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Jelly Star – The Smallest Android 13 Smartphone

315 points by f_allwein 2y ago

f_allwein 2y ago
No affiliation - saw a colleague use this the other day. He said it helped him reduce his screen time, while still being able to use WhatsApp etc. to stay in touch with family.
rostayob 2y ago
I've been using this phone as my full time phone for 1 year. It's a great compromise for people that ideally would not want a smartphone, but need to have one since many life situations require it. I basically only use it for WhatsApp and music, but when some other need arises, it can do everything a normal smartphone can do. The only problem is that the build quality is not good. The audio jack of the first one I bought (off the initial kickstarter) broke after 6 months or so. I bought another one, and the up volume button recently broke. But otherwise, no complaints.
- DidYaWipe 2y ago
  Interesting. The headphone jack would be my main reason for buying this thing. Recently forgot my iPad on a trip, and couldn't listen to anything on the plane because my goddamned iPhone lacks a headphone jack. So offensively stupid.
  - rostayob 2y ago
    Note that I was fairly careless with it, and I'm pretty clumsy. It probably fell 20+ times. But still, it feels very cheap (and I suppose it makes sense given the price).
    - askvictor 2y ago
      I have a Jelly pro , and has similarly fallen a fair few times and is fine. Feeling cheap doesn't necessarily mean it's less rugged though - a plastic case is generally going to absorb more shock than a glass or metal case like 'premium' phones have. I remember my first android (Galaxy S) was panned for feeling 'cheap' but I dropped that so many times and it's still alive today.
    - cubefox 2y ago
      > It probably fell 20+ times That's more than normal phones could withstand.
  - fragmede 2y ago
    why didn't you buy the Bluetooth adapter from the bestbuy kiosk in the airport to use your airpods with the plane's headphone jack?
  - jzymbaluk 2y ago
    Why not just get a 3.5mm to lightning adaptor? They have knock-off/generic versions at gas stations that cost like 5 dollars and it beats lugging around a whole extra device just to use your headphones
    - bpev 2y ago
      Not op, but for me, those things have been finicky and randomly disconnect, and when they do, it's more of a problem because you're removing the whole audio device instead of just the output plug (so like the audio might pause instead of just having some static). Also, because I use my headphones on other devices with audio jacks, I lose those adapters all the time. Don't really like having a tail on my phone all the time. Vastly prefer having aux on my phones/tablets.
    - twelve40 2y ago
      i end up using an adapter (because samsung also arm-twisted me into doing that), but they are typically terrible quality/break, catch on to things, i need to always remember to pack one, and still keep forgetting/losing them. Our overlords at Apple (Samsung promptly followed) decided that we must all switch to airpods, but instead just made it a huge pain for people. Also strange for Samsung whose phones are gigantic, it's not like they don't have enough room.
      - willsmith72 2y ago
        Last I checked iphones and galaxys were almost identical in size, which models are your talking about?
        twelve40 2y ago
        i was referring more to the topic starter phone - 95.1 × 49.6 × 18.7 mm vs Galaxy S23 146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6. It does seem quite thicker than Galaxy actually. Maybe that's Samsung's excuse. I don't have much experience with (or much interest in) Apple phones, they seem to inspire Samsung to follow the same trends.
    - 2y ago
  - SECProto 2y ago
    There are other android alternatives that have a headphone jack - though getting fewer each year unfortunately. I want a phone that takes good pictures, has long feature updates, and has an aux jack - I haven't been able to find one in years, so I've been compromising with ones that only get one new android version (plus security updates for 2-3 years)
- ThinkBeat 2y ago
  I can only imagine that the typing experience on such a tiny phone is sub optimal. When you say WhatsApp are you actually typing in messages ?
  - rostayob 2y ago
    I am, but I only type the messages I need to type. Which aren't that many. If there's some long explanation to be had I call or I leave a voice message. And yes, I am aware of the fact that everybody hates voice messages, but it's only fair if somebody requires my immediate attention :). Typing is painful, but not disastrous actually. It's perfectly serviceable.
  - askvictor 2y ago
    I used one for about a year. I thought I'd be using voice-to-text a lot to get around this issue, but couldn't get used to the idea. A swipe-style keyboard does make typing much less onerous that you might imagine though.
DidYaWipe 2y ago
And it has a headphone jack! Seriously considering this.
wkat4242 2y ago
Part of the problem with this brand is that this "Android 13 Smartphone" will probably stay that forever. Updates are very very minimal. I have their first jelly and it didn't even get the upgrade they promised. Other than that, it's not so bad. Swype-typing makes a small keyboard still useful. But the updates really are the achilles heel here.
- hagbard_c 2y ago
  This is not as big a problem as you make it out to be due to the availability of alternative Android distributions. A quick search shows that LineageOS 20 already runs well on this device which means it should be possible to keep it up to date for a long time. I'm using a Samsung SIIIneo from 2014 with LineageOS 18.1 (Android 11) for which LineageOS 20 is available as well while Samsung dropped support at Android 4.4. Since I prefer the 'clean Android' experience over whatever vendor embellishments have been added I tend to switch to LineageOS as soon as I get a new (or "new") device anyway. I'm using LineageOS as an example but there are plenty of alternative AOSP-derived distributions for those who want something else. What I'd actually like to see is an updated Motorola Defy [1], a waterproof/shockproof device with a 3.7" screen, a user-changeable battery, headphone jack, a good loud speaker, uSD card slot, etc. Just give it enough battery capacity to last for a week with mild use like the Defy+ offered, enough memory and storage to last for 10 years of Android development and make sure the bootloader can be unlocked by the user. That is one device I'd buy as a 'working' phone (i.e. a device which can withstand the rigours of farm life), what I use that Samsung SIIIneo for now. It already survived three falls from a 8.5m high barn roof while I was installing solar panels, my daughter's Defy+ survived going through a full wash/spin cycle when she left it in her trouser pocket. That is what I want from a phone, not some silly 'AI' gimmicks. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Defy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Defy
  - nobodywasishere 2y ago
    I used LineageOS on a number of devices for a number of years, and had to upgrade to a new device every year due to either performance, bugs, or official support being dropped. Can't tell you the number of various bugs I ran into that completely made it unusable, until the point I just started getting two of every device to be able to have a backup, and be able to do clean version updates. Being able to just get one device and use it for 5+ years is such a relief, and gives me a lot less to worry about day to day. Custom roms are best left to tinkerers who are okay with their device randomly breaking with no rhyme or reason, and spending hours either trying to fix it or reflash/restore to stock and set everything back up again.
phh 2y ago
Jelly Star is really small, I doubt it's usual as an actual smartphone (but I understand the "under-smartphone" usage). For the people who want the just-big-enough-to-be-usable-one-handed (for average man hands let's say), the upcoming Jelly Max should fit better. My current daily driver which fits that just-big-enough is Qin 3 Ultra. Its size is perfect, but it is no longer available (unless you want to use their original firmware, which ugh, no) (Also anecdote, I once ordered a phone from Unihertz, I never received it. I couldn't cancel the payment because it was a kickstarter with few months delay...I won't buy directly from them again) Of course none of the devices I mentioned (both Qin & Unihertz) are compliant with GPL and release their kernel source code...
- whyoh 2y ago
  >the upcoming Jelly Max From a quick search it looks like it's gonna have a 5" screen and be 15mm thick.
  - cosama2 2y ago
    Here tho official announcement: https://www.unihertz.com/pages/new?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Unihertz&utm_campaign=jelly%20max%20sign%20up https://www.unihertz.com/pages/new?utm_source=twitter&utm_me...
