This is the first phone that made me break my ‘only upgrade when it breaks or becomes obsolete’ rule, and for good reason.
Since way back there has been a struggle in the tech world: iPhone vs Android, Windows vs Mac. Personally I have never picked sides, I always chose the platform that made me as fast as possible.
I can get things done faster on Android compared to iOS/iPhone. When it comes to computers I’m faster on a Mac. And for me the Titan 2 Elite is a mix of a phone and a computer, making me even more efficient.
More like a pocket computer than a phone
When I discovered the Titan 2 Elite, I instantly fell for it. My initial reaction was:
- Maybe I can finally start making less spelling errors (soft keyboards has never been my friend).
- Copy / paste with physical keys on a phone sounds amazing!
- Perhaps this can be a development terminal so I don’t need to bring my laptop everywhere?
Unfortunately the Unihertz Titan 2 Elite is not a phone you can just order at will, they are currently sold out. But I managed to score a brand new, still in its original sealed box, from eBay in Germany. While I waited for it to arrive I did thorough research to for how to setup the phone order to get it working as the pocket computer I envisioned. (See Tips & Tricks at end of this article).
Using the keyboard & software
Once you have customized the phone, and specifically the keyboard settings, a new world opens up. Here’s the good stuff:
- Copy pasting with physical keys on a phone is magic. (not all apps support if fully though…)
- You can move the text cursor left/right with the keyboard (No more fiddling on the screen to move the cursor. OMG!)
- The keyboard itself works as a trackpad, meaning you can scroll and swipe on top of the keys of the keyboard. This is truly awesome and I was not expecting that to be so “transformative” in terms of user experience. It’s very responsive and a slick way of interacting with apps.
- I am actually making less spelling mistakes compared to a soft keyboard.
- The keyboard is backlit (but with a flaw…)
- The combination of “push to talk” and a physical keyboard is the combo that makes it all worth it. Meaning, you push a button on the screen or your keyboard and what you say out loud is transcribed into text in real time. This works really well, especially since you can correct or add things by typing with the keyboard. This combination is what speeds up my everyday usage compared to regular phones.
The cons:
- The phone is light, so the grip is a little awkward = negative impact on typing experience.
- The keys are very small, but after two weeks of use I am starting to get used to it.
- Not all apps utilize the keyboard the same way, which “breaks the flow” sometimes.
- The “stock keyboard software” is not great, you need to change it (see tips & tricks section). Although changing it introduces other small inconveniences compared to the stock keyboard, but in general it works much better.
- Keyboard backlight shuts off automatically, I have not managed to fix that (others seem to have made it, but I can’t get it to work). You can swipe over the physical keyboard to light it up, but it’s a bit annoying.
My summary is that the pros outweigh the cons, and I can live with the small glitches.
What this phone improved for me
I can now connect my phone via SSH to my desktop computer and type code and prompts in a more calm and controlled way. A regular phone with a touch screen supports the same setup, but it does not feel as good, especially since I make a lot of typos with soft keyboards. The physical keyboard enables me to manage my remote code agents in a better way. It means that in many situations I don’t need to bring my laptop with me anymore, that is pretty neat. On the downside it also means I can literally build on my projects wherever I am, 24/7. That is perhaps not too healthy for my brain, but for now let’s only look at the bright side. Ok? 🙂
Screen & size of the phone
As you may have noticed, the screen is small and almost Square. Some people say that phones with physical keyboards and smaller screens will make people doom scroll less. That’s not true. Everything is smaller on this screen, but you can interact with apps almost as well as on a larger screen. Upside: the small screen makes the whole device compact, meaning it actually fits in your pocket. Quite refreshing after years of having a large brick in my back pocket every day. But is the screen good? Yes, it’s an amoled screen so colors are nice and frame rate goes up to 120Hz.
Aesthetically the phone looks a bit thick, but a thinner phone would most likely mean a worse grip. And here’s the biggest downside of the phone: it’s quite lightweight, which is fine for when it’s in your pocket. But worse for when you physically press buttons on the keyboard, which unfortunately makes it feels a bit flappy. Perhaps a rubber case would help?
Speakers & camera
Not so much to say here besides I was very pleasantly surprised by how good the speaker is in this little thing. Not as good as an iPhone, but sounds decedent to me. And then the camera: it’s nothing to write home about but it’s usable. Apparently you can install different camera apps to improve image quality a bit, but I doubt image quality will never be anything more than mediocre.
Customizability & settings
This is what this phone is all about, for instance you customize the side buttons in multiple ways. Long press, double press, single press + in combination with keys on the keyboard. Very handy and lots to tinker with. It comes with Android 16 and is said to get security updates until 2030, and Android upgrades up to version 19. The experience is “standard Android”. While the specific settings for this phone are integrated nicely. To me it has been very stable and provided good battery performance as well.
Who is this phone for?
Is it for people who want reduce their doom scrolling and overall phone usage? No, I’d say it’s the same just a different form factor. If you want a “distraction free phone” look elsewhere.
Is it for someone who is used to iOS or a bog standard Android? No, this phone needs customization and patience.
My conclusion is that the Titan 2 Elite is best suited for tinkerers and “pro” users. Unihertz does not provide a perfect out of the box experience. I’m ok with that, if you are not then don’t pull the trigger just yet: wait and see if future software updates will improve the device, chances are that it will.
Final verdict
I really like this device. It has improved my workflow for development, and it’s feels nice to use for the most part. It does come with some glitches and annoying details. So on a scale of 0 to 10 I’d give the Unihertz Titan 2 Elite a score of 8.
Tips & tricks
As I said earlier this phone needs a bit of tweaking to get the most out of it. I advise you to install a keyboard named Pastiera. You can find it here: https://pastiera.eu/
However, Pastiera is not available in Google Play so it requires manual installation. Google Keyboard is also an option. And besides switching the “keyboard app” you also need to dig into the Android settings and tweak things, you will find what you need in these videos:
Pastiera keyboard settings and more:
General tips for the Unihertz Titan 2 Elite that i found helpful:
