind are distracting and wasteful. OnePlus managed a motorized pop-out selfie-cam and it's still working for me seven years later.
Huawei was this close to making the perfect 16:9 phone, now, in 2026. I would have gladly used all my apps in a half broken Android VM (they no longer use Android themselves).
It's too bad they had to be extreme about it and ruin it with a huge screen and a 5:3 aspect ratio. it's almost a cube.
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?
iPhone 13 mini (and ex-SE) user here, this phone looks great!
I like the minimal and solid looking design. I think the real keyboard is an interesting and welcoming compromise for its width. If the built quality is on point, I'd see no issue with the price.
Full Android also means there's no restriction in the apps I'd need. GrapheneOS on it would be great.
I appreciate the minimal color options - I have this thing where all my technical devices running software should be in all black, and any colorful details would just bother me a bit (looking at "playful" design choices like the lime green switch on the Fairphone 6).
Quick nitpick at their marketing team: "compact by design, made for one hand." can't possibly be true with a real keyboard on a phone.
The other iPhone mini user here, and agree that this phone looks nice. It looks like the keycaps form a capacitive touchscreen or something, so you can actually swipe to type over the keycaps. Marketing videos show using it to scroll the screen. But, seems like it could work for one-handed use.
I might pick one of these up in the de-Googled variant and keep my iPhone around for all the "attestation required to view your bank balance" apps that I have.
If you can't put down your phone your answer can't be a "worse phone". I genuinely don't understand this shape of reasoning - at this point people need to go sit under a waterfall not look for tech solutions.
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:
Are those the ones people waste time on? Social media seems to be the biggest culprit, and shouldn’t be shipping with any phone, or require any hoops to remove.
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.
That's why I prefer my Wisephone 2. You can still use slack, whatsapp, teams, banking apps, spotify, google maps, etc. But there is no browser, email, youtube, tiktok, etc., either.
I do truly believe phones, social media, portable news, notifications, attention-grabbing designs are a disease to our brains and whole society, so I like the idea of a phone designed to reduce use, but still have access to some things we can no longer avoid like 2FA codes, banking apps, maps, etc etc.
I realise many full android and iOS phones have features that allow you to reduce usage, but there’s a difference between something designed to do it, and something that just adds some easy bypassable settings on top. From what I read about this you have to factory reset your phone to bypass the restrictions you setup (if you choose that mode) so it seems cool to me.
Pixel a-series with GrapheneOS is already the "minimal phone" for hackers: cheap, reasonably small, hardened OS without Google spyware and bloatware. Compatibility with Android is fully retained so you can run things like Wireguard, Termux, Home Assistant and a myriad of other excellent FOSS (or non-FOSS) apps with complete sovereignty over your data.
I was hoping this was minimal enough for somebody with dementia to use to make calls, but when they say "Phone" they don't mean like the old folks do.
I kept reading though, kind-of envying the physical keyboard because that would be fun, but I'm a swipe-typing guy through and through. Then I saw that it supports swipe typing, possibly by sliding your fingers across the keyboard. The idea of swiping across those keys literally gave me frisson, won't lie. That would be so groovy.
It would probably work on T-Mobile and maybe on Verizon, but it’s missing b14, b30, and b29 which are definitely required for AT&T (not to mention AT&T’s whitelist). Also weird that it doesn’t have any 5G FDD bands other than n71.
Edit: Verizon would also benefit from b48, although that may be optional.
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.
Have you ever used a PopSocket? I highly recommend them.
I think many people who use them start to realize that having a small phone isn’t that great. Having more screen real estate and a larger battery is so much more beneficial than being able to reach everything with one hand, and then the popsocket pretty much solves the one hand issue.
I can reach the top of my screen with my iPhone 17 Pro Max because my phone has a PopSocket on the back, and my fingers are below average short.
One thing that is bugging me (and maybe it's buried on the website somewhere but I missed it) is that I can't figure out what version of Android the phone uses. I wouldn't buy a phone relying on an older version of it
I want to believe, but the first phone was like six months late with no/bad comms, and when it came it was barely usable due. I believe in the mission but have lost some faith here.
I hope they prove me wrong so I can buy Minimal Phone 3!
The lack of substantial info on Minimal OS makes it a non-starter, though, and that makes me sad. Security and privacy are job #1 for a smartphone, and there's no way I'm running El Rando OS just because the hardware is cute.
If they partnered with Graphene OS, I'd happily pay twice their asking price, though.
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.
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.
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).
Very different aspect ratio. I can’t stand the regular iphones it’s impossible to use one handed without using that dumb flick gesture to bring the top of the screen down to the bottom half
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.
> 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.