    - kstenerud 2y ago
      Why won't they list the size? Isn't that the point of these phones? I'd preorder one if I knew this one important thing (and it was the size I wanted), but now I'll probably wait a year or two for the price to come down and the bugs to be shaken out. So annoying...
dtx1 2y ago
Guaranteed Security Updates until? Not even mentioned? So it's just e-waste.
- rbanffy 2y ago
  As @hagbard_c pointed out earlier, LegacyOS runs well on it, so you can continue using it when updates cease to appear.
  - RockRobotRock 2y ago
    LineageOS?
    - monocasa 2y ago
      An open source android distro, forked from CyanogenMod.
    - rbanffy 2y ago
      Sorry. My bad.
  - dtx1 2y ago
    LineageOS neither updates the binary blobs nor does it correctly implement secureboot and they don't backport all security updates correctly.
- noAnswer 2y ago
  I had the Jelly 2 (Android 11). The Kickstarter promised an Android 12 update. Never happend. In fact, it never got any update. (On the official webforum there was talk about one update. You had to download it from a shady download site. There where all sorts of warnings. I don't remember if I tried and it failed or I never tried to update it. Still no good look. They deliver on the hardware but it is fire and forget on the software site.)
pwildani 2y ago
I've been using one of these for about a year. It's been great having a device that I can actually reach all of, and the small size also helps to not be a distraction. About the only thing I miss from the Pixel series is camera skills and unnatural photo enhancements. It takes some nudging to get my jelly star to focus properly.
- f_allwein 2y ago
  Then you could even buy a separate digital camera…
- nunobrito 2y ago
  Try their Tank Mini. Double the pixels, double the battery and still tiny enough: https://www.unihertz.com/products/tank-mini https://www.unihertz.com/products/tank-mini We have it here in the house, it is a really good phone too.
  - chx 2y ago
    How is durability? I use a Pixel 4 in https://ghostek.com/products/atomic-slim-pixel-4-series https://ghostek.com/products/atomic-slim-pixel-4-series which is very nice because the bumper frame rises above the screen so when you drop it the screen doesn't break. Yet, it's not obnoxiously huge. I love this setup -- except for the Pixel 4 abysmal battery life.
    - nunobrito 2y ago
      It is obviously a small phone screen size, my wife is using it because she doesn't like to charge phones and didn't wanted a bulky phone either so that was the middle point. Camera quality is really good. Battery lasts a week, writing stuff is difficult but generic browsing, whatsapp and so on works as intended. She loves the laser range to measure things, has been used often. In overall the alumminium body gives it a very impressive and neat look, the phone is certainly tough. She is happy.
jsheard 2y ago
Looks like there might have been some creative recycling of very old tooling to make this, the design language is reminicisient of Android phones from a decade ago. Especially the presence of dedicated navigation buttons, which were phased out starting from Android 4.0.
- mattnewton 2y ago
  buttons probably just work better than gestures on such a small screen. Agree with the design language though, very late 90s / early 2000’s
GaggiX 2y ago
The perfect smartphone to smuggle.
- ggm 2y ago
  Depends on the IPS rating
cwillu 2y ago
“3.5 mm Audio Jack” Shut up and take my money.
lotophage 2y ago
I'm curious if people actually use the IR in place of their TV remote as in the promo. For me personally, I think the friction of having to fire up an app first would preclude me from ever using it in earnest.
- MBCook 2y ago
  It’s pretty easy to launch the remote function on my iPhone to control my Apple TV. I still almost never do it. The loss of the tactile ability to find the buttons, especially without looking, kills it unless you’re in a real bind.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
    The only time I ever use mine, is when the dreaded linear type entry comes up.
- alphager 2y ago
  On their own TV at home: probably not. In airports, bars, waiting rooms: absolutely.
- beart 2y ago
  It's a great option when the kids lose the remote somewhere
- noAnswer 2y ago
  I used that feature once. Long day on a construction site. Last job was to hook up a PC to a Smart-TV. No remote to be seen. Costumer no longer on site. Jelly 2 to the rescue :-) Felt Swiss Army knifey.
- magneticnorth 2y ago
  One of my dogs thinks tv remotes are the most delicious chew toy. I've switched to using my phone as a TV remote, exclusively, but I realize I'm a bit of an edge case.
- jcul 2y ago
  I have the jelly star and I do use this feature. It's useful if the remote is missing and you need to adjust the volume or something. I aslo used it when I was working away from home and was trying to plug my laptop into a TV HDMI port. I had no remote and couldn't switch the input manually but was able to do it with the phone.
montroser 2y ago
This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE on the iOS side. The last real Android choice was the Pixel 4a and beyond that, everything has been mega huge.
- mainframed 2y ago
  As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy S22, which is not small but seemed to me like the only sane size - feature - price balance on the Android market back then: maybe the reason is battery life? I'm really underwhelmed by the one of the S22. I barely get a day out of it. When I'm travelling with Google Maps, I have to carry a power bank. Maybe current android phones are just optimized so bad in comparison to iPhones? And increasing device size allows for a proportionally larger battery size.
  - BenjiWiebe 2y ago
    Surely with modern processor efficiency, they could get similar or better battery life as small phones of the 2010s? Thinking lovingly of the form factor of the 2013 Moto X.
    - montroser 2y ago
      Yes! That first generation Moto X was the premature peak of the small Android phone. After that everything just got bigger and increasingly less beautiful.
    - microtonal 2y ago
      The Moto X 2013 was awesome. It already had some modern smartphone features (AMOLED, always listen phrase) And it was so comfortable in-hand. The Moto X 2014 was already a pretty big regression in that regard (then Lenovo bought Motorola from Google and updates went down the drain as well).
  - mixermachine 2y ago
    Most likely you have the Exynos CPU? I upgraded from a S21 Ultra (Exynos) to a S23 Ultra (Snapdragon). Battery life is so much better. I use the 80% battery protection option and nearly always make it through the day. Only if I constantly watch videos the battery is flat in the evening. With power saving and 100% battery I can reach 2 1/2 to 3 days. Loving it.
RockRobotRock 2y ago
I keep this in my bag with a prepaid SIM for emergencies
rvz 2y ago
Would rather wait for the Tiq Mini M5 to be back in stock. [0] as the small Android device you should be waiting for. [0] https://www.tiqphone.com/ https://www.tiqphone.com/
- Wowfunhappy 2y ago
  That looks like a significantly different type of device. I'd be okay with a small screen as a compromise for making the device smaller—I like small things—but I really don't want buttons taking up half the space.
beart 2y ago
I had one of their earlier models. It wasn't a great phone and the software had some issues. But I suppose it was plenty small. I think I stopped using it because the carrier I switched to didn't support it. I wanted to keep it as a backup phone for emergencies but the battery didn't last long enough to be relied upon.
MBCook 2y ago
I would think this would be difficult to use for most apps. It’s not 2009 anymore. App developers just assume a certain minimum screen size. While layouts are flexible they often just don’t work on smaller screens.
- SamBam 2y ago
  Maybe many people don't need "most apps." I need about 5 apps and a nice camera.
  - MBCook 2y ago
    “Most” is a LOT. Including probably the majority of those people would want.
  - sulandor 2y ago
    cant upvote enough though all the superfluous whitespace creeping up makes small screens tedious indeed
- frankthepickle 2y ago
  I think that's the idea, people buying these are probably hoping to reduce screen time
  - piyh 2y ago
    Overall these will massively increase screen time in the incarcerated populated
Eighth 2y ago
Might be slightly too big to smuggle in the old prison pocket
- llsf 2y ago
  Some might stretch a long way to get a phone in prison.
- piyh 2y ago
  Think of the biggest poop you've ever taken, then look critically at this phone.
system2 2y ago
It is over 18 months old. Why is being promoted here now?
- sulandor 2y ago
  they will be launching an actual usable size phone soon
  - system2 2y ago
    As in smaller or bigger? People are asking for a small phone, not bigger.
    - sulandor 2y ago
