Review: Unihertz Jelly Star: Miniaturized Maker Mobile

Manufacturer: Unihertz

Kickstarter Campaign

Price: $170

Unihertz Jelly Star: Miniaturized Mobile Maker?

I remember my first phone: it was transparent blue, and it…was plugged into the wall. But once things got a little more mobile, I was also very excited about the innovation in this space - I fondly remember when phones shrank and shrank, most delightfully realized in a tiny Sony cell that was just a small square with a flip-up mic so it might actually have a chance of covering the distance between your ear and your mouth. Current phones, however, offer very few distinguishing features – most flagships are seamless dark slabs, indistinguishable from the previous generation or uninspired offerings from competitors. As such, I'm always on the lookout for something different. That's why Unihertz's latest small phone, the Jelly Star, immediately caught my eye.

As mentioned, I've always been drawn to small devices - my Palm (the 2018 model PVG100, not the original PDA!) has always turned heads with its small size of less 4×2 inches, and while it was marketed as "a phone for your phone", I was able to use it as my main device once I added an optional battery box to give it some legs slightly longer. Then I came across crowdfunding campaign Jelly 2, which promised a similar credit card-sized device, but with a much larger battery and other features not commonly found, even on much larger modern flagships. Pairing my Planet Computers keyboard-adorned Cosmo Communicator with the Jelly 2 once it arrived gave me the best of both worlds: a giant phone I could type on when I wanted to do things, and a phone I barely noticed in my pocket when I didn't. The Jelly Star is the next generation of the Jelly series, stepping up the specs of the 2, while adding a seriously exciting party trick that I've never seen on any other device.

Throwing back in nostalgia for a moment, I remember when phones were amazing multi-tools that let you do a huge range of things, like listen to FM radio, connect to external speakers and control your TV and other infrared devices. Features like the 3.5mm jack and the IR blaster have fallen in the race to make phones as thin as possible, but somehow the smallest Android 13 phone of them all manages to cram them all, plus two SIM slots and the ability to expand storage with a microSD card. It has all the features expected of a full-size phone in 2023, including an Octa-Core 6nm MediaTek Helio G99 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of inbuilt storage, a 48MP camera and a 2000mAh battery, which lasted for several days of testing.

In addition to all the other brilliant gadgets, the Jelly Star has a really cool feature that I haven't seen from any other manufacturer. As well as being transparent, like those glorious devices from the 90s, it has two large LEDs that span most of the rear of the device, which can be used to indicate incoming calls and notifications. , as well as for viewing music and reminding that the device needs to be recharged. While the amount of light isn't unlike the "flashlight" provided by a typical phone's camera flash, it's much more diffused and pleasing, and is really well integrated into the phone's functionality .

With a few weeks of hands-on work, I really came to appreciate the rare features of this little wonder. For starters, it fits in that little pocket in your jeans that I don't really know what it's for, which makes it look like it's not even there most of the time, and that's just the way it is. .