Go and check the link, but essentially:
- small
- 2023 release (Android 13)
- HEADPHONE JACK (I was almost sold here)
- NFC
- 8GB RAM (that is powerful)
- 256 GB internal storage
- Dual SIM or SIM+MicroSD
- IR BLASTER (whatttttttt)
- LED indicators (front AND BACK)
- fingerprint scanner
- face ID
- FM Radio
- PROGRAMMABLE BUTTON (ok I’m in love already STOPPP)
I mean… this list is mindblowing. So…
What’s the downside?
Honestly, you can go and check all reviews… but this phone is virtually perfect for the size, the only issue I have is that the screen is a bit too tiny, 3 inches, and 480p, and I think this will make many people run away.
It should make me look elsewhere also… but where? Any other small phone with a bigger screen is pretty bad, old, etc… and I really needed a new phone, so I realised this was an opportunity to commit to the cause, and buy and hopefully push this form factor from Unihertz to mainstream brands.
Hopefully one day we can get one with a slightly bigger screen, I believe 4 inches and 1080p would be brutal. But for now… I think I’ve found my new phone. In fact, I bought it 3 hours after knowing its existance.
If you are not sold yet…
Go check reviews on YouTube (example). Honestly, you’ll see every reviewer falls in love with the device, even non-small phone lovers. It looks like it performs pretty well, it’s decently fast, battery is solid, screen is bright and colorful, the LEDs are really useful, even Face ID (which I’ll probably disable) is quick, it does not heat up at all, and even photos are pretty decent…
And it’s something like 200 $. Come on. What a deal.
Will report back.
4G is here to stay for a long while. It’s fast enough for 99% of cases and 5G only covers very small areas, and will only be used (at least for now) on crowded areas where it makes sense.
Also, this device has 480p screen… I think 4G is pretty fine.
As 5G rolls out and takes on more users, more airtime will be used for providing 5G users with extra range. The 5G spec doesn’t just increase speed, it also increases the amount of phones a single tower can handle without reducing range. Smart carriers will switch frequencies over to 5G as soon as the are has enough customers in a given area to warrant the minor cost.
4G users will slowly lose range and speed over the coming years. 4G will be usable, but it’ll get worse. Not only that, but the amount of 4G bands available will also decrease over time, which is especially tricky with phones like these that already come with very few supported 4G bands in the first place.
You’ll have plenty of fun with just 4G on this thing, but it definitely is a bummer. I would not be buying a 4G-only phone, even if I’ll probably turn off 5G to reduce power consumption.
I don’t think 4G will get outdated in the next 5 years considering that 4G devices are still being launched today… And also considering that most people are just connected to Wi-Fi anyways…
I think we can be fine with this phone for 4/5 years and the Jelly Star 5G will probably be out there when the time comes.
5G covers the same area as 4G on a given frequency. They’re ostensibly the same technology on the air interface. The original name of 5G was “LTE2” in fact. Carriers are moving to 5G standalone where all voice, text, data are on 5G. In the US, T-Mobile has 5G on their band 71, which is 600MHz, likewise AT&T runs 5G on their 850MHz band. These bands can reach many miles away from a cell site. I regularly have seen a 5G connection to a site 8 miles away from me, for example.
The coverage will be practically the same as 4G, but slightly worse than 3G. (Which was also true for 4G.)
Carriers will likely do a slow roll over the next 5-10 years migrating 4G bands to 5G until only one or two are left on 4G for legacy devices. Not really an if, as much as a when.
Here in Germany two out of three mobile networks have almost full 5G coverage. 3G is already mostly dead. 4G will stay for a little longer but it’ll be replaced by 5G entirely, as soon as the carriers deem it financially worthwhile to ditch the older tech.