      i don't think that smaller than the smallest would make much sense useabilitywise, but they are launching a phone with 5" screen soon, which ppl get excited over
e2e4 2y ago
Japan has some nice small phones for kids. Although the specs are quite basic. https://youtu.be/AmthGJ5Qwvk?feature=shared https://youtu.be/AmthGJ5Qwvk?feature=shared https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/products/detail.html?mobile-code=004EM&color-name=Blue&payment-num=01&order-div=01 https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/products/detail.html?mob...
- numpad0 2y ago
  I don't think there is any with official or unofficial Play Store support. Japanese phone are rarely flashable too.
  - throwaway2037 2y ago
    > I don't think there is any with official or unofficial Play Store support. I am sure that is a feature, not a bug.
sircastor 2y ago
I personally think the original iPhone’s 3.5” screen was perfect, and I’m sad that my iPhone mini didn’t survive as a product line. My next phones screen will be big, and I’ll hate it but live with it.
- kebman 2y ago
  My current phone is an iPhone 13 Mini. My next phone will also be an iPhone 13 Mini unless it's completely unusable at that point, or Apple haven't got back to their senses.
  - sircastor 2y ago
    My hope is that they repurpose the mini form-factor into the SE model. I don’t want a budget phone, but I’m willing to tolerate it for the size.
grishka 2y ago
It's a bit too small, but I like that it's a thing. However, for my own use, I want something in-between. A 4" phone would be ideal. I'm still confused how there aren't any phones for people who still use a computer as their primary means of accessing the internet. Even for this one, the media review section makes it look like it's "to distract oneself from social media". As if a phone's primary purpose isn't to be a communication device for when you aren't near your computer.
- RachelF 2y ago
  iPhone 4 or 12 mini size is probably ideal for me personally. While this is small, it is double the thickness of most modern phones. Still, it is great to see a bit of creativity in the smartphone market. Most phones are pretty much the same these days.
  - grishka 2y ago
    For me, iPhone 5/5S/SE is the ideal size. I even seriously considered different ways to try to port Android to the SE, but while this would've been an interesting project, I decided that I have more useful things to work on.
  - orson2077 2y ago
    iPhone 4 was the apex of phone design, I will die on this hill!
    - timschmidt 2y ago
      It was the Pre 3 [0] and I'll fight you for it. Lol. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Pre_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Pre_3
      - orson2077 2y ago
        Hah! Sliding keyboard, that absolutely rocks!
6510 2y ago
If size is a large part of your sales pitch you need to show an image with some reference in it. https://www.noypigeeks.com/android/unihertz-jelly-star/ https://www.noypigeeks.com/android/unihertz-jelly-star/ While hands come in different sizes the picture there gives an immediate feel for the product. Next you might feel you want one. 95.1 × 49.6 × 18.7 mm is more accurate but there is no feeling.
spankalee 2y ago
Wouldn't you want small bevels on a small phone to maximize the screen size for the overall package?
tenken 2y ago
Would Google Fi support it? ... Interesting that they say it has "Google Certification" but no Fi support, which imho has International support (I live in the USA, but have traveled internationally with Pixel phones on Fi service with 0 issues for me )...
- throwaway2037 2y ago
  What Google Fi plan do you use? Do you really travel enough internationally to make it worth the cost?
  - saagarjha 2y ago
    You can turn on their international plan on a month-to-month basis fwiw
dochne 2y ago
I had one of the predecessors to this (the Jelly 2) as one of my strategies to cut down on smart phone usage. It was a nice idea (as it introduced pain points of using it as a distraction device), but the battery life ended up being abysmal to the point that I couldn't trust it to complete a day. Having a tiny smart phone and then having to take a battery pack for it was absurdity. It also led me to appreciate how much I'd come to rely on always having a good camera in my pocket. The picture quality was poor enough that the photos would leave me feeling genuinely quite sad.
laurex 2y ago
I still use an iPhone SE (original 2016 version), probably the most beautiful phone ever and quite functional, though this year it finally stopped being supported by a lot of apps due to its iOS. Surprisingly, most apps work just fine until they are just removed from availability. (I'm not gaming on it or anything!) It is the perfect size and with no notifications enabled, is dang near ideal as long as you don't need great photos (but if Apple ever returned the form factor which will obviously never happen, I am sure a decent camera is viable). That said, I really can't believe we are still stuck with these devices, which are mostly anti-social and too tempting to distraction. Though Humane was laughable, some kind of thing that gives me access to information when I need it but otherwise doesn't really interrupt the flow of life would be pretty awesome.
- sulandor 2y ago
  same same still holding onto 1st-gen se because i value my autonomy but want a pocket computer. galaxy s4mini was even thinner and lighter.
- mistercheph 2y ago
  Same! They are awesome phones, and I love that if I break it, my replacement is $50.
smusamashah 2y ago
This reminds of my Huawei Ideos with Android Froyo back in 2010. It's that many years. Right now I am typing this from Pixel 4a it's strangely noticeable how phones became big, powerful, and lost some buttons and audio jack. Huawei Ideos: 104 x 54.8 x 13.5 mm (102g) Jelly star: 95.1 x 49.6 x 18.7 mm (116g) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei_IDEOS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei_IDEOS
crossroadsguy 2y ago
My first iPhone (original SE) was a choice 95% because of its size and 5% out of curiosity for iOS. At that time (2016-17) when Androids had already started ballooning up. 12 Mini's new battery was insufficient and that is why I had decided to move to iPhone 14 and not just replace that battery as that would have not been good enough either. Original SE was my favourite, second was mini. If there is going to be a "private" enough Android (even if that is a bigger phone) with stricter Play Store and clamping down on rampant permission devouring by apps, I will stop buying iPhones. Because if I have to anyway buy jumbo phones I'd rather buy cheaper Androids. Had hopes from Nothing phone in privacy but they are into just gimmicks like funny lights on the back and all. But I don't think Google will do it or let it happen.
- kelnos 2y ago
  And I'm glad for that. I wouldn't trade all the crap on the Play Store (not to mention the ability to easily install from outside Play) for Apple's nanny-state App Store approval policies.
- gaudystead 2y ago
  You may want to look into Graphene OS. It comes with zero Google products preloaded (you can install them after the fact) and permissions controls are great. Ironically, the only hardware it works on though are Google Pixel phones due to their hardware security chip.
  - crossroadsguy 2y ago
    I have looked at it. I don't want to deal with that. I would be happy to pay a premium if an OEM supports it. I neither have time nor patience/passion (more of this one) to tinker around anymore. Besides there is this risk of apps not working (esp. banking/finance apps) and then I will be screwed. And I have a Pixel 5 (as a secondary phone) and I am never buying another Google made/sold phone ever.
    - jcul 2y ago
      To be honest, graphene was probably the least tinkering of any ROM I've used. You can install it directly from chrome on their page and then you're basically done. If you choose to install play store, you just install it and that's it.
deadbabe 2y ago
If you can’t swallow it it’s not small enough.
smallerfish 2y ago
Steer clear of Unihertz. If they ship a phone riddled with bugs, the phone will remain riddled with bugs.
Lammy 2y ago
I'm glad translucent plastics are coming back in style.
haolez 2y ago
Some years ago, for a reason I can't remember, I was browsing tiny phones (not smartphones) in a Chinese e-commerce site. I was amazed by the vast range of devices in this category (at the time). After a few Google searches trying to understand why there was demand for such small phones, one article suggested that these phones are perfect for getting smuggled in prisons "you know how". Don't know if this is true, but it sounds plausible and the vast range of devices could be explained by this. They were tinier than the smartphone in this article, though.
- twiceaday 2y ago
  Yep. Good for kiestering.
- langcss 2y ago