I’d be tempted to get one if I was in the Android ecosystem, though probably not before real non-sponsored reviews came out. 90hz amoled, nice looking keyboard, lot of ram, seems like a nice device on paper.
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.
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.
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.
Pretty weird how little they use the physical keyboard in the demo. I'd expect for at least their own apps / launcher, you could navigate with WASD. Instead, they're switching between tabs by clicking on the very top of the screen while the phone is on a table, which is very much not one-handed mode.
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.
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'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.
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.
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.
-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.
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.
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.
I’m in the same boat. I’m a principal engineer for a critical platform at a major retailer. I would LOVE to just have a communication device in my pocket but I’m required to have access to work comms and 2FA apps. I’ve considered using a pre-paid line with a burner for just those and carrying two phones… but that’s such a hassle.
I have a love affair with my Kobo Clara Colour. More than once I've thought it would be great if I could call and send sms with it. (Using a Bluetooth headset.)
As you can see in this comment section, everyone complains about everything. If they didn't use aluminium and an OLED, someone else would have complained about "cheap plastic" and "cheap LCD". They can't make everyone happy.
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.
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.
I don't know if you see it or not; but they started with really really minimal and dumb looks, and in this version started to add colors, UI elements and... So I guess a few versions in, and they'll build a iOS/Android from the first principles...
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.
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 really like the _idea_ of a QWERTY phone, and halfway through this page there's a section showing how you can use special characters to invoke commands (presumably by just typing at the home screen?), like "- buy milk" to add a todo entry or "? aviation recipe" to search. This sounds great, and somewhat difficult to replicate on a touchscreen!
But I'm not convinced anymore that the actual typing experience is any good. Way before that exciting section, there's a video where somebody takes two full seconds to type "Hey bro you" on this phone's keyboard. I tried: in the same amount of time, I can type "Hey bro you mean everything to me" on my Pixel's default keyboard.
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
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
I'm sorry, but I really cannot take any claims seriously on a website that is clearly designed and generated by AI. What part of this did a human even write? This could be entirely vaporware for all I know.
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.
The Adam Smith Institute once added up all the govt spending demands made in a single news program and it came to like 10% of GDP.
Similarly the comments here: if only it could do all this and
* On/off button round the back
* More LTE bands
* An open bootloader (note to normies this is like saying "have a quantum multiplexer")
* Different screen ratio
* Different keyboard layouts
* Eink screen
* Bigger battery
* Be easier to use for someone with long fingernails (hello Nosferatu https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49751114)
* Be lighter
* Be smaller
* Have a website without javascript (really)
* Be cheaper (this one is satire) (no it's not)
Sure guys, why can't someone just build you your personal phone at the same price as the iPhone whose development costs are amortized over seval billions consumers :-/
Yeah, all of that would be great. Good ideas all round, and thank you for gathering all these sensible requests into one centralized list.
Slight problem, and it's not clear whether you've realised this: everybody else in the world knows that we can't have everything! Still, it's good to have goals, even if they can't be met, and it'd be monstrous to mock the ambition on display - which I do declare we should in fact salute. Good on you sir/madam, for not being a cynical jaded asshole like the rest of us.
> it'd be monstrous to mock the ambition on display
It's not "ambition" when it's what other people should do for you.
Would it really be monstrous?
* Headphone jack for special music
* SD card slot to store that special music
* Multiple physical SIMs because eSIMs can't be trusted
* Multiple eSIMs because physical SIMs are dumb
* LoRa for meshtastic because the network can't be trusted
* Drug scale for weighing drugs
(Actually, just put the drug scale on there and great teaming throngs of people will immediately forget that they ever owned an iPhone.)
drug scale for drugs?
you've got it wrong,
that scale is for measuring transactions in Au.
Why would you measure transactions by the distance between Earth and the Sun?
Drugs?
"Have a website without javascript (really)"
Their website also requires a User-Agent headeer
Given the low level of traffic, IME this is unusual
*header
> Be easier to use for someone with long fingernails (hello Nosferatu)
Long nails are somewhat common as an aesthetic/cosmetic choice usually for women (ime). No need to make a joke around accessible design.
Aren't long nails difficult for anything that requires finger dexterity, like in touch screen phones?
Also the parent comment reminded me of this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VjpcLplkMUs
A phone that works with long nails is also likely to be far more accessible to people with all sorts of hand mobility or motor control problems.
I feel no need not to make a joke around it.
I have one keyboard worn to the point the (now blank) keys have nail shaped holes in them in just the right shape and angle.
One could extrude keys to be softer so that they errode faster and have the symbol all the way though.
Even with short nails, keys that are too shallow or without contour be rather jarring to use.
