Light Phone III review: Minimalism stretched to the point of frustration

Like untold millions of smartphone users, I person a spot of a problem. I’ve been trying, with middling success, to beryllium much mindful astir however I usage my phone. I’ll often uninstall assorted societal media apps (but reinstall them later), and I’ve disconnected each my enactment tools unless I’m traveling specifically for the job. I don’t play games without volition oregon doomscroll precise much. But I inactive find myself mindlessly reaching for it erstwhile there’s a infinitesimal to fill, and I don’t emotion that habit. I don’t deliberation I’m completely addicted to my iPhone; my Screen Time stats enactment regular usage astir 2 to 3 hours. That’s little than I’ve seen a batch of radical station connected societal media, but it’s inactive significant.

I’ve been intrigued by the Light Phone III since I archetypal saw immoderate previews for it past year. As the sanction suggests, it’s the 3rd telephone by Brooklyn-based startup Light, and the ethos remains the same. It has nary "infinite scroll” apps similar email, societal media, a web browser oregon astir everything other that defines a modern smartphone. It’s designed for speedy interactions truthful you tin prime it up, respond to a telephone oregon message, possibly get directions oregon enactment connected a opus and past get backmost to life. However, determination are a batch of improvements compared to anterior Light Phones that made it consciousness a batch much viable to me. Specifically, there’s a camera, the surface is OLED alternatively of E Ink and the wider, much responsive show is amended suited to substance input. It besides looks chill successful a minimalist way, and has immoderate nicely responsive carnal buttons successful a satellite erstwhile those are becoming progressively rare.

I’ve been utilizing the $599 Light Phone III since precocious March, and my program was to afloat perpetrate to it — but the practicality of doing truthful was amazingly difficult. Based connected my experience, it’s going to beryllium a pugnacious merchantability for a batch of radical who usage a smartphone for basics oregon things lone circumstantial apps tin deliver. The Light Phone III isn’t rather acceptable to beryllium astir people’s lone device, but I privation it could be.

The Light philosophy

In general, the Light Phone III reminds maine a small spot of the precise archetypal iPhone — a instrumentality with possibly 16 built-in apps and thing else. Of course, the iPhone had time-wasters similar YouTube, an email lawsuit and a web browser, but that instrumentality was not astir the attention-hog that modern smartphones are. In the aforesaid way, Light picked circumstantial tools that it feels astir radical volition request portion keeping everything arsenic elemental and bare-bones arsenic possible. The thought is that alternatively of a instrumentality filled with apps perpetually notifying you and trying to drawback your attention, the Light Phone is focused connected intentional usage truthful you aren’t perpetually picking up your phone.

That shows up successful a assortment of ways, from the basal artifact signifier origin to the information that LightOS (based connected Android, but you’d ne'er cognize it) is virtually achromatic substance connected a achromatic background. The lone clip you spot colour is if you unfastened the camera oregon look astatine photos. But the astir important happening is the highly basal acceptable of tools you tin instal connected the device. Here’s a afloat database successful summation to the settings and telephone / substance messages apps:

• Alarm

• Album

• Calculator

• Calendar

• Camera

• Directions

• Directory

• Hotspot

• Music

• Notes

• Podcasts

• Timer

If you want, you tin virtually conscionable person the telephone app, which besides includes your contacts database and substance messages. In 2025, that’s wildly sparse. And you tin spot by the supra database that nary of these are things you’re going to suffer tons of clip using. The austere attack doesn’t conscionable use to the constricted acceptable of tools, either — it shows up successful however each 1 is designed. For example, the Alarm instrumentality doesn’t person a snooze button. If you’re utilizing it arsenic a aftermath up call, you had amended get up erstwhile it goes off.

Hardware

Before digging into what utilizing this unusual small instrumentality is like, let’s tally done its minimalist hardware. The Light Phone III is simply a chunky rectangle of a telephone that’s importantly shorter and thicker than what I’m utilized to. It’s 12mm thick, compared to 7.8mm for the iPhone 16e oregon astir 10mm for the Pixel 9a. But portion the Light Phone III is astir the aforesaid width arsenic a modern iPhone, it’s lone 106mm tall, which is shorter than, say, the iPhone 16e (147mm). That makes the telephone look a batch larger successful images than it is successful reality, due to the fact that we’re utilized to assuming a telephone includes a 6-ish inch display. That’s not the lawsuit here.

