26 Mar 2026
I have dabbled with dumbphones over the past few years. I did so out of a desire to be in the world but not of the world. I want to cultivate a sense of semi-monastic apatheia, a disconnection from the world's comings and goings. To do so without becoming a shut-in is an exercise in balancing connectivity with convenience. Unfortunately, my day-to-day life seems to balance on my being in-touch with others. I will eventually write a magnum opus summarizing all that I think about dumbphones (feature phones), but today's discussion will center on a full smartphone in a non-traditional form-factor.
My goal in switching from my regular smartphone (a OnePlus 13) to this Titan II in December was to become detached without being delusional and impractical. Unfortunately, there's a particular word for it on the tip of my tongue, but it's not coming to mind. I feel still and felt that I used my phone too much. When I instinctively reach to anything it is no longer I who am in control but rather it which controls me. Nor do I like that I crave stimulation while driving or while idle. Becoming aware of how Big Tech uses psychological manipulation and falling prey to it on Youtube and Reddit (accursed be them!) lead me to distance myself from those two platforms. The entry point that frequently put myself in temptation's way is (and was) my phone. And knowing how much data was being collected with my tacit consent (who bothers reading the user agreements anyways?) for monetary gain frustrated me and compelled me to find a better way of life than to be a data-generator for Google and for Apple.
I have toyed with dumbphones before, but after an incident where my phone was off and my family tried to reach me I was persuaded that my familial expectations of connectivity and my own needed to compromise and realign. I thus switched back to the OnePlus. In my search for minimalism, though, I continued to scroll the /r/dumbphones and /r/digitalminimalism subreddits. Hindsight being what it is, perhaps the easiest path to achieving minimalism and a satisfying relationship with my phone is to interact with neither of those subforums. Yet in my perusing thereof, I stumbled on the idea that a full smartphone in an abnormal form-factor might be a better compromise. The one that comes up in these discussions over and over again is the Cat S22, which is a flip phone that runs full Android (and has a touchscreen, too, if I recall correctly). Unfortunately it is no longer supported by the manufacturer and is stuck on Android 12. Sticking with such an out-of-date OS is a security compromise I am not willing to make, so I began searching for alternatives. I came across Unihertz.
Unihertz' lineup focuses on nontraditional features. One model has a ginormous battery (and a projector?!). Another is exceptionally rugged and has a flashlight. Others are comically small in the name of making it less appealing to scroll.
If only the Jelly Max were the size of the Jelly Star!
I would try them, I suppose, because of their nontraditional features. But seeing the Titan II and inspired by their Jelly series, I began brewing the theory that the Titan II's form-factor would be just enough friction to make disconnecting easier and to no longer impulsively browse or scroll or update.
The Unihertz Titan II currently runs Android 16 (Unihertz' mostly vanilla flavor). It is entirely a smartphone, and any attempts to divert or lessen that fact obscure the true nature of the device.
The phone stands out by having a hardware keyboard at the bottom of the 1:1 aspect screen. Many people who've seen it say it's just like a Blackberry --a Blackberry that runs Android, that's how I explain it to them. Hardware-wise, it emulates the Blackberry Passport. In fact, a rumor that the screen is the same one as in the Passport made its rounds around the Unihertz subreddit. It's an eye-catching device, supposedly because there are none like it nowadays. If you buy it prepare for many people to remark about it.
The device is an entirely cromulent smartphone. It does everything more-or-less well.
It has adequate processing power for everyday apps. I never pushed it to the limit (and prefer to do my gaming on other devices) but it handled email and web browsing like a charm. I did notice some temperature increases in some doomscrolling sessions (more on doomscrolling on the Titan II below).
My frame of reference of Android devices ranges from the $100 piece-of-junk that I bought many moons ago while waiting the few weeks for my iPhone's screen to get repaired to a few flagship-level devices (Motorola Razr+, an S22 and the eventual OP12 and OP13 that I settled on). The Titan II leans closer to the flagship side of that spectrum.
The 1:1 aspect ratio screen has a decent color tone. When watching videos fullscreen is equivalent whether the phone is horizontal or vertical.
It has an IR blaster! Cool! Makes sports bars a little more entertaining when I can change the channel at will. Don't worry, though, I have not trolled too hard with it.
Typing on hardware, though I am slower at it, is inherently more satisfying.
The Titan II is an entirely cromulent smartphone. My plans to use it less are foiled with it.
It lacks wireless charging. This isn't a terrible omission but I do find myself missing it in my car.
Its NFC coils are weaker than expected. I have to be very precise where I hold it for tap-to-pay.
The touchscreen seems to be getting less precise as I use the phone. Perhaps it's that my cuticles are FUBAR, or the many nicks on my fingers, but I'm noticing enough undetected taps and missed touches to be annoyed.
The Bluetooth antenna seems to be rather weak. I often get a "Could not connect to device 08:XX:XX:A3" message, but that goes away when I reboot the phone. To unlock my car with the phone's Bluetooth, I need to put my hip on the door pillar. Entertaining, to say the least.
The software is not super polished. I knew that going in, but it is worth mentioning here. The IR-blaster app included contains ads. And I find that the autocorrect on the default keyboard app needs love. And perhaps some caffeine.
Its default launcher is unremarkable. In the spirit of this experiment, I swapped over to the Before launcher.
Unihertz decided to remove the headphone jack and the expandable storage from the original Titan. These would've been fantastic additions onto it. Purportedly the new Elite version (announced this month) will have both of these with a smaller form factor.
Speaking of form factor, it's unwieldy. It's not entirely unmanageable, but it's fairly chunky. One-handing it is challenging. It manages to fit in my pockets, for the most part, but I'm blessed with spacious pockets. If portability is a concern, the Titan II is not ideal.
The keyboard layout has the modifier keys on the top row with the QWERTY keyboard on the next three rows. It's a little awkward to start with, but I adjusted to it. Typing with only one hand is very difficult on the Titan II. And the number pad layout is mirrored from the standard ten-key number pad layout.
The secondary screen on the back, while cool, is entirely superfluous. I found it difficult to control (and it could be user error) and in the four months I've had it I have not desired to use the secondary screen more than once to test it out.
The abnormal aspect ratio leads to just a few apps to misbehavior. I was expecting many more, but app developers have done well planning for it. It does have mini-mode, where it emulates having a more traditional aspect ratio.
It is a traditional smartphone, for better and for worse. I have not come across a situation where I've been unable to participate in normal life. During my dumbphone days, if I had to scan a QR code for a menu or something, I'd have to rely on others; I did not have to do this with the Titan II.
After the months of using it, it is apparent that my hypothesis of this form-factor fixing my impulsive media consumption is not correct. Lest I be misunderstood, this device is no different from your Samsungs and Pixels and iPhones with regards to its potential for addictive behavior. It is a smartphone with a prosthetic keyboard, plain and simple. To Unihertz' credit, it is not a bad one, nor was it marketed in a deceiving manner. But it will not help you with self control or screen addiction.
The Titan II is too useful for its own good. It does not inhibit me from getting sucked into the scroll vortex. Unihertz have yet again made a smartphone.
Will I stick with it? Probably not. But it's hanging on because I don't seem to have the time or motivation to migrate back to the OP13. It seems I never have time nowadays.
What of it, then? Who is it for? Most of the people who said that they'd buy something like it were sixty-something men longing for the olden days. And people like me who like to optimize their tech use (often to their own detriment).
Why do I incline to buying something to fix my problems? It's frustrating that my initial impulse to resolve whatever problem is to buy something. I suppose it's easier to do than to change my behavior or habits. And buying stuff gives you the feeling of having made an effort to fix the situation.
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