Making one isn't "that" hard once you factor in China's production capabilities. The problem isn't even making it, the hardware part. ( Ignoring IP for a second )
Once you have all that, it is how do you sell it, and sell enough unit to even have a ROI. And that is ignoring UI / software.
I don't think people on HN understand, hardware business is brutal.
The homer simpson car
>note to normies this is like saying "have a quantum multiplexer"
I don’t think you helped the normies out.
"note: to normies, this is like..."
What's the point of complaining about use of jargonisms in a specialist-leaning spaces?
Anyone with a resemblance of a functioning brain (that is, any "normie" included) can understand "ability to install and run custom aftermarket operating system, or modify pre-installed one", assuming they know what an "operating system" is. And if they don't know what it is, that can - and should (!) - be explained too.
This ability matters to people who don't know any much about any computer programming, because it affects their ability to use the devices they own. They may not know how it all works, but they do express regrets when something doesn't work the way they expect or want it to work. And we all know and hate enshittification here, don't we? Personally, I'm tired of saying "no, because Apple/Google decided only they can control this, and neither you or me can change this on this device" to "can this work so-and-so" questions.
And "open bootloader" is a jargon shorthand for that. Crude, because it should be actually more like "bootloader that can be configured to validate software integrity with user-provided key material", but most people familiar with the space and lingo get the right idea anyway, and shorthand needs to be short. And this is Hacker News, not a Wendy's, so jargon is more than expected.
If someone (a "normie") reads something and don't understand it, we should all be encouraging them to ask questions and try to give them accessible answers. Not shield them from this knowledge, not fetishize mindless consumerism, not behave like snobs, and especially not dismiss something important only because it's not commonly understood.
For marketing materials that target "normie" audiences, it should be just phrased in "normie"-accessible way (look how Valve does that with their hardware), but when we're compiling a HN wishlist from HN comments, complaining about jargon is silly.
/rant
"What's the point of complaining about use of jargonisms in a specialist-leaning spaces?"
Because most of those specialist's will make the same demands in the same jargon outside those spaces, too. And wonder why the ressonance is so low.
But that's on them, not on jargon.
In fact, jargon is only "low resonance" until it isn't; plenty of key social and political issues resolve around jargon terms normies have no more fucking clue about now than before, but it doesn't stop them from discussing it like they were experts - all it takes is bunch of pundits on the news to say the jargon words out loud with straight face, be it "open bootloader" or "MRNA vaccines" or "COVID-19 pandemic" or "fracking" or "monosodium glutamate", and suddenly everyone is an expert.
It's just a matter of the topic having a popularity spike.
Loud idiots will always be loud idiots.
My point was just that nerds are indeed bad at communicating their knowledge to the "normie" world. Because they forget what is daily lingo for them - is just black magic to them.
Except that there’s no such thing as a “normie”.
Everyone - save for people with developmental difficulties or ahedonia - has a specialty, something they know that the majority of other folks don’t. Every such domain of knowledge (useful or otherwise) has its shorthands and jargonisms.
Some domains of knowledge lag behind their technological adoption. Which is natural and fine, except that society at large got infected with this silly idea of normalizing mindless consumption with a shallow (if any) underlying mental model. In other words, the nerds are actively told to shut up and keep their mumbo jumbo talk to themselves and spare people from knowing how things work under the hood.
So it’s not just that those silly nerds bad at communicating. That too, but it’s meeting with the unwillingness to learn is what makes it truly bad. It’s in the very idea of a “normie” - an anti-knowledge, ignorance-normalizing, curiosity-dampening attitude - that’s to blame. Not that nerds use nerdy words on nerdy websites and that usage spreads to less nerdy areas - that’s part is just life as usual.
BTW, those “loud idiots” are the actual normal people learning and making mistakes (including the mistake of overconfidence - especially easy to make when something feels important) and having opinions. Modern mass communications changed the world’s landscape, so instead of a few peers in their kitchen they’re broadcasting their knowledge (including the errors in it) to orders of magnitude more people and that sometimes gains traction - but that’s a separate issue, very far from nerds and their words.
> assuming they know what an "operating system" is
Ive been curious about that since that us vs ms thing.
I think it's what keeps developers oblivious about how computers work? Paper over the insanity?
Yes?
[dead]
I just want BlackBerry back.
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.
The problem is everyone has a different list of deal breakers that they need in a "dumb" device. It starts off simple, such as calls and texts, but some people want to play music, or get directions from maps, or maybe contact relatives with Whatsapp... Eventually you just end up with a smart phone.
Ideally everyone would just have the discipline to just keep what they need on their phone without trying to fix their problem with an overpriced gimmick that they will give up on after a few months.
Those people don’t actually want a dumb phone. They just don’t want to be spied on. That’s not actually that complicated it just makes other people less rich.
