Unihertz Jelly Star

If you want a phone that's too small to get addicted to, the Unihertz Jelly Star ($229.99) does everything you need an Android phone to do (it's a heck of a lot more functional than the $299 Light Phone II), but it's tiny enough that you simply won't want to spend too much time using it to send texts, take photos, or watch videos. Of course, the audience for this type of phone is also likely a small one, so most people searching for a "tiny" phone are better off checking out the Samsung Galaxy S23 ($799.99) or the iPhone 13 mini ($599.99). They're still easy to use with just one hand, but are much better sized for everything from playing games to making video calls. And if you want to get away from smartphones altogether, you can look to the affordable Nokia 2780 Flip ($89.99), which features a traditional clamshell design.

It's Small, But Makes a Statement

The Unihertz Jelly Star is tiny at 3.74 by 1.95 by 0.74 inches (HWD) and 4.09 ounces. To put that into perspective, the iPhone 13 mini is 5.18 by 2.53 by 0.30 inches and 5.0 ounces. Of course, for the phone to be so small, it must have a small screen. Unihertz includes a 3-inch LCD with 854 by 480 pixels. That's a lower resolution than most phones, but it still looks relatively sharp spread across the small screen. I found it relatively bright in testing, though it was difficult to see in direct sunlight.

While the size is likely the main selling point for most people, I can't say it is for me. I couldn't get comfortable with the phone no matter how much I used it; I kept dropping it, hitting the wrong thing on the tiny screen, and generally just finding that everything I wanted to do was made more difficult by the size. This is definitely a preference thing (and probably related to my somewhat large hands), but it's something to keep in mind before you decide whether going truly tiny is right for you.

Outside of the size, the phone has some other interesting visual tricks up its sleeve. The back features a large LED that blinks to alert you of notifications. It's much brighter than the small LEDs typically used for a camera flash on the back of most phones, so it's definitely useful as a flashlight. There's also a fingerprint reader on the back that works as intended, as well as a small Unihertz logo. You can customize the light using a widget on the home screen, which is a nice bonus but feels like more of a gimmick than a useful feature.

Another cool design choice is the translucent plastic used for the body. You can see the phone's internals through it, which makes for a lot more visual interest than your typical slab or aluminum or dark plastic. You can get the phone in blue or red. We tested the blue model, and it's a nice dark shade that almost looks black in certain lighting.

The top edge has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is a feature that's becoming increasingly less common. The left edge houses the volume rocker, while the right edge has the power button, a customizable second button, a dual nano SIM slot, and a USB-C charging port. The speaker is located on the bottom.

It's worth noting that Unihertz doesn't give the phone an official IP rating for dust and water resistance, so make sure to be careful with it.

Decent Power for the Price

The Jelly Star features a MediaTek Helio G99 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. These are modest specs, but they're about in line with what you can expect for the price.

I ran the phone through our usual battery of benchmark tests to see how it compares with other budget-friendly models. First, I put the phone through the PCMark Work 3.0 test to see how it handles daily activities and it scored 9,193. To put that into perspective, the $200 Samsung Galaxy A14 5G scored 7,886.

I then ran it through Geekbench 5 to test its processor efficiency, and it scored 546 on the single-core test and 1,814 on the multi-core benchmark. For comparison, the Galaxy A14 scored 525 and 1,696 on the same tests.

In terms of real-world performance, the Jelly Star does an admirable job of handling most duties. Whether you want to make calls, send texts, work with photos, or play basic games, you won't have a problem getting things done. However, graphically intense gaming isn't quite as fun, as titles like Genshin Impact are barely playable.

Considering the small size of the phone, it only comes with a 2,000mAh battery, which is substantially smaller than most competitors. While streaming a YouTube video over Wi-Fi with the screen brightness turned all the way up, the phone managed to last 6 hours and 12 minutes. This result is pretty unimpressive compared with the Galaxy A14 5G, which lasted 9 hours and 40 minutes. And both phones can't hold a candle to the iPhone 13 mini, which lasted 12 hours and 20 minutes. Of course, the Jelly Star isn't designed for all-day YouTube streaming, but this is still a drawback worth noting.