  There was a time around 2004ish where fashion was smaller the phone the richer you appear. So a status symbol. As they were usually more expensive to make them small back then.
Fnoord 2y ago
Might be interesting device for kids, though I'd disable the camera and put it on a separate (guest) VLAN.
ryukoposting 2y ago
Temu is loaded with devices like this. Why would I spend $200 on this when I could spend $75 for a device with virtually identical feature set and manufacturing methods? Blah blah blah "because it isn't from Temu." Like any domestic retailer is any better these days.
rchaud 2y ago
Ticks a lot of boxes for me: microSd and 3.5mm jack alone make this very useful. I'd pay extra if it supported video-out and some kind of desktop environment like my Samsung.
grahar64 2y ago
My 4yo son has to have a phone to control his medical devices, we use a Kin Kong mini 3, which is pretty good. It has a few draw backs, but it being a bit more rugged than the jelly phone is useful.
askvictor 2y ago
I have a Jelly Pro, used it for about a year. It fits in the useless pocket of your jeans, and gets you plenty of weird looks. I got it planning to utilise the annoyance of a tiny screen to use my phone less, but it works as well as I thought it would (that's addiction for you). That aside, two things I would really like in a phone like this are a better camera, and the ability to plug in the phone to a bigger screen (some apps have an equivalent web-app you can use on a laptop, but there were enough that didn't have that that I had to stuff around on them with the phone). Also it is quite thick, but this didn't bother me very much.
koolala 2y ago
Anyone recommend any other wild or weird good Android phones like this?
- oakhaven 2y ago
  Pixel 4a with lineage os
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pikdum 2y ago
If I ever needed a second phone for work, something like this would be nice.
throwaway2037 2y ago
Why is it so overpriced? You can buy a smaller used iPhone or even Xiaomi for much less. I guess some people will buy anything if it is small enough.
ecjhdnc2025 2y ago
I miss really small phones. My favourite two small iPhones were the small-by-contemporary-standards iPhone 5S and SE. My favourite phone ever, small or large, was the Sony Xperia Mini Pro (the second of the Xperia Mini devices, with the slide out keyboard). An absolutely amazingly useful, chunky little device with a super keyboard, an unusually good camera for the time, and an actual shutter button for it. I'd have used that phone for a couple of years longer had the ambient light sensor not failed. Hard to use a phone that doesn't turn off the touchscreen when it's pressed against your ear.
- knallfrosch 2y ago
  I tolerate iOS to get the iphone 13 mini's form factor.
- dTal 2y ago
  I second the Sony Xperia Mini Pro as the best phone ever. I replaced mine enough times that my jeans pockets all had silhouettes worn into them.
manbash 2y ago
I am surprised by the lack of eSIM option, which unfortunately is a dealbreaker for me. :(
miika 2y ago
This Jelly thing is the first Android phone that makes me think about switching from iPhone to Android. I have been waiting for iPhone Nano for years. At this time Apple could make absolutely amazing mini phone if they wanted. Imagine something like two Apple Watches put together. UI could be something similar to Watch OS with only the essentials, maybe with a bit more capabilities. Now I'm hopeful as Apple discontinued iPhone mini. To be honest 12/13 mini was OK but it was too close to SE and it didn't really deliver the promise of a small phone. It was good but not inspiring or super exciting. I think they should try to blow us away with something really small and innovative. Meanwhile I'm going to try Jelly Star as secondary phone. I was surprised how good it was, being full Android phone in a small size. Even typing with such a small keyboard worked surprisingly well.
- OkGoDoIt 2y ago
  The diagonal size is impressively small, but it’s crazy thick. It’s more than 1.8cm thick! In their images it’s nearly as thick as a roll of film which is just absurd. I’d love a small phone and I’m willing to compromise a bit on it being thicker than the average iPhone, but this thing looks insane.
  - bandyaboot 2y ago
    For a small device like this, I don’t think I’d want it to be thinner. Thick and rounded like this just seems like it would be the most comfortable design for using with one hand.
- sulandor 2y ago
  > I think they should try to blow us away with something really small and innovative. absolutely! give me back a phone that easily fits in pockets and doesn't pull my shorts down; it's doable.
rtpg 2y ago
For people worried about the keyboard typing, I've been very curious about the Titan Pocket as an alternative option. Square screen (fun!), "real" keybaord... the biggest problem seeming to be that the keyboard is intentionally a bit weird in the layout to avoid dealing with Blackberry ...design patents I think https://www.unihertz.com/products/titan-pocket https://www.unihertz.com/products/titan-pocket As a former iPhone 12 mini user (whose spouse is on their second one because the other phones are getting too big)... I don't need the screen to be tiny but I legit wonder what people with smaller hands/pockets/whatever are going to do.
- oinj 2y ago
  I wrote an input service to improve the keyboard of the Titan Pocket[1], it's quite good for writing things. I've since sold it and tried a Jelly Star, which I returned. The Titan Pocket is a nice phone, a bit too big and too heavy for me, but like most of the Unihertz offering the major pain point is that the stock firmware is old and not to be trusted, and the community-driven LineageOS alternatives are flimsy and incomplete. This is also due to Unihertz and Mediatek not doing their part and releasing the relevant source code or documentation for specific drivers/services. There is a small community with a few dedicated members but it's a bit of an uphill battle. [1] https://github.com/oin/titanpocketkeyboard https://github.com/oin/titanpocketkeyboard
deafpolygon 2y ago
I like this. The only things I really use on my phone is the camera, gps and music. Occasionally, I'll check things on the web- but often, I will wait with that until I can sit down at my desk. Unforunately, I'm somewhat involuntarily locked into the Apple "app ecosystem".
sickmartian 2y ago
Why offer a crappy default Spanish translation when you can just not? - The name of the product is broken "Jelly Star Estrella" instead of Jelly Star - "Descubrir Jelly Star Estrella" instead of "Descubre Jelly Star" - "Jelly Star Estrella Presenta un diseño" consistently uppercasing the first word disregarding their product name in the sentence - "Jelly Star EstrellaLa luz LED" or just not leaving spaces - "Aparece en dos colores" instead of "Disponible en dos colores" I got tired reading an IA generated translation not reviewed by one single human that spoke the language, that went through some quick copy and paste. Concept looks cool, I just can't trust them on quality.
craftoman 2y ago
I don’t think the latest Android is designed for 2000mAh phones. Maybe Android 4 or lower could theoretically work better with this capacity range.
butz 2y ago
Recent Android versions are not very well suited for such small screens. But if it is possible to make such small phone, why not to settle on more reasonable phone size of about 4 inches?
- sulandor 2y ago
  or get rid of all the whitespace that's been creeping up since mobile took over. dense interfaces are a sign of strong character
buro9 2y ago
This makes a great, capable, burner phone for traveling to high risk countries. The low price, decent performance, small package is perfect for travel and you wouldn't have to worry if it was lost or stolen if you only load up minimal things in there and it doesn't have all your banking apps, etc.
alzamos 2y ago
I recently got this phone, and it really sparked joy. It does everything I need to function in 2024 (messaging people, navigating cities, managing tickets, NFC payments etc), while not tempting me into the dark/addictive side of smartphones. Only problem is mine seems to be defective. After some time of usage everything hangs and I need to restart it, sometimes 4-5 times a day. Other people I know don’t have the issue. Luckily they’re cheap!
superb-owl 2y ago
There’s a new model on the way, with better specs: Jelly Max I have an original Jelly and I love it. Highly recommend getting a tiny smartphone if you want to minimize your screen time
darthrupert 2y ago
Unihertz is a chinese company which might be fine if I could replace the OS. But seems like there are no official LineageOS versions for this. Other than that, this phone looks very nice.
taraparo 2y ago
esp. for such a small device a better screen to body ratio would be desirable.
deleted 2y ago
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bianca33 2y ago
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315 points by f_allwein 2y ago