Yes! Also be in control of my phone, not having to "deactivate" bloat and garbage brought to me with every update and preinstalled trash I can only "deactivate" not uninstall.
I do want a smartphone - just not one that is in full control of corporations considering me not really a customer, but an asset for their main business - advertisement. Or well the alternative, a company that thinks I am too stupid to be in charge of my phone (and also introduces more and more advertisement).
This is why I won't buy a phone without an unlockable bootloader.
First thing I do is flash lineageos+microg then root.
That seems excessive. In many parts of the world, WhatsApp is the default app for texting people (ie the one you use to contact a plumber or a restaurant) and not having it means the phone fails at its most basic requirements.
I’ve seen businesses try to push that here. It’s surprising how fast they can suddenly respond to other forms of communication when money is involved.
If you don’t want to live under Zuckerberg’s boot you should fight him every chance you get.
SMS still works.
People tell me this all the time. Yet I've never had a WhatsApp account and I do just fine.
The only problems I've had were a single barber that accepts reservations over WhatsApp exclusively - so I go to the barber two shops over and don't need a reservation. And some women from dating apps refuse to talk on the phone before talking over WhatsApp. That's fine, there are plenty of fish in that sea.
> 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.
[1] https://commodore.net/callback/
The size of this thing really puts me off. It’s like two iPhone minis stacked on top of each other, which seems massive for a flip phone.
I spent way, way, way too much time at that site (Partly because it’s a 1990s GeoCities mess).
Compelling, but still wanting a Nokia 33xx brick recall.
Same, the marketing absolutely got me.
Fun Blackberry trivia:
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...
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.
.jobs was introduced in 2005, so not by much. Honestly, I'm surprised it's that old. Thought it was part of the new gTLDs.
There are an odd much smaller collection new new-gTLD-like earlier ones that were introduced a long time before the recent ones, it's a real odd historical artifact of ICANN.
Ugh.
Tcl (programming language) has a fantastic test suite, but building a test or throwaway script with the name “test.tcl” is discouraged.
For a lot of people there's one app that is a non-negotiable, even for a minimalist phone.
For instance: their bank, or 2 factor for their work. Or a parking app for their building. Society now often assumes you can use an app.
It's hard to cover those cases without using one of the two major OSes.
What's the advantage of blackberry over a stripped-down/limited android?
probably because in these days it's hard to get by without some apps like maps, common messengers, delivery, bank transactions and so on
Agreed. Banking is the killer app imo
In Australia it's pretty great: my driver's license can be provided by an app on my phone and legally must be accepted if it is. So between that and NFC payment support, a phone is the only thing I need to remember to operate outside the house.
It's pretty great as long as it doesn't evolve into them no longer printing the cards and requiring use of their app, consequently on one of their approved OSes.
I mean yes but that is a case of the slippery slope fallacy: the existence of a future possible decision does not affect whether a current decision is a good one.
If they try to move in that direction, we can protest it then. Denying ourselves a useful capability now doesn't stop it from happening anyway, nor make it more likely.
When a pattern is repeated many times, it is not a fallacy to recognize that pattern at the begining.
If I see a tiger crotched in the bushes, is it a fallacy to gather my children and head back to the cave?
Pattern recognition is not a fallacy.
When has this happened before? Presumably you have several examples near to hand since it's "a pattern".
I personally live in a country with a large religious population that rejects the smartphone, so thankfully I personally have not encountered a situation where needing a smartphone is vital. However we've seen many people right here on HN mention how some specific vital service - often government or banking - does require a smartphone.
So you can't even remember or point to any specific example of the problem you claim exists, existing.
In my HN Threads feed, the very next item is another HN user mentioning how they have difficulty paying for parking spaces without a smart phone, from this very page. Search "and sadly accept the cost of our principles" on this page to find it.
But I have no interest in winning internet arguments. You win, the cookie isn't worth it to me.
Or you could just take cash, as long as you don't need to drive.
Switch to a bank that has a website.
If they can't do online banking in 2026 your bank might actually just be some guy in a monopoly man Halloween costume.
I don't like website interfaces. Good to have them, but apps are more convenient
For what purpose? If you have a debit card, cash app, etc., what urgent need is there for a banking application?
Uh... Cash App is a banking application.
Yeah. People get confused because they're not a bank, but they offer banking services (as a middleman)
Pay monthly bills?
Sounds great until you're required to install an app to pay for parking.
How do people without smartphones pay for parking?
We don't, and sadly accept the cost of our principles. What I generally do, is to put on the blinken lights, and try to hurry up. Up to about 20 minutes or so, it generally works alright.
Pinephone and Librem 5 fit. Surprised you said BlackBerry without physical keyboard.
