A few years back I tried out out the large Unihertz Titan smartphone with a very significant actual physical QWERTY keyboard. I liked the BlackBerry Passport, but the Titan was just as well significant for me to carry daily and use it to get function completed on a regular basis.
For the earlier couple of weeks, I have been carrying an early prototype of the Unihertz Titan Pocket, a substantially lesser variation of the Titan that continue to has a actual physical QWERTY keyboard and rugged design and style. It can be obtainable on Kickstarter for yet another couple of weeks for $221 or $399 for two of them, with programs to ship the cell phone in September 2021.
Also: Unihertz Jelly 2. assessment: Very small Android 10 smartphone packs a punch
The Titan Pocket is the sixth cell phone introduced on Kickstarter by Unihertz and I have experienced the prospect to take a look at out the last 5. The phones are affordably priced, even outdoors of the Kickstarter specific gives, and focus on market segments of the smartphone sector. Every single a person has far exceeded the modest Kickstarter goals and with the Titan Pocket we see there is now additional than three,000 backers with pledges just about achieving $seven hundred,000 (at the time of publishing this article).
Requirements
- Processor: MediaTek Helio P70
- Display: three.one-inches 716×720 pixels resolution TFT Lcd, Gorilla Glass
- Running method: Android eleven
- RAM: 6GB
- Storage: 128GB interior storage with microSD assist
- Cameras: 16-megapixel rear digicam and 8-megapixel front-facing digicam
- Wireless technological know-how: 802.eleven a/b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth four.2, NFC, GPS/BEIDOU/GLONASS, FM radio, infrared
- Sensors: Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, ambient gentle, barometer, and compass
- Battery: four,000mAh non-detachable
- Proportions: 132.five x 73.2 x 16.8mm and 216 grams
Hardware
The Unihertz Titan Pocket reminds me of a thick BlackBerry Daring with its compact actual physical QWERTY keyboard and square screen. The QWERTY keyboard is clearly a focus of this new cell phone and it has a couple superior characteristics, but also a couple annoyances. There are 4 rows present on the keyboard with the top row for change, symbol, and other Android control keys.
The central fingerprint sensor is fantastic, there is superior tactile come to feel to the keyboard, you can swipe up and down on the keyboard to scroll through long pages of text and facts, and you can make customized shortcuts throughout all the keys for applications and other functions. I’m not a admirer of the far higher left change critical or the small house bar, but total the keyboard is rather able.
Setting up at the front, we have the three.one-inch Lcd display, which is rather compact in modern earth of large phones. My getting older eyes struggle to see some of the fonts on the screen and it’s just as well compact for this fifty two-calendar year aged. The hues glance fantastic on the screen and it’s shiny more than enough for any lights condition. The square layout presents a constrained total of facts, these types of as three.five email messages in Gmail on a person display.
The headset speaker and front-facing 8MP digicam are over the screen. A regular three.5mm headset jack is uncovered on the top upcoming to an IR port. There is software program incorporated on the cell phone so you can manipulate remote controls for different digital goods. The USB-C port is on the base of the cell phone.
The quantity buttons are is positioned on the higher left facet with the microSD/SIM card tray beneath these two buttons. A electricity button and customizable pink critical are found on the higher suitable facet. There is a utility to customized a push and a push and maintain of this button.
The mono speaker fires out of the lessen again, adjacent to the aluminum again panel. The 16-megapixel digicam is uncovered centered at the top of the again with a flash to the suitable of the digicam.
The cameras executed fantastic with timelapse, video clip, image, and guide modes obtainable. There is no portrait mode assist and the pics don’t have highly developed creative aspects. The cell phone is not created for gorgeous pictures, but when you are out and about it will assistance you seize your environment.
Also: Unihertz Titan to start with impressions: Significant, rugged, long-long lasting, QWERTY Android cell phone
Program
The Unihertz Titan Pocket launches with Android eleven out of the box and the prototype I tested has an April five, 2021, Android security update set up. Obtain the cell phone with the software program it launches with due to the fact I have not witnessed substantial updates offered by Unihertz and it’s greatest not to count on updates that are unlikely to appear at a later on day.
The cell phone operates a rather stock variation of Android. The Google Find page is obtainable when you swipe all the way from left to suitable to the to start with panel, a lot like a Pixel cell phone.
In addition to the Google basic principles these types of as calculator, calendar, digicam, Chrome, Gmail, Maps, Messages, and additional, you get a couple applications from Unihertz. These contain a file supervisor, FM radio, IR remote control app, tunes player, NoteBook, audio recorder, and Toolbox.
The Toolbox is entire of useful utilities that enrich the features of the cell phone. The equipment in the Toolbox contain a audio meter, compass, flashlight, bubble degree, image hanger instrument, coronary heart charge keep track of, top measuring utility, magnifier, pedometer, speedometer, alarm, plumb bob, and protractor. It can be awesome to see the digicam employed with some of these equipment to present an augmented reality encounter that presents you with a system for precise measurements.
The residence display supports widespread app widgets as well so you can personalize your Android encounter. The Fast Controls part from the notification shade can also be tailored to your individual tastes.
Also: Unihertz Atom XL fingers-on: 4-inch screen, 48MP digicam, and DMR assist for less than $330
Preliminary usage ordeals
The Unihertz Titan Pocket may perhaps attractiveness to critical BlackBerry Curve or Daring admirers who want a related sort variable with modern-day Android. It can be a very effectively manufactured cell phone with some degree of fall protection, not specified, but no degree of dust or water resistance. Even however it feels like a tank, don’t choose it out in significant rain or fall it in a puddle. The larger sized Titan did have an IP67 rating and I just about took the Titan Pocket into the river fly fishing with me last 7 days in advance of I checked on the specs.
In general, the keyboard is effectively completed with superior spacing and tactile efficiency. The means to swipe up and down the keyboard, like a mouse pad, and also make a broad number of shortcuts with the keys can be fantastic for efficiency and efficiency.
The Titan Pocket is constructed to get function completed and is not a gaming or multimedia machine. Films participate in effectively and tunes appears superior from the rear speaker, but function will come to start with on this cell phone. Talking of function, the compact screen is the main purpose I cannot use this cell phone as my daily driver. Perhaps twenty years back when my eyes had been a lot greater, but not these days.
I want to expend additional time with it to take a look at the battery, but 4000 mAh on a cell phone of this sizing has so far revealed to last at the very least a couple of days without having charging. The cameras on the cell phone are not that fantastic so don’t count on capturing any award profitable shots with the Titan Pocket.
If you love QWERTY keyboards and expend a whole lot of time messaging people then you may perhaps love the Titan Pocket. Even however it is a lesser cell phone, the thickness and excess weight continue to make two-handed use the greatest strategy to applying the cell phone.