No affiliation - saw a colleague use this the other day. He said it helped him reduce his screen time, while still being able to use WhatsApp etc. to stay in touch with family.

rostayob 2y ago

I've been using this phone as my full time phone for 1 year. It's a great compromise for people that ideally would not want a smartphone, but need to have one since many life situations require it. I basically only use it for WhatsApp and music, but when some other need arises, it can do everything a normal smartphone can do. The only problem is that the build quality is not good. The audio jack of the first one I bought (off the initial kickstarter) broke after 6 months or so. I bought another one, and the up volume button recently broke. But otherwise, no complaints.

DidYaWipe 2y ago
Interesting. The headphone jack would be my main reason for buying this thing. Recently forgot my iPad on a trip, and couldn't listen to anything on the plane because my goddamned iPhone lacks a headphone jack. So offensively stupid.
- rostayob 2y ago
  Note that I was fairly careless with it, and I'm pretty clumsy. It probably fell 20+ times. But still, it feels very cheap (and I suppose it makes sense given the price).
  - askvictor 2y ago
    I have a Jelly pro , and has similarly fallen a fair few times and is fine. Feeling cheap doesn't necessarily mean it's less rugged though - a plastic case is generally going to absorb more shock than a glass or metal case like 'premium' phones have. I remember my first android (Galaxy S) was panned for feeling 'cheap' but I dropped that so many times and it's still alive today.
  - cubefox 2y ago
    > It probably fell 20+ times That's more than normal phones could withstand.
- fragmede 2y ago
  why didn't you buy the Bluetooth adapter from the bestbuy kiosk in the airport to use your airpods with the plane's headphone jack?
- jzymbaluk 2y ago
  Why not just get a 3.5mm to lightning adaptor? They have knock-off/generic versions at gas stations that cost like 5 dollars and it beats lugging around a whole extra device just to use your headphones
  - bpev 2y ago
    Not op, but for me, those things have been finicky and randomly disconnect, and when they do, it's more of a problem because you're removing the whole audio device instead of just the output plug (so like the audio might pause instead of just having some static). Also, because I use my headphones on other devices with audio jacks, I lose those adapters all the time. Don't really like having a tail on my phone all the time. Vastly prefer having aux on my phones/tablets.
  - twelve40 2y ago
    i end up using an adapter (because samsung also arm-twisted me into doing that), but they are typically terrible quality/break, catch on to things, i need to always remember to pack one, and still keep forgetting/losing them. Our overlords at Apple (Samsung promptly followed) decided that we must all switch to airpods, but instead just made it a huge pain for people. Also strange for Samsung whose phones are gigantic, it's not like they don't have enough room.
    - willsmith72 2y ago
      Last I checked iphones and galaxys were almost identical in size, which models are your talking about?
      - twelve40 2y ago
        i was referring more to the topic starter phone - 95.1 × 49.6 × 18.7 mm vs Galaxy S23 146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6. It does seem quite thicker than Galaxy actually. Maybe that's Samsung's excuse. I don't have much experience with (or much interest in) Apple phones, they seem to inspire Samsung to follow the same trends.
  - 2y ago
- SECProto 2y ago
  There are other android alternatives that have a headphone jack - though getting fewer each year unfortunately. I want a phone that takes good pictures, has long feature updates, and has an aux jack - I haven't been able to find one in years, so I've been compromising with ones that only get one new android version (plus security updates for 2-3 years)
ThinkBeat 2y ago
I can only imagine that the typing experience on such a tiny phone is sub optimal. When you say WhatsApp are you actually typing in messages ?
- rostayob 2y ago
  I am, but I only type the messages I need to type. Which aren't that many. If there's some long explanation to be had I call or I leave a voice message. And yes, I am aware of the fact that everybody hates voice messages, but it's only fair if somebody requires my immediate attention :). Typing is painful, but not disastrous actually. It's perfectly serviceable.
- askvictor 2y ago
  I used one for about a year. I thought I'd be using voice-to-text a lot to get around this issue, but couldn't get used to the idea. A swipe-style keyboard does make typing much less onerous that you might imagine though.

DidYaWipe 2y ago

And it has a headphone jack! Seriously considering this.

wkat4242 2y ago

Part of the problem with this brand is that this "Android 13 Smartphone" will probably stay that forever. Updates are very very minimal. I have their first jelly and it didn't even get the upgrade they promised. Other than that, it's not so bad. Swype-typing makes a small keyboard still useful. But the updates really are the achilles heel here.

hagbard_c 2y ago
This is not as big a problem as you make it out to be due to the availability of alternative Android distributions. A quick search shows that LineageOS 20 already runs well on this device which means it should be possible to keep it up to date for a long time. I'm using a Samsung SIIIneo from 2014 with LineageOS 18.1 (Android 11) for which LineageOS 20 is available as well while Samsung dropped support at Android 4.4. Since I prefer the 'clean Android' experience over whatever vendor embellishments have been added I tend to switch to LineageOS as soon as I get a new (or "new") device anyway. I'm using LineageOS as an example but there are plenty of alternative AOSP-derived distributions for those who want something else. What I'd actually like to see is an updated Motorola Defy [1], a waterproof/shockproof device with a 3.7" screen, a user-changeable battery, headphone jack, a good loud speaker, uSD card slot, etc. Just give it enough battery capacity to last for a week with mild use like the Defy+ offered, enough memory and storage to last for 10 years of Android development and make sure the bootloader can be unlocked by the user. That is one device I'd buy as a 'working' phone (i.e. a device which can withstand the rigours of farm life), what I use that Samsung SIIIneo for now. It already survived three falls from a 8.5m high barn roof while I was installing solar panels, my daughter's Defy+ survived going through a full wash/spin cycle when she left it in her trouser pocket. That is what I want from a phone, not some silly 'AI' gimmicks. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Defy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Defy
- nobodywasishere 2y ago
  I used LineageOS on a number of devices for a number of years, and had to upgrade to a new device every year due to either performance, bugs, or official support being dropped. Can't tell you the number of various bugs I ran into that completely made it unusable, until the point I just started getting two of every device to be able to have a backup, and be able to do clean version updates. Being able to just get one device and use it for 5+ years is such a relief, and gives me a lot less to worry about day to day. Custom roms are best left to tinkerers who are okay with their device randomly breaking with no rhyme or reason, and spending hours either trying to fix it or reflash/restore to stock and set everything back up again.

phh 2y ago

Jelly Star is really small, I doubt it's usual as an actual smartphone (but I understand the "under-smartphone" usage). For the people who want the just-big-enough-to-be-usable-one-handed (for average man hands let's say), the upcoming Jelly Max should fit better. My current daily driver which fits that just-big-enough is Qin 3 Ultra. Its size is perfect, but it is no longer available (unless you want to use their original firmware, which ugh, no) (Also anecdote, I once ordered a phone from Unihertz, I never received it. I couldn't cancel the payment because it was a kickstarter with few months delay...I won't buy directly from them again) Of course none of the devices I mentioned (both Qin & Unihertz) are compliant with GPL and release their kernel source code...

whyoh 2y ago
>the upcoming Jelly Max From a quick search it looks like it's gonna have a 5" screen and be 15mm thick.
- cosama2 2y ago
  Here tho official announcement: https://www.unihertz.com/pages/new?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Unihertz&utm_campaign=jelly%20max%20sign%20up https://www.unihertz.com/pages/new?utm_source=twitter&utm_me...
  - kstenerud 2y ago
    Why won't they list the size? Isn't that the point of these phones? I'd preorder one if I knew this one important thing (and it was the size I wanted), but now I'll probably wait a year or two for the price to come down and the bugs to be shaken out. So annoying...

