UnihertzAtom - The World's Smallest 4G Rugged Smartphone with Android 9.0 Pie, Unlocked, 4GB RAM, and 64GB ROM, Water-Resistant and dustproof(NO charger)

I bought this to try and reduce my use of social media, and will be reviewing this phone in that context.It has cut my social media use down consiserably. The screen is so small it's unpleasant to browse (especially Facebook) and I feel considerably less existential despair.Typing is a bit of a pain with such a tiny screen, so I've switched to using voice to text. Again, this is a plus for me as I'm spending less time on my phone but it is an annoyance.Phone itself has survived several drops and being hung up under a soaking wet life jacket. I haven't dropped it in the sea yet, but will update when that inevitably happens (might be a river but it will get submerged eventually!)I've been able to install and use both of my banking apps, audible, spotify, messenger, whatsapp, and my phone provider app. It is slow, but again that os a plus as I'm trying to use my phone less.Works fine with via bluetooth with both my car and headphones.Camera isn't great but it's sufficient for photographing receipts for expenses and the odd landscape.The battery life could be better; if I listen to music at work it won't last the whole day without a charge. But if I'm not actively using it I get a couple of days out of it. So, acceptable.Overall, as a not-quite dumb phone it works really well and I'm very happy with it.

The Unihertz Atom is a pocket marvel, as it manages to have the function of a capable smartphone in a tiny form factor. You get a great, pocketable device that has good performance. 4gb of ram and a helio p23 processor make this device very snappy. Because the screen is so small (about 2.4") it doesn't need a lot of processing power to render the pixels on screen.Everything works as it should, the phone is running android oreo, so is fairly up to date. It has 64gb storage (no micro SD card support sadly, but the 64gb is nice in this price range). The phone is running virtually stock android, with a few additional apps added by Unihertz, which are ideal for outdoor working or activities (It is a rugged phone after all).The phone has a 2000mah battery. This battery while not amazing, should get you through a day and possibly two or more days if you are a frugal user. The most I managed was 4 days, but that requires you to switch off a lot of background apps and put the phone in battery saver mode and airplane mode overnight. Over two days with moderate to heavy usage I was able to get about 6 hours screen on time. The battery was down to about 8% at that point. The problem is the phone loses a fair bit of charge in standby. You can mitigate this by turning WiFi and/or mobile data off when you're not using it and turning on the battery saver. Overall I think the battery life is decent especially considering the battery capacity. It also charges quite quickly. At just over an hour for me from 15%-100% using the supplied charger. (I didn't get a three pin adapter with the phone, but bought a 3 pin travel adapter that works fine.)The camera is probably the phone's weakest point, although I use it all the time. You can get quite decent pictures from the camera in good light. It's also quite fast at taking the picture. HDR mode really helps with landscape shots, making the colours pop. Or you can use your favourite image editing app to adjust the colours later. I use Snapseed for this. The camera sometimes has a focusing issue where the picture or video looks blurry. When this happens it best to re-adjust the angle until the image in the camera viewer looks clearer. Low light images are not great so avoid taking pictures in these conditions if you can. You also need to try and keep your hands steady as it will blur the picture otherwise.Video can also can good as long as the lighting is sufficient and you check for any blurry focusing issues. The biggest problem with capturing video is the lack of image stabilization, so you will need steady hands to avoid a jerky video. If the video isn't too shaky, you can improve it by using the stabilise feature in the Google Photos app.Despite the camera's faults, because of the phone's small size, it is convenient to take out of your pocket and take a quick photo or video at a moment's notice. I don't think the camera is terrible, because you can get some really nice pictures. It's just getting used to the quirks. (See some of my pictures attached)The rear mounted speaker on this phone is actually quite loud. I was surprised how loud it goes! It can sound a bit tinny at high volumes, but you should have no problem hearing it in noisy environments. The phone also has a headphone jack which is very useful if you only have wired headphones or require an aux connection to a speaker or car sound system.Phone calls sounded clear enough to me and WiFi is generally reliable. The phone is 4g capable and works well for me using an ee SIM. I did notice the phone heats up quite a bit when using mobile data for a while, so you might want to be careful leaving mobile data enabled for long periods.Gaming is certainly possible on this phone, but the tiny screen makes it very hard to play games effectively. I stick to the ones requiring few onscreen controls. Crashy Cats is one I play a lot and while it is a bit harder to see what's going on, you do get used to it.The keyboard is also tiny, so expect to make a few typos when using it. You do get used to it with time, or you can use swipe gesture keyboard controls or even voice controls using the Google assistant. It might also help you to put the phone in landscape mode while typing, as the keys will be spaced wider apart.Fingerprint and face unlock are the two main security methods. I have set up both. The fingerprint scanner is great when it works, but often doesn't, I think because it just too small for your finger. I use my thumbs to unlock and the successe rate is about 6/10. Face unlock is quite reliable, but the default use requires you to first press the power button and then look at the screen to unlock. You can't unlock the phone when the display is off using this method, whereas you can with the fingerprint sensor.I like the fact that the phone has notification LEDs. You can change these in the settings and have a red, blue or green light for different notifications. I found that really useful.Overall I think this phone is great. It's unique. People are always asking me about it and are amazed when I show them it is actually a fully featured smartphone and not just a regular phone. It's the perfect phone to take out and about with you. I wouldn't have this as my only device, because sometimes you just need a bigger screen to get work done. I imagine it would be a great little portable MP3 player for someone to take to the gym. The phone feels quite tough (it has a glass screen though, so you still want to be careful) but it feels quite grippy as well.If you are looking for something different and like tiny phones, you should definitely consider the Unihertz Atom.**EDIT - An update to android 9.0 (Pie) is now available for the Atom. This update brings a few improvements, including a slightly better battery life, new notifications menu and the video camera now has EIS as an option, which greatly improves video stabilization. **

This is great for my needs. I've been resisting having a smartphone for years because a) they're massive and I can't be bothered carrying one and b) I know I'll end up scrolling endless nonsense and wasting hours. The Atom is tiny and fits in all my pockets with ease; it does everything any other smartphone can do so is great for messaging, maps, checking emails etc. But it is quite a faff to use so I've not been tempted to do any casual browsing. Keyboard is fiddly but predictive text does most of the work for you. I get 2-3 days out of the battery depending on use, but I have turned the brightness down, battery saver settings on, and I switch the phone off at night. Camera is fine for snapping this and that, probably not going to win any photograohy prizes with it.The only thing that's really annoyed me is that once every few days, it shuts down for seemingly no reason whatsoever and has to be manually restarted. So if you're waiting for a life-changing call, maybe don't trust the Atom to be there for you! (Or just keep a really close eye on it)