Unihertz Jelly 2E mini phone with 3-inch display (review)

Review unit provided by Unihertz

Unihertz has just launched the Jelly 2E mini Android 12 phone in November 2022 as a follow up to Jelly 2 which was released in 2020 at US $199 (now $179).

From the specs provided, the Jelly 2E seems more of a variation than an upgrade. Below are the main changes:

• RAM from 6GB to 4GB
• Storage from 128GB to 64GB
• MediaTek P60 chip (8 x 2Ghz) to A20 chip (4 x 1.8Ghz)

And these are the prices:

• Regular retail price: US $169
• Early bird price (1 - 7 Nov 2022): $139 with coupon code
• Pre-sale price (Nov 8 onwards): $159

The earlier Jelly 2 is already considered a budget phone. And Unihertz has decided to make it even more affordable by reducing RAM, storage capacity and processing power.

Bottom line

I've been using the Jelly 2E for a week before the official launch date of 1 Nov 2022 and my wife and I are quite impressed by the phone.

Unihertz could have improved the specs of Jelly 2 and charged the same or higher price. But they went with lesser specs and reduced the price of the phone.

I'm not sure if having better specs would actually translated to better usability. Ask yourself this question. What if this phone has the best phone processor currently? What can you do with that much power on this small phone? Play Genshin Impact on a 3-inch phone?

Actually after finding out that Jelly 2 has better specs, I'm even more impressed by Jelly 2E. MediaTek P60 may be two times more powerful than the A20 chip, but in real world usage the Jelly 2E is still responsive and does not lag. Unihertz may sell the Jelly 2 alongside Jelly 2E for people who think they need a phone with better specs. Jelly 2 just needs to be updated to Android 12.

The company did a good job with Jelly 2E. It's a decent looking phone with good battery life, responsive and works well. The main selling point is portability. The secondary selling point is the 3-inch screen is so small that you'll be less tempted use the phone much for watching shows, social media or other non-productive things you enjoy doing with a larger screen.

This is budget phone so you have to dial back your expectations. Any downside, limitation or missing feature can be excused with "but the phone is just $169".

Things included in the box:

• Phone
• Landyard
• Transparent silicone case
• USB-C to USB-A cable
• Quick start guide
• SIM ejection tool

Design

That's how small the phone is compared to the 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch iPhones. The dimensions are 4.8cm x 9.3cm x 1.6cm. Weight is 110g.

The phone is about the size of a credit card, just less wide and slightly taller, of course much thicker.

The included transparent silicone case is quite thick and provides good protection against drops. A screen protector is already applied.

The 3-inch LCD display has a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels with 326 PPI. This display is bright, has good colours and is sharp with no noticeable pixelation.

The front camera is 12MP. Image quality is alright (budget-phone standard) with good light. I wasn't expecting much.

Call quality has decent clarity.

On the back is a 16MP camera and fingerprint sensor. Fingerprint unlock may sometimes take a few tries. There's face unlock but that's also not instant. But you can use fingerprint and face unlock together to have a higher chance of unlocking faster.

Photo quality is decent with good light. Click for a larger view.

Colours from the camera look good.

Volume buttons are on the left.

On the right are power button, customisable shortcut button (red), dual SIM tray and USB-C charging port.

The USB-C charging port on the right side so it's not easy to use the phone while charging. It's not a big issue though. Battery capacity is 2000 mAh.

By default, holding the shortcut button will activate flash light, and double click will create a screen shot.

The dual SIM tray can hold a combination of nano SIM and micro SD card. So even though the phone only has 64GB storage capacity, you can expand storage easily with a micro SD card.

The downward facing speakers are surprisingly loud. The ring tone can be heard even in crowded noisy environments.

At the top is a 3.5mm audio jack and infrared.

This phone unfortunately does not have NFC.

The phone is lightweight, portable and comfortable in hand and in pocket.

Battery life is about 5+ hours at maximum brightness.

Usability of a small screen

I'm surprised at how good Android 12 and most apps work on such a small display.

On the home screen, you can have up to 12 apps including the 3 at the dock. Widgets can also be added.

Beneath the display are the three classic Android buttons, Back, Home and Tasks.

Swipe down once from the home screen for quick settings, and swipe twice for more settings. Swipe up from the home screen for the app drawer.

Many of the apps I used are optimised well for such a small display that's only 480 pixels wide. Apps run smooth. The apps that lag are gaming apps but you probably can guess that already.

I tried shopping apps, ride hailing apps, social media apps, Youtube, Amazon Prime and their layout and navigation work well on small displays.

Ultimately how well apps or webpages look and work will depend on the developers.

Images are obviously small on a small display, so at times it can be difficult to see details. But all visuals are sharp due to the 326PPI.

The main usability issue comes down to how difficult it is to type on such a small keyboard. Typing the wrong letter is common. That's just the compromise with a display this small.

The alternative is to use voice with Google Assistant to get things done.

Videos play fine. 16:9 videos will have no black bars. Audio quality is good.

Gaming is possible with simple games. This phone obviously will struggle with games that have intensive 3D graphics.

It may be difficult to see details while gaming on such a small display. It's also difficult to work the controls with fingers that block a big portion of the display.

The other advantage beside portability

Due to the small display, it's not as satisfying to use the apps and hence would lead you using the phone less often.

This phone is great for those who want to cut down on their phone usage, prevent social media or video game addiction, mindless scrolling or doomscrolling. This is a phone that can help you be more present in your life. If you want to pass time while commuting you can use wired or Bluetooth wireless earphones.

The 5+ hours battery life is enough to last the whole day because you're unlikely to use this phone for long periods of time due to the small display.

And due to the affordability of the phone, I probably won't feel much pain if I drop it, lose it or if there are scratches on it. This is an inexpensive phone to replace.

This is a cute phone that's an instant conversation starter the moment others see how small it is.

The regular price of US $169 seems reasonable to me. If you can get it even cheaper that's even better. Don't miss the $139 early bird sale from 1 to 7 Nov 2022 if you happen to be in the market for a small phone.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Simple good looking design
+ Reasonable build quality from plastic body
+ Silicone case included
+ Small, portable, 110g
+ 3-inch display with good colours, brightness and sharpness
+ Small display makes it less tempting to use the phone excessively
+ Loud audio
+ 3.5mm audio jack included
+ Fast charging
+ Stock Android 12
+ Android OS and more popular apps work well even on such a small display
+ Overall performance is smooth without lag
+ Dual nano-SIM with microSD card support
+ Customisable shortcut button
+ Battery life of 5+ hours enough for a whole day of use
+ USB-C charging is fast as battery capacity is small (2000 mAh)
+ Attractive pricing
- No NFC
- Small keyboard not easy to work with
- Not all apps will work or display well on a small screen
- Not sure how smooth future Android OS will run with the MediaTek A20 chip and 4GB RAM.

Availability

You can get this phone from Unihertz online store.

Early bird price from 1 - 7 Nov 2022 is $139 (with coupon code provided from their newsletter).

Pre-sale price from Nov 8 onwards is US $159.

Regular retail price is US $169.