dtx1 2y ago

Guaranteed Security Updates until? Not even mentioned? So it's just e-waste.

rbanffy 2y ago
As @hagbard_c pointed out earlier, LegacyOS runs well on it, so you can continue using it when updates cease to appear.
- RockRobotRock 2y ago
  LineageOS?
  - monocasa 2y ago
    An open source android distro, forked from CyanogenMod.
  - rbanffy 2y ago
    Sorry. My bad.
- dtx1 2y ago
  LineageOS neither updates the binary blobs nor does it correctly implement secureboot and they don't backport all security updates correctly.
noAnswer 2y ago
I had the Jelly 2 (Android 11). The Kickstarter promised an Android 12 update. Never happend. In fact, it never got any update. (On the official webforum there was talk about one update. You had to download it from a shady download site. There where all sorts of warnings. I don't remember if I tried and it failed or I never tried to update it. Still no good look. They deliver on the hardware but it is fire and forget on the software site.)

pwildani 2y ago

I've been using one of these for about a year. It's been great having a device that I can actually reach all of, and the small size also helps to not be a distraction. About the only thing I miss from the Pixel series is camera skills and unnatural photo enhancements. It takes some nudging to get my jelly star to focus properly.

f_allwein 2y ago
Then you could even buy a separate digital camera…
nunobrito 2y ago
Try their Tank Mini. Double the pixels, double the battery and still tiny enough: https://www.unihertz.com/products/tank-mini https://www.unihertz.com/products/tank-mini We have it here in the house, it is a really good phone too.
- chx 2y ago
  How is durability? I use a Pixel 4 in https://ghostek.com/products/atomic-slim-pixel-4-series https://ghostek.com/products/atomic-slim-pixel-4-series which is very nice because the bumper frame rises above the screen so when you drop it the screen doesn't break. Yet, it's not obnoxiously huge. I love this setup -- except for the Pixel 4 abysmal battery life.
  - nunobrito 2y ago
    It is obviously a small phone screen size, my wife is using it because she doesn't like to charge phones and didn't wanted a bulky phone either so that was the middle point. Camera quality is really good. Battery lasts a week, writing stuff is difficult but generic browsing, whatsapp and so on works as intended. She loves the laser range to measure things, has been used often. In overall the alumminium body gives it a very impressive and neat look, the phone is certainly tough. She is happy.

jsheard 2y ago

Looks like there might have been some creative recycling of very old tooling to make this, the design language is reminicisient of Android phones from a decade ago. Especially the presence of dedicated navigation buttons, which were phased out starting from Android 4.0.

mattnewton 2y ago
buttons probably just work better than gestures on such a small screen. Agree with the design language though, very late 90s / early 2000’s

GaggiX 2y ago

The perfect smartphone to smuggle.

ggm 2y ago
Depends on the IPS rating

cwillu 2y ago

“3.5 mm Audio Jack” Shut up and take my money.

lotophage 2y ago

I'm curious if people actually use the IR in place of their TV remote as in the promo. For me personally, I think the friction of having to fire up an app first would preclude me from ever using it in earnest.

MBCook 2y ago
It’s pretty easy to launch the remote function on my iPhone to control my Apple TV. I still almost never do it. The loss of the tactile ability to find the buttons, especially without looking, kills it unless you’re in a real bind.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
  The only time I ever use mine, is when the dreaded linear type entry comes up.
alphager 2y ago
On their own TV at home: probably not. In airports, bars, waiting rooms: absolutely.
beart 2y ago
It's a great option when the kids lose the remote somewhere
noAnswer 2y ago
I used that feature once. Long day on a construction site. Last job was to hook up a PC to a Smart-TV. No remote to be seen. Costumer no longer on site. Jelly 2 to the rescue :-) Felt Swiss Army knifey.
magneticnorth 2y ago
One of my dogs thinks tv remotes are the most delicious chew toy. I've switched to using my phone as a TV remote, exclusively, but I realize I'm a bit of an edge case.
jcul 2y ago
I have the jelly star and I do use this feature. It's useful if the remote is missing and you need to adjust the volume or something. I aslo used it when I was working away from home and was trying to plug my laptop into a TV HDMI port. I had no remote and couldn't switch the input manually but was able to do it with the phone.

montroser 2y ago

This is cool as an option. But, why oh why mustn't we have any 5 inch Android phone on the market? It's not as if there's no demand, as evidenced by iPhone SE on the iOS side. The last real Android choice was the Pixel 4a and beyond that, everything has been mega huge.

mainframed 2y ago
As an owner of a Samsung Galaxy S22, which is not small but seemed to me like the only sane size - feature - price balance on the Android market back then: maybe the reason is battery life? I'm really underwhelmed by the one of the S22. I barely get a day out of it. When I'm travelling with Google Maps, I have to carry a power bank. Maybe current android phones are just optimized so bad in comparison to iPhones? And increasing device size allows for a proportionally larger battery size.
- BenjiWiebe 2y ago
  Surely with modern processor efficiency, they could get similar or better battery life as small phones of the 2010s? Thinking lovingly of the form factor of the 2013 Moto X.
  - montroser 2y ago
    Yes! That first generation Moto X was the premature peak of the small Android phone. After that everything just got bigger and increasingly less beautiful.
  - microtonal 2y ago
    The Moto X 2013 was awesome. It already had some modern smartphone features (AMOLED, always listen phrase) And it was so comfortable in-hand. The Moto X 2014 was already a pretty big regression in that regard (then Lenovo bought Motorola from Google and updates went down the drain as well).
- mixermachine 2y ago
  Most likely you have the Exynos CPU? I upgraded from a S21 Ultra (Exynos) to a S23 Ultra (Snapdragon). Battery life is so much better. I use the 80% battery protection option and nearly always make it through the day. Only if I constantly watch videos the battery is flat in the evening. With power saving and 100% battery I can reach 2 1/2 to 3 days. Loving it.

RockRobotRock 2y ago

I keep this in my bag with a prepaid SIM for emergencies

rvz 2y ago

Would rather wait for the Tiq Mini M5 to be back in stock. [0] as the small Android device you should be waiting for. [0] https://www.tiqphone.com/ https://www.tiqphone.com/

Wowfunhappy 2y ago
That looks like a significantly different type of device. I'd be okay with a small screen as a compromise for making the device smaller—I like small things—but I really don't want buttons taking up half the space.

beart 2y ago

I had one of their earlier models. It wasn't a great phone and the software had some issues. But I suppose it was plenty small. I think I stopped using it because the carrier I switched to didn't support it. I wanted to keep it as a backup phone for emergencies but the battery didn't last long enough to be relied upon.

MBCook 2y ago

I would think this would be difficult to use for most apps. It’s not 2009 anymore. App developers just assume a certain minimum screen size. While layouts are flexible they often just don’t work on smaller screens.