Pinephone is close to useless. Fairphone 5 I think is as good as it gets if you want to avoid android. It is annoying though that fairphone 6 is not working with linux.
Actually, the Fairphone 6 is getting quite some love lately, see [1] or [2].
[1] https://catcrafts.net/
[2] https://linmob.net/tags/fairphone-6/
Oh man, remember the BlackBerry 950?
Nope
I do too, but I think we're too deep into the duopoly of Android and iPhone now for anything else to succeed. I need 2FA apps, I need my banking app so that I can 2FA the desktop browser banking. I want Audible or some other audiobook option.
I'd love to go back and get a Blackberry, the pre-QNX one, but I think Android is the least-bad option here. We need certain apps, and Android is the only way we'll get them.
I’d add payment and maps and ability to login government sites or banks and connecting to your car… we are being very efficiently locked in.
This basically collapses to “a different OS than Android.”
The question is why you care about that.
To be truly independent from megacorps?
Sending messages with BBM?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBM_(software)
Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5
Blackberry is dead. Ibjust wantlinux on phones to gwt to passable level on modern hardware. I can take it from there.
How can you not need maps? That’s crazy to me
Here you go:
https://lilygo.cc/collections/t-deck-series
minorities are the loudest.
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.
I think the iPhone mini sold 5-10 million units per year. I don't view that as a flop, and I don't think it merits sarcasm around how "many" people wanted it.
People often use this a argument against small phones like this wouldn't be amazing for any company outside apple or Samsung
If small phones were a widely popular thing then there would be a company making them successfully or it would’ve been greater than 5% of iPhone sales. An individual company with zero brand power or presence wouldn’t have any decent sales. This is not even considering that the value proposition would be way worse than just buying a slightly bigger and significantly better phone with more R&D put behind it.
The reality is 90% or more of people don’t care about that or even think about it, this sentiment only exists in online tech enthusiast spaces. If you’re in HN you’re as non-representative of the average consumer as one can get.
5% of iPhone sales is an enormous amount of revenue. Billions right?
Bring back OS licensing, Apple!
I think you should always include the iPhone SE in those numbers. It had similar dimensions, was cheaper and even more minimal. If it weren't for the SE, I would have picked a Mini right away.
Banks for what?
Uber can be done totally headless, without a screen?
Food? Get outta here.
Is this what HN has became? 22 hours, 200 comments and not a single positive one. I love it. Great classy look and feel. Well throughout keys for swipe. This is likely my next phone. Only wish is a better camera. Maybe MP03 will improve on that.
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.
+1 on physical layer being the game changer. I've been using getbrick.com with amazing results.
talysman.app does the same thing as Brick but for desktop. So you can code/etc with a physical layer of protection
Definitely a game changer, maybe even more than Brick because the desktop is where I do all my work
What I learned from carrying a phone with "2.5d" screen edges:
They make the screen effectively narrower in terms of usable area, while making the phone physically wider.
Do not want.
Please go back to 9:16 or 10:16 screen ratios. If you need more space for the battery, gently round the back. It feels nicer in the hand even when it's 50% thicker than your competitors.
Also, a fingerprint reader / power button on the back is superior to all other placements, and cutouts of any kind are distracting and wasteful. OnePlus managed a motorized pop-out selfie-cam and it's still working for me seven years later.
Huawei was this close to making the perfect 16:9 phone, now, in 2026. I would have gladly used all my apps in a half broken Android VM (they no longer use Android themselves).
It's too bad they had to be extreme about it and ruin it with a huge screen and a 5:3 aspect ratio. it's almost a cube.
https://m.gsmarena.com/huawei_pura_x_view-14887.php
Personally I like the 21:9 ratio of Sony’s Xperia 1. Big but skinny enough to reach my thumb across.
I agree, I like both. Thankfully for us, both are dead and the only options left are 19.5:9 or 20:9. Hooray!
Isn't HarmonyOS a fork of Android? I've never seen anything about the apps being half broken - do you have more info?
The newer versions of are no longer based on Android. So it's either quirky VMs with hundreds of papercuts or nothing.
Huawei Global is still a thing, and in some markets they keep releasing phones using Android 12 and no GMS. That is probably even worse.
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?
It's a full-up Android phone, they want to make sure no one complains versus Their Favorite App not having enough RAM.
Who could possibly complain about expensive RAM on distraction free phone? From marketing perspective, this doesn't make sense.
iPhone 13 mini (and ex-SE) user here, this phone looks great!
I like the minimal and solid looking design. I think the real keyboard is an interesting and welcoming compromise for its width. If the built quality is on point, I'd see no issue with the price.
Full Android also means there's no restriction in the apps I'd need. GrapheneOS on it would be great.
