It’s time for mobile phones to change again. Fun-looking gadgets with eye-catching transparent exteriors and LED “glyph” systems were back with the Phone 1, then the Phone 2 and the Phone 2a, and now more phone makers are looking to break away from the monolithic glass status quo.
The latest mobile phone trend that I’m 100% on board with is the scroll wheel: Yes, it’s actually a tactile disc that spins around.
Earlier this week, boutique phone maker Light unveiled the Light Phone III. Designed as a less intrusive alternative to the iPhone and Android, the third generation of the minimalist phone addresses many of the complaints people had about the Light II. It loses the E Ink display of its predecessor but adds modern features like a camera, USB-C, 5G, a fingerprint reader, NFC, and a flashlight.
Check out the big, sturdy clickable wheel on the Light Phone III.
Light
But what caught my eye was the Light Phone III’s “clickable wheel.” According to Light, the wheel can be used to adjust the brightness of the phone’s screen, and when clicked, it turns on the flashlight. As far as I can tell, those are its only two functions. I’d love to see Light make it customizable or add more functionality, like the action buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro.
The wheels on the Light Phone III are no joke.
Light
The wheel brings back memories of old PDAs and BlackBerry phones that had scroll wheels or “jog dials” for navigating through software (I had a Sony Clié PDA and loved using the wheel to scroll through primitive documents and early e-books).
The Light Phone III isn’t the only phone bringing back the tactical scroll wheel: Nothing’s budget-oriented sub-brand CMF is teasing a smartphone with a wheel, the CMF Phone 1.
The wheel on the CMF Phone 1 (here’s a leaked image of the whole phone) is placed in the corner, which makes me wonder what it’s used for – it’s a strange location for a wheel that you use to scroll through websites and e-books. CMF’s official X account posted this teaser.suggesting that it’s “reinventing the wheel.” The CMF Phone 1 will also appear in black or grey colorways, rather than the sub-brand’s signature bright orange.
The ever-hyped Nothing co-founder and CEO Carl Pei had this to say about the CMF Phone 1 teaser:
We are excited to see what happens when these technologies are applied to new market segments: if the Phone (2a) made an impact on the mid-range market, we expect the CMF Phone 1 to have an even bigger impact on the budget segment.
Wheels have always been part of CMF’s DNA: the company’s Neckband Pro wireless headphones, for example, feature a rotating wheel for adjusting volume.
All I can say is that the wheels are somethingSome users on Reddit have speculated that the wheel could be used to control settings like volume (which would make sense), or even camera zoom (which also makes sense, but seems unlikely). As long as the wheel is actually useful and only functions like turning the Digital Crown on the OnePlus Watch 2, it could revolutionize a very stagnant smartphone industry.
The Rabbit R1 also comes with an analog scroll wheel.
Photo: Raymond Wong
Phone manufacturers aren’t the only ones feeling nostalgic about analog wheels. Rabbit’s R1 uses a scroll wheel to navigate rabbitOS, despite many consumer complaints. Rabbit founder and CEO Jesse Lyu said that with the R1, he wanted to pay homage to Teenage Engineering products that focused on tactile inputs like buttons, dials, and switches instead of touchscreens.
Either way, I support this trend: add scroll wheels and dials to all new phones. I’ve long hoped that Apple would add the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown to the iPhone, add Touch ID to the face, and add all the smartwatch ECG functionality there as well. Use your scroll wheel to control all your gadgets!