SamBam 2y ago
Maybe many people don't need "most apps." I need about 5 apps and a nice camera.
- MBCook 2y ago
  “Most” is a LOT. Including probably the majority of those people would want.
- sulandor 2y ago
  cant upvote enough though all the superfluous whitespace creeping up makes small screens tedious indeed
frankthepickle 2y ago
I think that's the idea, people buying these are probably hoping to reduce screen time
- piyh 2y ago
  Overall these will massively increase screen time in the incarcerated populated

Eighth 2y ago

Might be slightly too big to smuggle in the old prison pocket

llsf 2y ago
Some might stretch a long way to get a phone in prison.
piyh 2y ago
Think of the biggest poop you've ever taken, then look critically at this phone.

system2 2y ago

It is over 18 months old. Why is being promoted here now?

sulandor 2y ago
they will be launching an actual usable size phone soon
- system2 2y ago
  As in smaller or bigger? People are asking for a small phone, not bigger.
  - sulandor 2y ago
    i don't think that smaller than the smallest would make much sense useabilitywise, but they are launching a phone with 5" screen soon, which ppl get excited over

e2e4 2y ago

Japan has some nice small phones for kids. Although the specs are quite basic. https://youtu.be/AmthGJ5Qwvk?feature=shared https://youtu.be/AmthGJ5Qwvk?feature=shared https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/products/detail.html?mobile-code=004EM&color-name=Blue&payment-num=01&order-div=01 https://onlineshop.smt.docomo.ne.jp/products/detail.html?mob...

numpad0 2y ago
I don't think there is any with official or unofficial Play Store support. Japanese phone are rarely flashable too.
- throwaway2037 2y ago
  > I don't think there is any with official or unofficial Play Store support. I am sure that is a feature, not a bug.

sircastor 2y ago

I personally think the original iPhone’s 3.5” screen was perfect, and I’m sad that my iPhone mini didn’t survive as a product line. My next phones screen will be big, and I’ll hate it but live with it.

kebman 2y ago
My current phone is an iPhone 13 Mini. My next phone will also be an iPhone 13 Mini unless it's completely unusable at that point, or Apple haven't got back to their senses.
- sircastor 2y ago
  My hope is that they repurpose the mini form-factor into the SE model. I don’t want a budget phone, but I’m willing to tolerate it for the size.

grishka 2y ago

It's a bit too small, but I like that it's a thing. However, for my own use, I want something in-between. A 4" phone would be ideal. I'm still confused how there aren't any phones for people who still use a computer as their primary means of accessing the internet. Even for this one, the media review section makes it look like it's "to distract oneself from social media". As if a phone's primary purpose isn't to be a communication device for when you aren't near your computer.

RachelF 2y ago
iPhone 4 or 12 mini size is probably ideal for me personally. While this is small, it is double the thickness of most modern phones. Still, it is great to see a bit of creativity in the smartphone market. Most phones are pretty much the same these days.
- grishka 2y ago
  For me, iPhone 5/5S/SE is the ideal size. I even seriously considered different ways to try to port Android to the SE, but while this would've been an interesting project, I decided that I have more useful things to work on.
- orson2077 2y ago
  iPhone 4 was the apex of phone design, I will die on this hill!
  - timschmidt 2y ago
    It was the Pre 3 [0] and I'll fight you for it. Lol. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Pre_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Pre_3
    - orson2077 2y ago
      Hah! Sliding keyboard, that absolutely rocks!

6510 2y ago

If size is a large part of your sales pitch you need to show an image with some reference in it. https://www.noypigeeks.com/android/unihertz-jelly-star/ https://www.noypigeeks.com/android/unihertz-jelly-star/ While hands come in different sizes the picture there gives an immediate feel for the product. Next you might feel you want one. 95.1 × 49.6 × 18.7 mm is more accurate but there is no feeling.

spankalee 2y ago

Wouldn't you want small bevels on a small phone to maximize the screen size for the overall package?

tenken 2y ago

Would Google Fi support it? ... Interesting that they say it has "Google Certification" but no Fi support, which imho has International support (I live in the USA, but have traveled internationally with Pixel phones on Fi service with 0 issues for me )...

throwaway2037 2y ago
What Google Fi plan do you use? Do you really travel enough internationally to make it worth the cost?
- saagarjha 2y ago
  You can turn on their international plan on a month-to-month basis fwiw

dochne 2y ago

I had one of the predecessors to this (the Jelly 2) as one of my strategies to cut down on smart phone usage. It was a nice idea (as it introduced pain points of using it as a distraction device), but the battery life ended up being abysmal to the point that I couldn't trust it to complete a day. Having a tiny smart phone and then having to take a battery pack for it was absurdity. It also led me to appreciate how much I'd come to rely on always having a good camera in my pocket. The picture quality was poor enough that the photos would leave me feeling genuinely quite sad.

laurex 2y ago

I still use an iPhone SE (original 2016 version), probably the most beautiful phone ever and quite functional, though this year it finally stopped being supported by a lot of apps due to its iOS. Surprisingly, most apps work just fine until they are just removed from availability. (I'm not gaming on it or anything!) It is the perfect size and with no notifications enabled, is dang near ideal as long as you don't need great photos (but if Apple ever returned the form factor which will obviously never happen, I am sure a decent camera is viable). That said, I really can't believe we are still stuck with these devices, which are mostly anti-social and too tempting to distraction. Though Humane was laughable, some kind of thing that gives me access to information when I need it but otherwise doesn't really interrupt the flow of life would be pretty awesome.

sulandor 2y ago
same same still holding onto 1st-gen se because i value my autonomy but want a pocket computer. galaxy s4mini was even thinner and lighter.
mistercheph 2y ago
Same! They are awesome phones, and I love that if I break it, my replacement is $50.

smusamashah 2y ago

This reminds of my Huawei Ideos with Android Froyo back in 2010. It's that many years. Right now I am typing this from Pixel 4a it's strangely noticeable how phones became big, powerful, and lost some buttons and audio jack. Huawei Ideos: 104 x 54.8 x 13.5 mm (102g) Jelly star: 95.1 x 49.6 x 18.7 mm (116g) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei_IDEOS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei_IDEOS

crossroadsguy 2y ago

My first iPhone (original SE) was a choice 95% because of its size and 5% out of curiosity for iOS. At that time (2016-17) when Androids had already started ballooning up. 12 Mini's new battery was insufficient and that is why I had decided to move to iPhone 14 and not just replace that battery as that would have not been good enough either. Original SE was my favourite, second was mini. If there is going to be a "private" enough Android (even if that is a bigger phone) with stricter Play Store and clamping down on rampant permission devouring by apps, I will stop buying iPhones. Because if I have to anyway buy jumbo phones I'd rather buy cheaper Androids. Had hopes from Nothing phone in privacy but they are into just gimmicks like funny lights on the back and all. But I don't think Google will do it or let it happen.

kelnos 2y ago
And I'm glad for that. I wouldn't trade all the crap on the Play Store (not to mention the ability to easily install from outside Play) for Apple's nanny-state App Store approval policies.
gaudystead 2y ago
You may want to look into Graphene OS. It comes with zero Google products preloaded (you can install them after the fact) and permissions controls are great. Ironically, the only hardware it works on though are Google Pixel phones due to their hardware security chip.
- crossroadsguy 2y ago
  I have looked at it. I don't want to deal with that. I would be happy to pay a premium if an OEM supports it. I neither have time nor patience/passion (more of this one) to tinker around anymore. Besides there is this risk of apps not working (esp. banking/finance apps) and then I will be screwed. And I have a Pixel 5 (as a secondary phone) and I am never buying another Google made/sold phone ever.
  - jcul 2y ago
    To be honest, graphene was probably the least tinkering of any ROM I've used. You can install it directly from chrome on their page and then you're basically done. If you choose to install play store, you just install it and that's it.

deadbabe 2y ago

If you can’t swallow it it’s not small enough.

smallerfish 2y ago

Steer clear of Unihertz. If they ship a phone riddled with bugs, the phone will remain riddled with bugs.

Lammy 2y ago

I'm glad translucent plastics are coming back in style.

haolez 2y ago

Some years ago, for a reason I can't remember, I was browsing tiny phones (not smartphones) in a Chinese e-commerce site. I was amazed by the vast range of devices in this category (at the time). After a few Google searches trying to understand why there was demand for such small phones, one article suggested that these phones are perfect for getting smuggled in prisons "you know how". Don't know if this is true, but it sounds plausible and the vast range of devices could be explained by this. They were tinier than the smartphone in this article, though.

twiceaday 2y ago
Yep. Good for kiestering.
langcss 2y ago
There was a time around 2004ish where fashion was smaller the phone the richer you appear. So a status symbol. As they were usually more expensive to make them small back then.

