Blloc wants to simplify your smartphone experience with a monochromatic screen

We love mobile phones at KnowTechie, and any innovative devices will garner our attention rather quickly. This time, it is from a minimalist device from startup Blloc, the BllocZero18.

Built on the Android 8.1 platform, it runs Blloc OS, which aims to collate all your conversations from disparate apps into one timeline. There are a few things here that deviate from the norm, starting with the fact that Blloc OS is built on a monochromatic design language, so by default, all your content will be black and white. You can temporarily turn a color display on by touching the fingerprint sensor. This should help with your focus, and also with battery life.

Image: Blloc

There’s also a 1-year phone insurance plan included, which should replace your handset for any reason during that time, including accidental damage. The rest of the phone is fairly standard for a device in this price range – a 5.5-inch IPS screen at 421ppi, 4GB RAM, 3100mAh battery with fast-charge, 64GB of storage onboard with a microSD slot for expandable storage.

It’s powered by a MediaTek Helio P23 CPU with an ARM A53 Cortex, presumably in big.LITTLE configuration. It also features a Sony EXMOR 13MP sensor for the back-facing camera, which is capable of 4K, 30fps video footage.

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The new images show a display notch, which might not be so jarring in the usual black and white mode of the display on the device. There’s a 3.5mm jack also, so don’t throw away your wired headsets yet.

Image: Blloc

The new hub for your apps is called Root, and it has a tiled UI that uses algorithms to pull relevant information from the apps so you can see, at-a-glance, what needs your attention. With so many apps and Android skins competing for your attention, this approach of paring things down to the basics will be interesting to see in practice.

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The Blloc phone available for pre-order right now on their website at 359 euros (418 USD), with provisional shipping dates in September. We’ve been talking to Blloc about getting a review unit, so hopefully, we’ll be bringing you an in-depth look at the device and the innovative UI at that time.

What do you think about the Blloc phone? Is it something that interests you? Let us know in the comments.

For more smartphone and mobile news, see:

• Xfinity Mobile shoots itself in the leg by throttling streaming resolution and hotspot speeds
• Hold the phone, a startup wants to launch a smartphone with nine lenses
• Huawei is pushing an update that will make it easier to play graphically-intensive games

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.