I appreciate the minimal color options - I have this thing where all my technical devices running software should be in all black, and any colorful details would just bother me a bit (looking at "playful" design choices like the lime green switch on the Fairphone 6).
Quick nitpick at their marketing team: "compact by design, made for one hand." can't possibly be true with a real keyboard on a phone.
The other iPhone mini user here, and agree that this phone looks nice. It looks like the keycaps form a capacitive touchscreen or something, so you can actually swipe to type over the keycaps. Marketing videos show using it to scroll the screen. But, seems like it could work for one-handed use.
I might pick one of these up in the de-Googled variant and keep my iPhone around for all the "attestation required to view your bank balance" apps that I have.
> Full Android. Every app you already use, there when you need it.
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.
I don't think that is necessarily true. Adding friction to how easy it is to use those apps has helped me.
If you can't put down your phone your answer can't be a "worse phone". I genuinely don't understand this shape of reasoning - at this point people need to go sit under a waterfall not look for tech solutions.
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:
* Messaging (in 99% of the world)
* Maps
* Uber etc.
Messaging is the really big one.
Personally I just tell everyone to contact me by email. It’s the only thing that I’m sure will still work in 20 years.
But of course I have signal for group chats. it works on desktop tho so I can just check messages when I get home like the olden days.
GPS I like my offline maps built into my car. It’s getting harder to find updates as everyone moves to the cloud.
> they could just uninstall the problematic apps from the phone they already have.
… if you have root access with adb (assuming android, I don’t know much about iOS)
Most phones come with a lot of vendor or carrier apps that cannot be uninstalled, at least not by the average user.
Are those the ones people waste time on? Social media seems to be the biggest culprit, and shouldn’t be shipping with any phone, or require any hoops to remove.
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.
Absolutely agree.
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.
That's why I prefer my Wisephone 2. You can still use slack, whatsapp, teams, banking apps, spotify, google maps, etc. But there is no browser, email, youtube, tiktok, etc., either.
I do truly believe phones, social media, portable news, notifications, attention-grabbing designs are a disease to our brains and whole society, so I like the idea of a phone designed to reduce use, but still have access to some things we can no longer avoid like 2FA codes, banking apps, maps, etc etc.
I realise many full android and iOS phones have features that allow you to reduce usage, but there’s a difference between something designed to do it, and something that just adds some easy bypassable settings on top. From what I read about this you have to factory reset your phone to bypass the restrictions you setup (if you choose that mode) so it seems cool to me.
When I think about 'minimal' and 'phone', $600 USD isn't the number that makes sense to me.
I think they should’ve used the word ‘focused’. Everything else about the presentation says it’s a professional communication tool.
I never understood these things. Just buy a kaios phone for less than $60
My thought exactly
Pixel a-series with GrapheneOS is already the "minimal phone" for hackers: cheap, reasonably small, hardened OS without Google spyware and bloatware. Compatibility with Android is fully retained so you can run things like Wireguard, Termux, Home Assistant and a myriad of other excellent FOSS (or non-FOSS) apps with complete sovereignty over your data.
I was hoping this was minimal enough for somebody with dementia to use to make calls, but when they say "Phone" they don't mean like the old folks do.
I kept reading though, kind-of envying the physical keyboard because that would be fun, but I'm a swipe-typing guy through and through. Then I saw that it supports swipe typing, possibly by sliding your fingers across the keyboard. The idea of swiping across those keys literally gave me frisson, won't lie. That would be so groovy.
I just wish I could get an answer from them on why a brand new phone is missing some pretty important LTE/5G bands in the US
Well because the phone is not supposed to be used for mindless doomscrolling but calling. Highspeed not needed.
Won't missing bands affect the reliability as well, not just the speed?
In the USA there's only VoLTE/VoNR via 4G/5G, 2G and 3G networks have been shut down a while ago.
Which ones? I was prepared to complain about this as well but it supports every band under 3GHz on my carrier
It would probably work on T-Mobile and maybe on Verizon, but it’s missing b14, b30, and b29 which are definitely required for AT&T (not to mention AT&T’s whitelist). Also weird that it doesn’t have any 5G FDD bands other than n71.
Edit: Verizon would also benefit from b48, although that may be optional.
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.
Have you ever used a PopSocket? I highly recommend them.
I think many people who use them start to realize that having a small phone isn’t that great. Having more screen real estate and a larger battery is so much more beneficial than being able to reach everything with one hand, and then the popsocket pretty much solves the one hand issue.
I can reach the top of my screen with my iPhone 17 Pro Max because my phone has a PopSocket on the back, and my fingers are below average short.