Fnoord 2y ago

Might be interesting device for kids, though I'd disable the camera and put it on a separate (guest) VLAN.

ryukoposting 2y ago

Temu is loaded with devices like this. Why would I spend $200 on this when I could spend $75 for a device with virtually identical feature set and manufacturing methods? Blah blah blah "because it isn't from Temu." Like any domestic retailer is any better these days.

rchaud 2y ago

Ticks a lot of boxes for me: microSd and 3.5mm jack alone make this very useful. I'd pay extra if it supported video-out and some kind of desktop environment like my Samsung.

grahar64 2y ago

My 4yo son has to have a phone to control his medical devices, we use a Kin Kong mini 3, which is pretty good. It has a few draw backs, but it being a bit more rugged than the jelly phone is useful.

askvictor 2y ago

I have a Jelly Pro, used it for about a year. It fits in the useless pocket of your jeans, and gets you plenty of weird looks. I got it planning to utilise the annoyance of a tiny screen to use my phone less, but it works as well as I thought it would (that's addiction for you). That aside, two things I would really like in a phone like this are a better camera, and the ability to plug in the phone to a bigger screen (some apps have an equivalent web-app you can use on a laptop, but there were enough that didn't have that that I had to stuff around on them with the phone). Also it is quite thick, but this didn't bother me very much.

koolala 2y ago

Anyone recommend any other wild or weird good Android phones like this?

oakhaven 2y ago
Pixel 4a with lineage os

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pikdum 2y ago

If I ever needed a second phone for work, something like this would be nice.

throwaway2037 2y ago

Why is it so overpriced? You can buy a smaller used iPhone or even Xiaomi for much less. I guess some people will buy anything if it is small enough.

ecjhdnc2025 2y ago

I miss really small phones. My favourite two small iPhones were the small-by-contemporary-standards iPhone 5S and SE. My favourite phone ever, small or large, was the Sony Xperia Mini Pro (the second of the Xperia Mini devices, with the slide out keyboard). An absolutely amazingly useful, chunky little device with a super keyboard, an unusually good camera for the time, and an actual shutter button for it. I'd have used that phone for a couple of years longer had the ambient light sensor not failed. Hard to use a phone that doesn't turn off the touchscreen when it's pressed against your ear.

knallfrosch 2y ago
I tolerate iOS to get the iphone 13 mini's form factor.
dTal 2y ago
I second the Sony Xperia Mini Pro as the best phone ever. I replaced mine enough times that my jeans pockets all had silhouettes worn into them.

manbash 2y ago

I am surprised by the lack of eSIM option, which unfortunately is a dealbreaker for me. :(

miika 2y ago

This Jelly thing is the first Android phone that makes me think about switching from iPhone to Android. I have been waiting for iPhone Nano for years. At this time Apple could make absolutely amazing mini phone if they wanted. Imagine something like two Apple Watches put together. UI could be something similar to Watch OS with only the essentials, maybe with a bit more capabilities. Now I'm hopeful as Apple discontinued iPhone mini. To be honest 12/13 mini was OK but it was too close to SE and it didn't really deliver the promise of a small phone. It was good but not inspiring or super exciting. I think they should try to blow us away with something really small and innovative. Meanwhile I'm going to try Jelly Star as secondary phone. I was surprised how good it was, being full Android phone in a small size. Even typing with such a small keyboard worked surprisingly well.

OkGoDoIt 2y ago
The diagonal size is impressively small, but it’s crazy thick. It’s more than 1.8cm thick! In their images it’s nearly as thick as a roll of film which is just absurd. I’d love a small phone and I’m willing to compromise a bit on it being thicker than the average iPhone, but this thing looks insane.
- bandyaboot 2y ago
  For a small device like this, I don’t think I’d want it to be thinner. Thick and rounded like this just seems like it would be the most comfortable design for using with one hand.
sulandor 2y ago
> I think they should try to blow us away with something really small and innovative. absolutely! give me back a phone that easily fits in pockets and doesn't pull my shorts down; it's doable.

rtpg 2y ago

For people worried about the keyboard typing, I've been very curious about the Titan Pocket as an alternative option. Square screen (fun!), "real" keybaord... the biggest problem seeming to be that the keyboard is intentionally a bit weird in the layout to avoid dealing with Blackberry ...design patents I think https://www.unihertz.com/products/titan-pocket https://www.unihertz.com/products/titan-pocket As a former iPhone 12 mini user (whose spouse is on their second one because the other phones are getting too big)... I don't need the screen to be tiny but I legit wonder what people with smaller hands/pockets/whatever are going to do.

oinj 2y ago
I wrote an input service to improve the keyboard of the Titan Pocket[1], it's quite good for writing things. I've since sold it and tried a Jelly Star, which I returned. The Titan Pocket is a nice phone, a bit too big and too heavy for me, but like most of the Unihertz offering the major pain point is that the stock firmware is old and not to be trusted, and the community-driven LineageOS alternatives are flimsy and incomplete. This is also due to Unihertz and Mediatek not doing their part and releasing the relevant source code or documentation for specific drivers/services. There is a small community with a few dedicated members but it's a bit of an uphill battle. [1] https://github.com/oin/titanpocketkeyboard https://github.com/oin/titanpocketkeyboard

deafpolygon 2y ago

I like this. The only things I really use on my phone is the camera, gps and music. Occasionally, I'll check things on the web- but often, I will wait with that until I can sit down at my desk. Unforunately, I'm somewhat involuntarily locked into the Apple "app ecosystem".

sickmartian 2y ago

Why offer a crappy default Spanish translation when you can just not? - The name of the product is broken "Jelly Star Estrella" instead of Jelly Star - "Descubrir Jelly Star Estrella" instead of "Descubre Jelly Star" - "Jelly Star Estrella Presenta un diseño" consistently uppercasing the first word disregarding their product name in the sentence - "Jelly Star EstrellaLa luz LED" or just not leaving spaces - "Aparece en dos colores" instead of "Disponible en dos colores" I got tired reading an IA generated translation not reviewed by one single human that spoke the language, that went through some quick copy and paste. Concept looks cool, I just can't trust them on quality.

craftoman 2y ago

I don’t think the latest Android is designed for 2000mAh phones. Maybe Android 4 or lower could theoretically work better with this capacity range.

butz 2y ago

Recent Android versions are not very well suited for such small screens. But if it is possible to make such small phone, why not to settle on more reasonable phone size of about 4 inches?

sulandor 2y ago
or get rid of all the whitespace that's been creeping up since mobile took over. dense interfaces are a sign of strong character

buro9 2y ago

This makes a great, capable, burner phone for traveling to high risk countries. The low price, decent performance, small package is perfect for travel and you wouldn't have to worry if it was lost or stolen if you only load up minimal things in there and it doesn't have all your banking apps, etc.

alzamos 2y ago

I recently got this phone, and it really sparked joy. It does everything I need to function in 2024 (messaging people, navigating cities, managing tickets, NFC payments etc), while not tempting me into the dark/addictive side of smartphones. Only problem is mine seems to be defective. After some time of usage everything hangs and I need to restart it, sometimes 4-5 times a day. Other people I know don’t have the issue. Luckily they’re cheap!

superb-owl 2y ago

There’s a new model on the way, with better specs: Jelly Max I have an original Jelly and I love it. Highly recommend getting a tiny smartphone if you want to minimize your screen time

darthrupert 2y ago

Unihertz is a chinese company which might be fine if I could replace the OS. But seems like there are no official LineageOS versions for this. Other than that, this phone looks very nice.

taraparo 2y ago

esp. for such a small device a better screen to body ratio would be desirable.

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