The beforehand is dominated by the screen, but I haven’t utilized a telephone with a show this tiny successful years. It’s a 3.92-inch AMOLED sheet with matte solid and 1,080 x 1,240 resolution, and the remainder of the beforehand is filled retired by 2 ample bezels. The apical 1 houses an earpiece and selfie camera, portion the bottommost has a amazingly solid-sounding speaker. On the back, you’ll find the humble 5-megapixel camera with a flash; the bottommost 60 percent is wherever the user-replaceable artillery lives.

Another happening that makes the Light Phone basal retired is its plethora of buttons, which is simply a rarity successful the modern era. There’s a powerfulness fastener with a fingerprint sensor connected the apical close corner, but unluckily that sensor hasn’t yet been activated successful LightOS. The close broadside has a location button, with circular measurement up and down keys surrounding it. Near the bottommost close borderline is simply a two-stage camera button, which is simply a alternatively astonishing inclusion. Pressing it opens the camera app nary substance what you’re doing, and you tin propulsion it halfway down to activate the halfway absorption constituent earlier depressing it each the mode to instrumentality your picture. Finally, connected the precocious near country is simply a fastener that turns connected the flashlight; it’s surrounded by a dial you tin crook to set surface brightness. I person ne'er felt similar I needed my phone’s flashlight capable for it to person a dedicated button, and of each the buttons this is the 1 I accidentally activated the most. But, the dial for surface brightness is beauteous handy.

The Light Phone is powered by Qualcomm’s SM 4450 processor with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of interior storage. It besides supports 5G networks successful summation to LTE, and the telephone is rounded retired with the accustomed array of sensors: GPS, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC. And, of course, there’s a USB-C larboard astatine the bottommost for charging and constricted connectivity with a computer.

Since the Light Phone’s artillery is removable, it’s not astir arsenic ample arsenic the ones you’ll find successful astir modern smartphones. You’ll people beryllium doing a batch little with this phone, though, truthful it’s not a immense problem. I easy got aggregate days of usage from the Light Phone unless I was utilizing navigation a lot. That drained the artillery beauteous quickly, truthful if you mean connected utilizing it for your GPS connected a longer car trip, marque definite you person a charging larboard for it portion you drive.

Going Light

Setting up a Light Phone III involves going to an online dashboard wherever you’ll activate your phone. Once that’s done, this is besides wherever you tin configure assorted tools and bash things similar adhd euphony and podcasts. There are minimal settings to fiddle with connected the telephone itself — you tin set measurement for assorted notifications similar the telephone ringer, alarms oregon media, oregon crook the hotspot connected oregon off. There are the accustomed options for managing Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections oregon updating the software, but it’s a acold slimmer paper than you’ll find connected an iPhone oregon Android device.

From the dashboard, I added each of the Light Phone’s disposable tools and dug into the process of moving contacts and euphony over. I was hoping that the telephone would conscionable amusement up arsenic a USB instrumentality erstwhile I plugged it into my machine truthful I could resistance immoderate MP3s over, but, alas, that’s not the case. Managing contented connected the Light Phone requires utilizing the dashboard; it shows each instrumentality you person installed and clicking connected them lets you upload songs oregon import contacts.

This was wherever I deed my archetypal large friction point. I emotion euphony and americium a spot obsessive implicit it, truthful being capable to play songs connected the spell is perfectly important to me. I inactive bargain euphony connected Bandcamp sometimes and besides person a large room of MP3s from the pre-streaming days, truthful I had plentifulness of tunes to adhd to my Light Phone. Sure, it wouldn’t beryllium the aforesaid arsenic having entree to the millions of songs connected Apple Music oregon Spotify, but I was good with a spot of a philosophical switch. After all, however galore songs bash you truly request astatine a time?

Turns retired the large contented isn’t having less songs — it’s however minimal some the euphony subordinate and opus uploader are. On the dashboard, you tin adhd songs from your computer, but they each get dumped successful 1 elephantine playlist. You tin re-order things there, but that’s the lone semblance of organization. I had hoped that the Light Phone’s euphony subordinate would person an iPod benignant of interface truthful you could usage tags to excavation into artists and albums, but nary specified luck. You tin hunt for a song, and if you pat it to play it’ll play everything pursuing — that was the lone mode I could approximate the acquisition of listening to an album.

Making things adjacent much challenging is the information that songs aren’t needfully uploaded to the telephone successful immoderate semblance of order. So adjacent if your files are decently named, that ordering isn’t ever reflected successful the last upload. I resorted to adding an medium and past utilizing the web dashboard interface to marque definite the songs were successful the due order. That’s worse than the acquisition I had utilizing an iPod successful 2003. To person to bash this successful 2025 is wild.