One thing that is bugging me (and maybe it's buried on the website somewhere but I missed it) is that I can't figure out what version of Android the phone uses. I wouldn't buy a phone relying on an older version of it
I want to believe, but the first phone was like six months late with no/bad comms, and when it came it was barely usable due. I believe in the mission but have lost some faith here.
I hope they prove me wrong so I can buy Minimal Phone 3!
The hardware looks amazing and I covet it.
The lack of substantial info on Minimal OS makes it a non-starter, though, and that makes me sad. Security and privacy are job #1 for a smartphone, and there's no way I'm running El Rando OS just because the hardware is cute.
If they partnered with Graphene OS, I'd happily pay twice their asking price, though.
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.
i really feel like the website for a minimal phone should be at least somewhat viewable without javascript.
They might have been unable to do it due to Claude Code’s training.
Minimal ≠ simple
Right, minimal means only having what you actually need. That is not what this website is.
Minimalist phone, maximalist website.
Previous product: https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/1s0ufqz/i_dont_...
Previous spotlight on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40609095
I want minimal in size, not capability
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.
Didn't realize they were iPhone width and wider. Puts a damper on seriously shopping on it for me. Thanks for the info.
This and Clicks Communicator seem eerily similar.
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).
Tells you something about what Apple/Samsung/etc are able to achieve with their manufacturing and supply chains.
Indeed. I wish Apple would make an Uno -- just the front screen of the Duo. Half the (unfolded) width, half the weight.
Isn't this just the Air?
Very different aspect ratio. I can’t stand the regular iphones it’s impossible to use one handed without using that dumb flick gesture to bring the top of the screen down to the bottom half
No, it would be smaller, thinner, and lighter than the Air.
I'd buy the Uno Air in a heartbeat
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.
Gimmick?
> 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.
Never thought of that. Plus I'm getting old so might the time to try it out.
Nothing you can do on a modern phone is as satisfying as flipping out that sidekick screen and bashing out a message on physical keys imo
Not that I’d trade screen real estate for keyboards nowadays, but there’s probably still some diehards out there that want them
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.
I’d be tempted to get one if I was in the Android ecosystem, though probably not before real non-sponsored reviews came out. 90hz amoled, nice looking keyboard, lot of ram, seems like a nice device on paper.
Fair enough. I've never use a blackberry so I wouldn't know. I'd like to try one the OP phones out to be honest.
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.
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.
Swipe typing is abysmal on iOS. Not sure how it is on Android these days or how much it depends on the device.
Good thing it supports swipe then
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?
I've been using keyboard-based launchers for a couple years now, I really like it. None quite yet feel perfect to me, but Olauncher has lasted the longest: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.olauncher
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.
Android kiss home screen can be probably set up like this.
The demo video is worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsLd7p9THL4
Pretty weird how little they use the physical keyboard in the demo. I'd expect for at least their own apps / launcher, you could navigate with WASD. Instead, they're switching between tabs by clicking on the very top of the screen while the phone is on a table, which is very much not one-handed mode.
There's a better video here which describes a text-based interface: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryFV1wHD8FM
Why did they make those security settings global?
I'd want different containers (sandboxes), depending on the things I'm doing.
<<a compact footprint>>
Oh, thank you. We need that. It's refreshing to know that we might have the option to buy a cell phone with less than 6.5 inch size.
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.
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'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.
I did that and now constantly check hacker news
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.
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.
This is great. I really like the “dumb phone” movement.
Sadly for now they’re too expensive to buy just as an experiment.
It's still full Android. You could get part of the way there by just installing a different launcher.
my question is why is it soo expensive if you are just making a dumb phone, give me a 100-200$ option with less ram and storage i'll be all in
Exactly. I would want:
-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 honestly don’t think you’d get that much variation. Beyond phone/sms, the list would likely end up with just these:
- decent camera
- messaging apps (WhatsApp/telegram/signal/etc)
- email
- maps
- rideshare (uber/lyft)
- mobile wallet (tap to pay)
People will also demand a browser, but that kind of defeats the purpose. All the apps should be utilities that you can’t spend hours in.
I suspect people would also demand music streaming, but I’m not sure really why you need that.
low volume products are expensive
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.
Reminds me of the peek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peek_(mobile_Internet_device)
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.
How long would the phone get security updates?
Also looks like they sell cellular plans too https://plans.minimalcompany.com/#plans
I find for these what happens is that the phone itself can’t actually install certain banking or security apps, and also our workplace restricts it.
Inevitably I have to carry two phones around Anyone find a solution around this?
I’m in the same boat. I’m a principal engineer for a critical platform at a major retailer. I would LOVE to just have a communication device in my pocket but I’m required to have access to work comms and 2FA apps. I’ve considered using a pre-paid line with a burner for just those and carrying two phones… but that’s such a hassle.
