For those that prefer having a compact, handy and a pocketable smartphone, well, there is a new beauty out there you would love to check out soon. If you’re one of this category of people, Japanese Kyocera has launched a new smartphone that has the same footprint as a credit card and is claimed to be the “world’s thinnest and lightest smartphone” with 4G LTE connectivity.
With a 2.8-inch display, the Kyocera KY-01L dwarves even the Palm phone launched earlier this week with a 3.3-inch display panel. The Kyocera KY-01L has an E-Ink display much like the Amazon Kindle ebook reader. However, the Kyocera KY-01L does not have front or rear cameras. The phone will be released sometime in late November.
The phone itself comes in at 5.3mm thick and weighs a measly 47g, making it also one of the lightest devices around. On top of that, it boasts of a 380mAh battery, which should be more than enough for a phone with an epaper display.
There is some debate about whether or not this is really the thinnest phone out there. As The Verge notes, the 2016 Moto Z came in at only 5.2mm — though that excludes the camera bump. Before that, there was the Oppo R5, which came in at a tiny 4.9mm thick. That said, none of those phones offer the same adorable basic-ness as the KY-O1L.
The official product page of the handset claims that there is zero power consumption on standby mode. It will be exclusive to the Japanese market, available only on NTT Docomo’s network so don’t expect to get your hands on the phone anytime soon if you don’t live there.
The Kyocera KY-O1L comes at 32,000 yen, which equates to around $300.