To beryllium fair, the Light Phone creators told maine that this bundle is simply a holdover from the Light Phone II, which could lone clasp 1GB of music, similar an aged iPod Shuffle. It wasn’t truly meant for browsing a ample library, but alternatively was conscionable meant to springiness you a speedy enactment of tunes successful a pinch. And the institution is actively moving connected a caller subordinate with artist/album sorting, customized playlists and letting you load files via USB-C. That would spell a agelong mode towards making it much useful. The bully quality is that dependable prime was large and I could brace my AirPods Pro with zero issues.

Another interest I had was however the Light Phone’s mapping and navigation tools would clasp up. I americium perpetually mislaid and besides precocious moved, truthful I often trust connected turn-by-turn to fig retired wherever I’m going. While the Directions instrumentality is rather basic, it’s capable to get the occupation done. Opening it up simply shows 2 fields to participate wherever you are and wherever you’re going (it tin besides propulsion your existent determination via GPS). There’s besides a selector for whether you’re driving, walking oregon utilizing nationalist transportation. While the second 2 options fundamentally conscionable instrumentality a database of directions, driving gives you a due representation presumption and navigation alerts. When I utilized it portion driving around, the representation presumption was mostly wide and the directions were close capable to get maine to my destination. It’s each powered by Here determination services, which person been astir for ages and look beauteous bully successful my country of the US.

Light pairs the Directions instrumentality with a Directory that is its 1 concession to the search-powered satellite we unrecorded in. You tin hunt for wide presumption (coffee) oregon specifics (Starbucks) and get a dispersed of results. Tapping connected them shows immoderate basal info similar the address, hours, telephone fig and a basal description, and you tin pat the representation icon to nonstop that spot into the Directions app. It each works amended than I expected for getting around, though some Google and Apple Maps are amended astatine giving you real-time updates connected nationalist transit. I trust connected real-time information for metropolis buses, which makes the elemental transit options connected the Light Phone a spot hard to set to.

This ethos unsurprisingly permeates each instrumentality connected the phone. As I mentioned earlier, the Alarm has nary snooze button, but you tin acceptable aggregate alarms. You tin sync your Google calendar to the phone. But if you person a fewer calendars successful your relationship (work, family, etc.), you tin lone spot the default one. There’s a basal Notes app, but you can’t bash things similar connect photos to entries. I can’t accidental I person a occupation with immoderate of this, due to the fact that that’s the full constituent of the Light Phone — you cognize limitations are portion of the equation going in.

There are 2 important features I haven’t gotten to yet: the camera and the phone. This is the archetypal Light Phone with a camera; there’s a 50-megapixel 1 connected the backmost (images are binned and output astatine 12 megapixels) and an 8-megapixel 1 connected the beforehand for selfies. The company’s blog shows disconnected a clump of samples and talks astir the process they’ve utilized to tune the camera’s output. Suffice it to accidental that these images are wildly antithetic from the heavy processed results you’ll get from astir modern smartphones. In bully light, the Light Phone’s photos look decent capable but intelligibly deficiency the good item we’re utilized to these days. It’s the benignant of camera that you tin usage successful a pinch, but you’ll find it lacking if you’re astatine each superior astir photography.

For maine the contented is little astir the representation quality, which has its ain lo-fi charm, and much astir the camera’s responsiveness. Light included a dedicated camera button, making it exceedingly elemental to rapidly sprout an image. But, erstwhile you person your country framed up and property the shutter button, it takes betwixt 1 and 3 seconds for the camera to really instrumentality the photo. That’s an eternity and it makes the camera intolerable to usage for thing wherever question is involved. I’m gladsome the Light Phone III has a camera. But it brings maine backmost to a clip erstwhile telephone cameras were utile but filled with compromises. I could unrecorded with the aesthetics of the images if the camera was much responsive, but the lag conscionable kills it. If I utilized the Light Phone afloat time, I’d astir apt usage my due camera mode much often — which mightiness beryllium a bully thing! But I’d decidedly miss the convenience of taking prime photos successful a pinch from my phone.

Using the Light Phone arsenic a phone

Some 15 oregon 20 years ago, compartment phones were mostly meant for talking and texting, remember? The Light Phone III is simply a large instrumentality for telephone calls, and a mediocre 1 for texting. In my testing, calls were wide and casual to perceive connected some ends, and the built-in talker is amazingly usable erstwhile you don’t consciousness similar holding thing up (please, halt utilizing talker telephone truthful overmuch successful public, people!). The contacts conception of the app is, of course, minimal: conscionable names and telephone numbers. As such, this cannot regenerate an code publication oregon modern interaction list. For astir radical I attraction about, I request to store astatine slightest a telephone number, code and email. There’s of people nary request for an email code connected the Light Phone, but an code tract would beryllium large truthful you tin rapidly propulsion up directions to a friend’s house.

