Unihertz Atom

6owners with an opinion

60%of verdicts positive

0/0positive/negative since 2024

3.5 yrslongest happy owner

1happy after 3+ years

Praised for durability and design; criticized for battery and portability.

Models

Unihertz Atom XL3

Where people moved

Left this for

Came here from

Unihertz Jelly1

What people wrote

Likes itOwned 3.5 years

I've been using the Unihertz Atom for three and a half years now. I absolutely love it. The GPS is better than my Sony Xperia had. I've thrown it across rooms to demonstrate how durable it is. Its small size is always a conversation starter. A few months ago I bought the new Jelly, and while it has a slightly larger screen, I didn't like the updated version of Android. I went back to my Atom. If anything happened to it, I would immediately buy another without a second thought.

Doesn’t like it

I had an Atom XL. Unihertz give up supporting their (very buggy) software quickly, and their tech support is poor. Their entire business model seems to be to churn out new phones as fast as possible to pull in new customers. While I'd love to see different form factors being successful, steer clear of Unihertz.

Likes it

YES. I've just got a unihertz atom xl, I love it. All of their phones are pretty unique - they make one with a blackberry keyboard, mine can operate on DMR radio frequencies. They are not enormous phablets. They do only support Android 11, but I'm not really so interested in bleeding edge Android these days.

Doesn’t like it

I too have quested for a Dumber Phone. As an easily distracted engineer who values my time, I enjoy being on a dumb device, particularly one without Maps: - Punkt MP02 (Pigeon): small black & white Android phone with a non-standard launcher. Doesn't support MMS on Google Fi, which is needed to participate with friends & family (USA), so it sits on a shelf. - Unihertz Atom: tiny Android phone, storage chip began dying within 3 months. Supports MMS, but my previous company's MDM locked it out due to a lack of recent security updates and their phone plan required a login to receive MMS! - Hisense A9: An e-Ink Android phone. I almost bought one, but it felt hacky to use this it in the USA (lack of frequencies & Google Play) After failing to find a dumb phone that was as flexible as I wanted, I ended up writing a shell script to turn an Android phone into a dumb phone: https://github.com/tstromberg/quietude * For a true "dumb phone" experience: `quietude.sh disable all` * For a less distracting experience: `quietude.sh disable distractions` The key here is that the script disables things in a way that you can only enable if you plug the phone in with a USB cable, which keeps you from re-enabling it when you are bored in line somewhere.

Likes it

I don't know about Samsung, but even some random Chinese smartphones pass the MDM checks these days. I had Unihertz Atom XL as my BYOD work device for quite a while with no issues.

Neutral

I've been trying to wean myself off phones completely since the demise of the SE, but life in Moscow without a phone is basically impossible (taxis, deliveries, electric scooters, bikes etc. all become pretty much unavailable). As a compromise I've been using the Palm Phone[0] for a while now (before that the Unihertz Atom, which is quite the chonker, albeit with a small screen). It's the size of a credit card and has terrible battery life, but it can do all the things I need so I've just learned how to deal with it. I don't really have a solution for music on the go yet, as you can't connect normal headphones to modern phones without adapters (and those adapters actually draw a surprising amount of power if they have a DAC!) and Bluetooth is completely useless in large and densely populated cities. Maybe some iPod-like devices are still around ... [0]: https://palm.com/pages/product

Likes it

I have a unihertz Atom XL. Pros: - Battery lasts for 3 days with my usage (browsing when not at my desk, whatsapp, a handful of calls, android auto) - Rugged / waterproof (IP68) - Fits nicely in your hand - 48 MP camera - not as good as Pixels, but good - Good dual SIM setup Cons: - Thick; probably mostly due to the battery. Doesn't bother me, but if you wear skinny jeans and carry your phone in your front pocket it'll be noticeable - Just got Android 11 - The built in walkie talkie is something of a gimmick since it chews up battery in standby/monitor mode. I thought it would be a useful backup since we live in the sticks w/o reliable phone signal. Get the Atom L instead

Likes itDoesn’t say they own it

Except that it always used to work well on the SE / 13 mini form factor. That was part of the original iPhone-vs-BlackBerry magic, wasn’t it? It’s phenomenally hard to make typing work on a soft keyboard, especially at that size, and yet they did. And now un-did. By contrast, the typing experience on a 2.5” Unihertz Atom screen is shockingly acceptable…