Today, Balmuda Technologies, a new division created by Japanese company Balmuda,a cult brand for electric home appliances with a minimalistic design, announced the release of its first 5-G compatible android smartphone.
This is the first smartphone launched by the company. The price of a sim-free (unlocked) model retails for 104,800 yen, 6,000 yen more than a similar 5-G compatible iPhone 13 model or 18,000 yen more than an iPhone 13 mini version. This may sound a lot for a phone with midrange specs.
When you get this phone, you are essentially paying a few thousand yen more for the design than the features. So if you are expecting value-added features cooler than the iPhone 13, you may be disappointed. It has one feature though not found in rival brands – it allows user to open apps with fewer moves.
Balmuda says in a press release that its new smartphone was specifically designed for portability and elegance. With the size of smartphones in the market increasingly getting wider and bigger, it wants to carve a niche in the market by targeting people with preference for a palm size device. It has a very sharp 4.9-inch 16:9 1080p display and is a bit similar to a 4.7-inch iPhone SE except that the display is just slightly bigger.
The Balmuda Phone has a thickness of 13.7mm thick at the center which makes it feel just the right size and with smooth rounded corners. The single large camera comes with a 48-megapixel sensor and for selfie purposes, an 8-megapixel selfie camera.
The phone’s specs:
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 Ram: 6GB Storage: 128GB Battery 2,500mAh Charging: Wireless capable Case: Plastic
Whether you should buy this phone is subjective. It all comes down to how much of the features in this phone will keep up with your “needs”, assuming you can afford to splurge a few thousand yen more. If you want to test the phone, visit Balmuda’s first showroom in Aoyama opening on Nov. 19.