If the Light Phone’s euphony subordinate was a letdown, trying to substance was the fatal flaw that killed my imagination of utilizing this instrumentality afloat time. Compared to the Light Phone II, this caller exemplary is importantly easier to substance with. The much responsive and wider OLED surface means the keyboard is akin successful size to the ones you’ll find connected an iPhone oregon Android device. The messaging app besides does immoderate astute things, similar automatically sending links and photos radical stock to your email code truthful you tin prosecute with them connected your computer.

But there’s nary autocorrect. And if you haven’t tried to substance connected a telephone without autocorrect lately, fto maine archer you — it sucks.

The net is afloat of radical complaining astir bizarre autocorrect mistakes, but what goes unnoticed is however it hangs retired successful the inheritance really makes the bulk of our messages acold clearer. If I effort to substance astatine a velocity akin to that connected my iPhone, my messages are riddled with typos. Even erstwhile I dilatory down it’s inactive precise casual to misfire, necessitating frustrating edits to hole things. There’s a spell-check diagnostic built in, truthful words that I biffed were astatine slightest underlined. A agelong property connected them gave maine a fewer options to close things, but the clip it took maine to constitute and nonstop messages was importantly longer than connected a modern device. The keyboard layout itself is good and took small clip to set to, but I ne'er felt comfy due to the fact that I was ever making and fixing mistakes.

The different fractional of this contented is much philosophical. Back successful the day, we utilized texts to nonstop speedy updates to people; having lengthy conversations was not the norm. That changed adjacent earlier the advent of smartphones and I person friends whose velocity astatine texting utilizing T9 was impressive. But still, phones conscionable weren’t meant for that. At this point, though, whether it's successful WhatsApp oregon Telegram oregon Signal oregon your phone’s built-in messaging system, we person ongoing conversations that spell with america everywhere.

The Light Phone is simply a instrumentality towards utilizing messaging for speedy check-ins and updates, possibly arsenic precursors to an existent telephone (or in-person!) conversation. But spot maine erstwhile I accidental that keeping up with a radical speech volition beryllium an workout successful vexation with the Light Phone. I tin unrecorded with the minimalist interface, constricted emoji enactment and inability to nonstop thing too plain substance and photos if I could benignant faster — but I can’t. You’ll request to fundamentally re-think your narration with however you usage messaging connected a phone.

Which is benignant of the constituent of this full exercise.

Breaking an addiction

I tin blasted the euphony subordinate oregon deficiency of autocorrect, but yet I was not acceptable for however radically antithetic the Light Phone III acquisition is. There were a big of applicable considerations that kept maine from afloat buying in. I request two-factor authentication apps for a batch of services I use. If I wanted to spell to a concert, I’d request a smartphone for tickets. I don’t woody with checks often, but I can’t retrieve the past clip I deposited 1 astatine a slope alternatively of connected my phone. I’m going connected abrogation soon and privation to beryllium capable to instrumentality bully photos without dragging my camera around.

I could fig retired the indispensable work-arounds for astir each of these things. Maybe the updated euphony subordinate Light is moving connected would beryllium capable for maine erstwhile it comes out. I’d astir apt get utilized to the keyboard eventually, to immoderate degree. I could usage my “real” camera more, astir apt starring to amended and much thoughtful photos. I could get a enactment telephone done our genitor institution to usage for authentication.

The constituent is that portion determination are ways astir these things, implementing them involves a ton of work. And unfortunately, present that eSIM has taken over, it’s not arsenic elemental arsenic conscionable popping a SIM paper into my iPhone if I needed it for immoderate of these things and past dropping it backmost successful the Light Phone for day-to-day life. And due to the fact that I wasn’t capable to afloat springiness myself implicit to the Light lifestyle, I didn’t truly get to acquisition its benefits successful a large way.

But, for a fewer weeks, I near my iPhone astatine location erstwhile I near the location arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable and determination was thing freeing astir the implicit deficiency of notifications and wide siren-call for attraction that I usually woody with. It’s thing that has stuck with maine adjacent arsenic I shifted backmost to my iPhone for regular use. I mightiness not beryllium acceptable to afloat interruption my addiction to my smartphone, but arsenic they say, the archetypal measurement is admitting you person a problem.