Digital minimalists rejoice as the brand new Light Phone 3 is here, but temper those expectations slightly as the price might put you off.
Designed to offer just a basic “smartphone” experience with telephony, messaging, music, notes, hotspot, and maps functions alongside an alarm, the Light Phone 3 is effectively as simple as it gets by 2025 mobile standards. It’s a dinky little gadget too with just a 3.92-inch monochrome OLED display. The previous version had an e-ink panel, which could be seen as a downgrade by some.
The internals aren’t exactly beefy as this utilizes the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4450 chip. There is 128GB of onboard storage, 6GB of RAM, and an 8-megapixel selfie camera that allows you to take and place video calls. There is a 50-megapixel rear camera that produces 12-megapixel stills too. 5G connectivity is onboard here too with the ability to access 4G and LTE networks. Support for most global mobile networks is also included, but you can check that using Light Phone’s official tracker.
Fingerprint unlocks are available via a top-bezel capacitive touch button, while a physical scroll wheel lets you control screen brightness. A press of this button activates the rear flashlight for convenience. We’re hopeful that this device has a long battery life despite shipping with just an 1,800mAh internal cell. The charging speed is not mentioned on the official spec sheets, but you do charge via USB-C.
For those wondering, yes, it does run Android, but there is no mention of the exact version running on the hardware. It’s also not clear how many software versions the hardware may receive, as certain functions like NFC payments are not yet available.
At $799, this is not a cheap replacement for an existing phone. However, if you are—like many of us—hopefully addicted to your smartphone, the Light Phone 3 might provide some respite from the constant noise of modern smartphones and their associated platforms.
