There’s a homogeneity to modern phone releases. Companies compete more with specs and software than with creative physical designs. Fortunately, if you want something other than another glass slab, there’s more experimentation going on than you might think!
6Minimal Phone
Some minimalist phones combat phone addiction and the attention economy by offering only a few basic features. Some are merely dumb phones, while others incorporate at least a few smart phone features.
The Minimal Phone takes a different approach. Here is a phone marketed as a minimalist solution that happens to be a full-featured smartphone. What’s different about it? If has a black-and-white E Ink display. If that’s not different enough, get this—it has a complete Blackberry-style physical keyboard to boot.
5Unihertz Titan 2
Say you want a physical keyboard, but you’d still like to have the color display of a standard phone. The Unihertz Titan 2 available for pre-order onKickstarteris that phone.
The Tutan 2’s keyboard is larger and more comfortable to type on than the Minimal Phone. As a result, this is a significantly larger phone. If you can handle the added bulk in your pocket, the 1:1 screen here is larger and the camera is much more capable. It even supports a microSD card.
4Fairphone 6
The Fairphone 6 looks and feels just like any other slab phone you might see at a carrier store, but that’s actually what makes this model distinct from previous iterations, which tended to be thicker and felt a bit less put together than conventional phones.
What’s special about the Fairphone? It’s a modular smartphone that you can repair yourself. Need to replace the battery? No problem. That’s table stakes. Fairphone even sells modules for repairing parts like the camera and USB port without having to pull out an iFixit kit.
Murena Fairphone 6
Powered by /e/OS operating system, the Murena Fairphone (Gen. 6) protects your data at all times, while at the same time protecting the planet. Made by 50% fair and recycled materials, in fair conditions and with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the market.
3Galaxy Z Fold 7
It may be hard to believe, but Samsung has been producing foldable phones for over half a decade. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is Samsung’s seventh iteration in a phone line that was the first of its type.
Despite that, book-style foldables have yet to go mainstream in the US. If, like most people, you haven’t tried one, they offer up a more distinct feeling than you might expexpect’m typing these words on my Z Fold 6, which has fully replaced my PC. With both an 8-inch tablet tucked inside and the Samsung DeX desktop mode, the Galaxy Z Fold isa genuine 3-in-1 deviceunique even among other book-style foldables.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Samsung’s thinnest and lightest Fold yet feels like a regular phone when closed and a powerful multitasking machine when open. With a brighter 8-inch display and on-device Galaxy AI, it’s ready for work, play, and everything in between.
2Moto Razr
Flip foldables have been around as long as their larger book-style siblings, and they’re the more popular of the two. While you’re more likely to see one in the wild, that doesn’t make them commonplace. If you’re looking to spice up your smartphone life, here is an easy way to do it that simultaneously feels different and familiar.
The Moto Razr has the distinction of being two phones in one. You can get by almost entirely without opening the phone, relying entirely on the external screen. This display may seem small by today’s standards, but it’s actually larger than that of the original iPhone. Plus, even with its square aspect ratio, it can still run most apps.
Then, when you unfold the device to get to the internal display, you have an experience that feels more like a slab phone, albeit it an abnormally tall one.
1Nothing Phone 3
The Nothing Phone (3) is in some ways the most and least conventional phone on this list. It’s a slab phone after all. It doesn’t fold. It doesn’t have a keyboard. There isn’t an E Ink screen.
That said, there is a secondary screen on the back that consists of glowing dots, which can show you who’s calling or be used for gimmicks like playing spin the bottle. This is something different to play with, and yet it doesn’t feel like what sets the Nothing Phone (3) apart.
You see, even without the did matrix on the back, the Nothing Phone (3) is one phone that could make this list based on looks alone. It’s a polarizing design that some love and some hate. I was repelled at first, butnow I find it kind of beautiful.
My first phone as a teenager was the Samsung SCH-U740, known as the Alias. It was a flip phone you could unfold vertically into a conventional flip phone or horizontally for texting on its cramped qwerty keyboard. From the beginning, I’ve loved phones that tried something different. They spice up what might otherwise feel like a mundane part of life, and even when they don’t work out, I tend to look back on them fondly for shooting their shot. Maybe your next phone will also feel a bit more adventurous.
