Jelly 2 Mini Smartphone

I have been using these fob pocket sized phones now for about three years – and would never go back to a larger phone. The first one I bought was the Unihertz Atom which I carried for a couple of years. Practically all the photos I posted for the last couple of years here at TheUltralightHiker were taken with it. When an ‘improved’ model was announced on Kickstarter  last year I ordered two for Xmas 2020 and have been carrying one of them ever since – and it is brilliant.

You can buy this phone from the Unihertz website for US199.99 (which will cost you just about $200!) plus delivery (about $30 to Australia for the two, from memory). (Also available from Amazon but 50% dearer). I bought two because I did not want to be without one if I should manage to throw it under the tractor or something, but so far I have had no disasters with any of their phones for nearly three years – and I cannot say the same for any other phone I have owned. I am usually pretty hard on these things.

Of course part of this success is that I carry the phone in my fob pocket which was long ago cleverly positioned so that your expensive fob watch did not get broken, and the same applies to your phone. If you engage in active physical work as I have always done you will love the convenience of this phone.

It has all the features of much larger phones but in a smaller size. The screen seems to be super sensitive so that though I expected texting would be difficult with it it is not, though mind you I don’t engage in those sort of shenanigans much, nor surf the internet on my phone much either – but you can.

Any other App you use will work as well. A pdf scanner is a handy gadget for example. I read a lot of books on my phone and while the page size is pretty small it is very easy just to flick onto the next page. I have by now read hundreds of books on these two phones I have owned (the Atom and the Jelly 2). I find them quite satisfactory for that purpose. I just finished reading Louis L’Amour’s wonderful ‘Last of the Breed‘ on it. You can get a free copy from the Internet Archive here. It is one of the greatest adventure and survival stories ever. I highly recommend it. I am now reading Jack London’s great novel ‘Burning Daylight‘ which you can also get for free here.

I have all the topographic maps I usually use for hunting/hiking etc loaded on the phone. I have found it perfectly satisfactory as a mapping and GPS aid. I was able for example  to mark the location of the Wilderness Hut I posted about such that I will be able to go straight back to it. Well, to tell the truth I would be able to do this anyway, as I have been wandering around in the bush and finding my way unaided since I could walk – but you will be able to use it for this purpose anyway supposing you don’t have those skills built into your brain as I do.

I posted about these fob pocket sized phones in this post A Phone in Your Fob. I posted about another great Unihertz phone in The Deer Hunter’s Phone and the Atom in this post A Mighty Tiny Phone.

An important thing to remember is connectivity. You have to check your country’s mobile frequencies to make sure that any phone you buy will be able to use all the available frequencies. The Atom and the Jelly 2 work with the major carriers in Australia – and probably with most countries. There is a special model for Japanese users too I notice.

The phone seems very robust as to being wet or dropped from great heights – both of which abuses I have essayed!

I have downloaded a special ring tone for it such that it would wake the dead. With my hearing it pretty much needs to.  Fortunately I don’t receive (or make) many calls as I dislike talking on the phone – for the same reason (deafness). For that reason though I always use the speaker phone function which is nice and loud so I don’t have any problem taking calls (eg about Finnsheep)

It is a dual Sim phone or one Sim and one Micro USB card. I use the two sims feature as I have a $10 phone plan and buy the internet in two-year blocks from Telstra . Much cheaper than a plan for me.

It would be nice if it had two Sims plus the Micro USB card. It would  be also nice if it had the even better camera its big brother (the Atom XL) has – but that may come. I suspect it could be slightly bigger (wider at least) if it were made thinner and still be able to fit into a fob pocket. The screen size relative to the phone size could also probably be improved a little so we may see a future version which is just a tiny bigger in the screen department – but this one is quite useable. I am enjoying it very much and do not hesitate to recommend it.

Unlike other sites who recommend things because they have been bought and paid for by some multinational company, my opinion is just my very own. I prefer it that way. I do not solicit products for review and do not want to praise products people may want to send me for that purpose. I only say it is good because I have found it to be good, whatever it costs.

You may notice I have recommended $10 backpacks and $20 tents for example because they are good and good value for money. Many expensive things aren’t. This is not an expensive phone but it is a very good phone. I could own a $2000 phone if I wanted to (You can’t take it with you – as they say) but this phone is just as good (I think better) than any $2000 phone!

Some phone features:

· Android 10 OS

· 3″ Display

· 2000mAh Battery

· Global Unlocked

· NFC

· Latest GPS

· 6GB+128GB

· 8MP+16MP Camera

· Dual SIM

· Fingerprint Unlocked

· Infrared

See Also:

A Phone in Your Fob

The Deer Hunter’s Phone

A Mighty Tiny Phone