I have a love affair with my Kobo Clara Colour. More than once I've thought it would be great if I could call and send sms with it. (Using a Bluetooth headset.)
Reminds me of Jobs saying.. the problem with phones these days is the bottom 1/3.
Some still disagree.
> shaped for one hand
Unfortunately, it is as wide as a regular iPhone (i.e. the 17e), so it’s not an iPhone mini/SE replacement in terms of one-handed use.
At 158 grams it’s also heavier than any mini/SE.
I can't believe that statistic about 186 pickups per day, that would be every 5 minutes on average assuming 16 hours awake.
Why on earth does this need an oled screen and aluminum body? They’re trying to be Apple when they should be the opposite.
As you can see in this comment section, everyone complains about everything. If they didn't use aluminium and an OLED, someone else would have complained about "cheap plastic" and "cheap LCD". They can't make everyone happy.
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.
Software keyboards are not "far better" than physical keyboards.
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.
https://www.clicks.tech/powerkeyboard
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.
Why not just wait til reviews are out, no need to give an interest free loan to a for profit company
Avoid pre-orders and new. The BB Key One launched at $729, I got it off local classifieds for $30.
Awesome. To make the device even smaller, I would probably get rid of the physical keyboard
How does a minimal phone like this one compare to not installing a shitton of apps and disabling all but essential notifications?
Probably the physical keyboard?
I’d say it’s a pretty big differentiator
Did you click the link?!
Yeah, that's why I'm asking
A new QWERTY is a blessing, but please, open the bootloader and drivers so users can install whatever they want.
The bootloader is unlockable.
The picture showing a thumb typing makes it clear that anyone with long fingernails is going to find it difficult to use.
I feel like if you are really want to have a minimal phone, you can just use a smart watch now.
Is this missing Android navigation buttons? I wonder if they considered to have them physical again.
I welcome this kind of innovation in mobile UX. It's absolutely refreshing!
Hard to justify for $599/$699 when a new Pixel 10a is currently $424 on Amazon.
A Pixel 10a is far bigger and has no headphone jack.
I need communicator: Wire, tox, simpleX, jabber and new invented after 2030
ouch and open boootloader
The product page explicitly mentions an unlockable bootloader.
Why is this minimal if you can download all the normal android apps?
Minimal is the name of the company.
I don't know if you see it or not; but they started with really really minimal and dumb looks, and in this version started to add colors, UI elements and... So I guess a few versions in, and they'll build a iOS/Android from the first principles...
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.
They have 5 keyboard layouts available. Is yours not listed?
What are you talking about? It ships with 5 language options for the keyboard on day 1?
Remembers me of the Mecha Comet and the Clicks Communicator
Maybe if GrapheneOS ran on it
It says they offer a degoogled version, which is cool.
https://minimalcompany.com/#purchase
Since you can’t run Graphene on non pixel devices, this seems like a big feature
if the claim is trusted. yeah
Yes the site seems to be all surface level marketing with no detail to be found, not a great sign
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.
It's going to run a form of Android so you should be able to install those apps you need
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.
Would buy in a heartbeat if it did.
I love the form factor. I would love to tinker with it!
I don't love it, I wish it was more handicapped
6000 series aluminium design, wowzers! And only $1699
I really like the _idea_ of a QWERTY phone, and halfway through this page there's a section showing how you can use special characters to invoke commands (presumably by just typing at the home screen?), like "- buy milk" to add a todo entry or "? aviation recipe" to search. This sounds great, and somewhat difficult to replicate on a touchscreen!
But I'm not convinced anymore that the actual typing experience is any good. Way before that exciting section, there's a video where somebody takes two full seconds to type "Hey bro you" on this phone's keyboard. I tried: in the same amount of time, I can type "Hey bro you mean everything to me" on my Pixel's default keyboard.
Nothing on how long the battery lasts?
Minimal here is really confusing me: why a phone with so many physical buttons/keys and jack port is minimal but other phones without are non-minimal?
Not available to people without tattoos.
I don't get why having a keyboard is minimal.
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 see.
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 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
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
Reminds me of a Blackberry
yes, their bootloader is unlockable + de-googled os option
I'm sorry, but I really cannot take any claims seriously on a website that is clearly designed and generated by AI. What part of this did a human even write? This could be entirely vaporware for all I know.
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.
Would love to have a physical keyboard on a degoogled Android, but disappointed that there is no cyrillic option for keys.
Eh, I just want a dump phone. But they all use the bigger SIM slot so it’s a bit hassle to use a micro/mini SIM.
BlackBerry: Seriously?
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Can I have the "minimal phone" that is a powerful ai assisted productive computing device. Minimal in UI only and not literally an useless machine?