The Rabbit R1 recently went viral with its post-smartphone design and voice-activated interface – and now a minimalist concept phone has similarly promised to save us from endless doom scrolling.
The appropriate name Minimal phone, which will be part of a crowdfunding campaign launching in early February, looks like a cross between a Blackberry, Amazon Kindle and a Microsoft Zune. The phone’s slogan “live more, scroll less” describes the idea: it wants to be smart (running on a modified version of Android), but in a way that doesn’t make us feel constantly distracted.
That’s far from a new concept – the Punkt MP02 came up with a similar minimalist, modern ‘dumb phone’ idea a few years ago, just like the Light phone 2. And it’s still very early days for the Minimal Phone, with all the usual caveats about crowdfunding technology applying here. But it does bring with it some interesting ideas that could help it gain a niche audience.
For starters, it has both an E-ink display and a QWERTY keyboard. That potentially means fast typing for those who still miss their Blackberry, and a claimed battery life of four days. It will also apparently charge from 0-80% in just thirty minutes and be fully charged in an hour. The capacitive screen has a backlight, so it is clearly visible even in the dark.
What we haven’t seen in action yet is MinimalOS, a modified version of Android. But from the first images, that operating system shows echoes of Microsoft Zune’s interface, only one designed for E-ink screens. It seems you still get widgets that show you the weather and a to-do list, but no app icons – just simple shortcuts to basic functions.
Yet there is some additional complexity lurking beneath the surface. According to a Reddit AMA with Andre Youkhna (founder of The Minimal Company), the Minimal Phone supports RCS messaging and YouTube Music, plus downloading some apps from the Play Store. But its creator is “only exploring 5G technology,” so that’s far from guaranteed.
In that AMA, Youkhna says the expected retail price of the Minimal Phone will be $400 (about £315 / AU$610), putting it firmly in the mid-range segment. But there will apparently also be early bird offers for the first daring backers of that upcoming crowdfunding campaign.
Another post-iPhone candidate?
At this point, the Minimal Phone is more of an intriguing concept than a true mid-range prospect. There’s still a lot we don’t know, and crowdfunding gadgets have a very mixed track record when it comes to delivering on their original promises.
That said, Minimal Phone founder Andre Youkhna claims that they are “collaborating with one of the largest manufacturers in the industry” on the phone, which helped make Google certification and carrier support possible.
Youkhna also says that the Minimal Phone’s waitlist (which you can sign up for now) means he is “very confident in achieving production goals through a successful crowdfunding campaign.” That remains to be seen, but it’s certainly an idea that could strike a chord in the same vein as the Punkt MP02 and Light Phone 2.
Realistically, these types of phones come with too many compromises to make them mainstream hits. But if the Minimal Phone manages to strike a balance between simplicity and modern functionality, then we’ll definitely look forward to trying it out if it does indeed make it to full production.