The Ikko MindOne Pro is a smartphone that tries to be different. With a square-ish screen, a flip-up camera that doubles as a kickstand, and a keyboard accessory reminiscent of the BlackBerry era, it promises a unique experience. Unfortunately, as Allison Johnson's review for The Verge details, the phone is a collection of good ideas that don't quite work together. Priced at $499 (currently $429 on the company's website), the MindOne Pro is made by Shenzhen-based Ikko, a company previously known for audio accessories. The phone ships globally and positions itself as both a small smartphone and an AI gadget. But after extensive testing, the verdict is clear: this is a phone with charm but too many flaws to recommend.

Let's start with the hardware. The MindOne Pro is delightfully small, a refreshing change from the ever-growing slabs that dominate the market. Its screen is not perfectly square but close, and the body is slightly rectangular. The flip-up camera is a clever design: it acts as the main camera and can be flipped forward for selfies, and even propped open to serve as a kickstand. This is genuinely useful for watching videos or video calls. The keyboard case adds a physical keyboard, a magnetic ring, and a headphone jack — a nod to the bygone era of tactile typing. On paper, these features sound appealing, especially for those nostalgic for smaller phones or physical keyboards. But the reality is disappointing.

The phone gets uncomfortably warm during initial setup, and even after a week of use, it heats up more than most modern smartphones. This is not just an inconvenience; it points to inefficient thermal management, likely due to the processor or firmware. Battery life is equally poor. In a test, the battery dropped from the mid-90s to the 60s in just over an hour of moderate use — scrolling social media, using Google Maps, streaming music over Wi-Fi. That's a third of the battery drained in under two hours, which is unacceptable for a daily driver. Even with careful usage, users will struggle to get through a full day without a charge. For a phone that markets itself as a minimalist or weekend device, the expectation is that it can at least last a day of light use, but the MindOne Pro fails even that.

The camera is another pain point. The flip-up design is novel, but the image quality is poor. In daylight, photos are passable, but under indoor lighting, colors shift towards an unnatural green tint. The camera's processing is inconsistent, making it unreliable for capturing memories. The phone's square screen also hampers the user experience. Mobile websites and apps are designed for vertical rectangles, and the square display crops content awkwardly. The onscreen keyboard takes up more than half the screen area, leaving little room for actual content. Ikko offers some mitigations — a toggle for resolution and a vertical aspect ratio mode with black bars — but these reduce the usable screen area or require constant attention. The result is a phone that fights its user at every turn.

The keyboard case, while a thoughtful addition, is underwhelming. The keys are small and stiff, making typing slower and more error-prone than using the virtual keyboard. Even those who once loved BlackBerry keyboards may find this implementation lacking. The headphone jack is nice, but it doesn't compensate for the case's poor ergonomics. The AI launcher is another head-scratcher. It includes a chatbot that can switch between LLMs and a notes app, but it's unclear what value it adds. When asked about sensitive topics like Hong Kong's status, the chatbot responded in Spanish and refused to answer. The global eSIM, free for the AI launcher but paid for messaging, had slow connectivity in testing. These features feel tacked on rather than integrated.

Context is important here. The MindOne Pro is part of a trend of minimalist phones and AI gadgets that try to reduce screen addiction. Devices like the Light Phone offer limited functionality to encourage users to disconnect. But the MindOne Pro takes a different approach: it allows full app access but makes the experience so poor that users might use them less. This is a flawed premise. The best minimalist phone is arguably a cellular smartwatch, or simply a small, well-optimized rectangular phone. The iPhone Mini proved that there's demand for compact phones with modern features, but no company has filled that void. The Ikko MindOne Pro tries, but its square screen creates more problems than it solves. Users who need to use apps like Uber or Instagram will find the experience frustrating, and even those seeking a break from mindless scrolling will still struggle with basic tasks like typing a text or reading a webpage.

In the end, the Ikko MindOne Pro is a product of good intentions. It's charming to look at and the flip-up camera is genuinely fun. But overheating, poor battery life, a subpar camera, and a screen that fights the internet make it hard to recommend. The keyboard case doesn't rescue it. The AI features are half-baked. For $499, there are far better options, including refurbished iPhone SEs or the Asus Zenfone series. The square-ish phone is a nice idea, but execution is everything, and the MindOne Pro falls short. Maybe the world really does need a small, rectangular phone with a USB-C port and decent battery life. Until that phone arrives, the Ikko MindOne Pro remains a curious experiment rather than a practical tool.

Source:The Verge News