This is Blloc. It’s a minimalist smartphone with a monochromatic display so it can get more life out of its 3100 mAh battery. It has many of the same features as your current iPhone or Android smartphone — including a 5.5-inch display, a great camera (13-megapixel, capable of shooting 4k video at 30fps), 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage, fast-charging ability via USB-C, Bluetooth 4.0 and a headphone jack — but it’s really designed to minimize distractions so you actually spend less time on it. Instead of losing mindless minutes (or hours) each day scrolling through your Instagram, Twitter or Apple News feeds, Blloc unifies your apps into a single timeline, which it calls The Root. Essentially, the smartphone is meant to help you become a more efficient, more productive version of yourself.
“Instead of multiple distractions we aim for focus,” the company’s website states. “Instead of fragmented conversations, we strive for continuity and fluidity. Booking your flight, checking the weather or ordering an Uber, it all happens in one place, the Root.” Blloc, which runs a custom operating system that’s built on top of Android 8.1, will eventually work most of your everyday apps. At launch, the smartphone will work with a number of apps, including Spotify, Google Maps, Facebook Messenger, Uber and WhatsApp (to name a few).
Blloc is currently available for pre-order and costs $423. No official release date has been announced.
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