r/unihertz

I've been using the Titan 2 Elite as my primary phone for a week now, coming from an iPhone 15.

The main reason I bought it is pretty simple: I miss BlackBerry.

I also wanted my phone to feel a bit more like a tool again. Less mindlessly scrolling Reels, more actually doing stuff on it. The physical keyboard obviously plays a huge part in that, but having Android and all the freedom to customize things, use tools like Codex, Shizuku, etc. has also been really nice.

So far, I genuinely love this thing.

The size and weight are great, the screen is nice, performance is fast, and the keyboard gets better every day as I get used to it. I'm using Pastiera as my keyboard and that has helped a lot.

The camera also surprised me. I expected it to be one of the compromises of buying a phone like this, but it's actually pretty decent. With the GCam port it's even better, and I'd definitely recommend trying that.

Battery life has been perfectly fine for me too. I don't really have anything to complain about there.

There are, however, quite a few software quirks that I think Unihertz could improve. Some are small, but together they would make the phone feel much more polished.

App switching

When swiping to the previous app, I can only seem to switch between the two most recent apps. On iPhone you can keep swiping through several previous apps without opening the full app switcher.

Here I have to actually open the app switcher if I want to go further back.

Tap status bar to scroll to top

I really miss this from iOS.

On iPhone, tapping the top of the screen/status bar brings you back to the top in almost every app. On the Titan/Android this seems to work almost nowhere.

There are a lot of useful features hidden in Settings

Scroll Assist is one example, but I've found quite a few features during this first week that aren't enabled by default or aren't immediately obvious.

If you don't actually go through all the settings and experiment, you're probably missing quite a bit of what this phone can do.

I can't even remember all the things I've enabled at this point.

Keyboard backlight turns off way too quickly

This one is weird for a keyboard phone.

There is a setting for it, but it's fairly hidden, and even then I believe 30 seconds is the maximum.

I'd really like an option like:

"Keep keyboard backlight on while screen is on."

That just seems much more logical.

Face unlock is nice to have, but needs some tweaking

I didn't initially realize face unlock was available, so finding that was a nice surprise.

It works, but I definitely recommend enabling the option that prevents it from automatically skipping the lockscreen.

Otherwise you pick up the phone to check the time or notifications and you're immediately thrown past the lockscreen.

Fingerprint sensor is almost TOO good

The fingerprint reader itself works really well.

The problem is that it's so sensitive that I regularly touch it while putting the phone in my pocket and accidentally unlock the phone again while it's already going into my pocket.

Apparently there's an update coming that should improve this, so hopefully that solves it.

Notifications take up a LOT of space

This isn't necessarily a Titan-specific issue, but it's much more noticeable because of the smaller display.

A notification popping up while you're using the phone takes up a pretty huge part of the screen.

I've already disabled "Enhanced notifications" because I don't need the additional suggested replies etc. taking up even more space.

I also really miss the option to have notifications not vibrate or make a sound while the device is actively unlocked.

I'm literally looking at the screen. I can see the notification. I don't also need the phone to vibrate or chime.

Gemini doesn't automatically start listening

When I hold the Home button, I'd like Gemini to immediately start in voice mode.

Basically: hold Home -> "Set a timer for 10 minutes."

Instead it opens Gemini ready for text input. This feels especially weird because other assistants can immediately start listening, but then don't have the same access to things like Android timers.

I really want the upcoming Always-On Display update

From what I understand, AOD was included in the update that was pulled, so I'm looking forward to trying it when the update returns.

Right now checking the phone without unlocking it is a bit awkward.

I'd also really like physical keyboard presses to wake the screen. Currently I have to press the power button or double tap the display.

On a keyboard phone, pressing a key to wake it feels like it should be an obvious option.

The stock IR remote app doesn't fit the screen properly

The IR blaster itself is a really nice addition.

But the stock remote app is... not great.

Parts of the UI don't properly fit the Titan's display and the app just feels awkward to use. That's especially strange considering it's a stock app shipping specifically with this phone.

Alt/Shift placement

Personally, I would prefer Left Alt and Shift to be switched.

I know I can manually remap them, but I feel like doing that will just confuse my muscle memory even more, so for now I'm forcing myself to adapt to the default layout.

This one is obviously just personal preference.

Typing into search/text fields is still a little inconsistent

This is something I think could be really good with a physical keyboard.

Ideally, when there's an obvious search field or text field on screen, just starting to type should focus it automatically.

Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't.

WhatsApp is an interesting example. Typing automatically focuses the message field, which is great, but once the text field is focused I can't properly scroll through the conversation using the keyboard anymore. I first have to press Back to unfocus it.

I'd love to see some more consistent behavior here. The keyboard should feel like an integral part of navigating Android, not just something that replaces the on-screen keyboard.

Overall

Despite this being a pretty long list of complaints, my actual opinion of the phone after a week is very positive.

I love it.

There's a lot to customize and discover, the physical keyboard is genuinely fun to use, and I'm already getting faster at typing on it. Pastiera helps a lot too.

More importantly, it has accomplished what I wanted from it: my phone feels more like an interesting tool again instead of just a glass rectangle designed for scrolling.

Most of my complaints are software things that could realistically be improved, which is also why I'm posting them.

And apparently the design still has some pull.

In just my first week I've already had two random people ask me something along the lines of:

"Is that a BlackBerry?"

"No."

"...what is it? I need one."

So yeah. Seven days in, I'm keeping it.