The phone supports 10W wired charging, which is relatively slow. There's no wireless charging, but most phones in this price range don't offer that feature. I was able to fully charge the phone in 1 hour and 23 minutes.

No 5G

Many affordable smartphones now offer 5G connectivity, such as the aforementioned Galaxy A14 5G. With the Unihertz Jelly Star, however, you're limited to LTE speeds. On the one hand, the slower speeds of 4G can potentially prevent you from reaching for the phone too often. On the other hand, 5G support would allow you to access the internet faster and move on with your life.

We ran the phone through a series of speed tests against another phone without 5G support, the Motorola Moto G Play ($169.99), to see if there was a noticeable difference in connection quality.

Starting in an area with a full T-Mobile signal, the Unihertz Jelly Star showed 48Mbps down and 8Mbps up, while the Moto G Play reached 52Mbps down and 9Mbps up. These differences are negligible, so each phone works well in an area with good LTE.

We then moved to an area on the edge of T-Mobile's coverage. Here the Jelly Star showed 1.2Mbps down and 0.4Mbps up, while the Moto G Play reached 1.4Mbps down and 0.5Mbps up. Both phones worked well with minimal service, though there was an expected drop in speed.

Importantly, call quality is solid with the Unihertz Jelly Star. While it has no special features to enhance clarity, calls still sounded good on both ends in testing. I was a little concerned that the small phone would cause the microphone to be too far from my mouth, but it didn't cause any issues.

The Unihertz Jelly Star supports Wi-Fi 5, so speeds are fine, but not up to the latest standards. The phone performed just as well as the Motorola Moto G Play in speed tests. In the same room as the router, the Jelly Star averaged 201Mbps down to the Moto's 203Mbps. We also tested the phones near the edge of the router's range and they posted almost identical results, with 3.0Mbps down for the Jelly Star and 3.2Mbps down for the Moto.

You get Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless accessories and NFC support for payments, which are nice to have at this price.

Decent Cameras

The Jelly Star's 48MP main camera and 8MP front-facing camera are fine, but they won't take the best photos you've ever seen. The main camera captures 1080p video at 30fps.

Outdoor photos during the day look good enough, but the quality drops off quickly once you start messing with capturing images in low light. The same is true for macro shots. It handles the focus well enough, but the colors dull substantially.

The selfie camera is okay, but at only 8MP, it doesn't take the most impressive pictures. Still, if you want to post a quick photo of yourself on Instagram, it handles that well enough.

You're probably not buying this phone for the cameras, so the fact that they're just average isn't a huge drawback—if the idea is to quell your phone addiction, you may not need high-end cameras that work in various lighting conditions.

Mini Android 13

Unihertz offers Android 13 on the Jelly Star, so you get all the benefits of the latest version of the operating system. It works well enough on the phone, but it's not an OS built for a 3-inch screen.

It's a relatively stock Android 13 experience, so if you're not a fan of OEMs loading up their phones with extra stuff, you'll like the Jelly Star. There are a few bloatware apps, like a Student Mode app, a Toolbox app, and a Zaza Remote app for controlling your TV, but none of them are egregious.

Unihertz hasn't provided an update path for the phone, so it might not receive Android 14 or any future versions.

Too Small? Or Just the Right Size to Disconnect?

The Unihertz Jelly Star is a small phone for people looking to disconnect. It offers far more features than the Light Phone II, but it lacks 5G and can be difficult to use for anyone with larger hands. If you're trying to use your phone less, that may not be a bad thing, but I have a hard time recommending it to anyone who wants a more functional handset. The best small phones we've tested include the Galaxy S23 and the iPhone 13 mini, but they both cost a lot more than the Jelly Star. In the $200 price range, the Samsung Galaxy A14 and the Galaxy A32 are far more suitable sizes for everyday use, while the sub-$100 Nokia 2780 Flip is an even better way for disconnecting from the internet.