Balmuda to release small smartphones like "Kawahara no Ishi" on November 26--104,800 yen-CNET Japan

On November 16th, Balmuda announced the 5G smartphone "BALMUDA Phone".

Mr. Terao to announce

The "A101BM" series handled by Softbank as a domestic telecommunications carrier and the SIM-free model "X01A" series are available. Reservations will be accepted from November 17th at SoftBank dealers, SoftBank online shops, Balmuda online stores, etc. nationwide, and will be released on November 26th. The selling price (tax included) is 104,800 yen. At the time of product application, SIM-free model purchasers can select "BALMUDA Phone Care," which covers the device for two years for 24,200 yen (tax included).

Announced BALMUDA Phone

BALMUDA Phone is the first product of the new brand "BALMUDA Technologies" in the area of ​​IT equipment and related services.

The size is about 123 mm in height x 69 mm in width x 13.7 mm in depth, and weighs 138 g. The housing consists of only curved lines, including the active area of ​​the display. It is said that consideration was given to avoiding straight parts so that the size and shape would be easy to hold when held in the hand.

Considered to be easy to hold

Equipped with a 4.9-inch full HD panel and CPU "Qualcomm Snapdragon 765", the built-in memory is 128GB of ROM and 6GB of RAM. The interface is "USB Type-C", the battery is 2500mAh, and it supports wireless charging, "NFC Type-A / B / F (FeliCa)", IPX4 (waterproof), IP4X, etc.

Equipped with a power button with a fingerprint authentication function on the back. The OS is "Android 11", and the camera has about 48 million pixels on the back and 8 million pixels on the front. Available in two colors, black and white. In the future, we plan to offer at least one OS upgrade and a security update for 24 months from the release date.

A camera and a power button that doubles as a fingerprint authentication function are located on the back.

The panel on the back was developed with the aim of "stones falling in the river". Mr. Gen Terao, President and Chief Designer of Balmuda, said, "The more you use it like leather or wood, instead of the current smartphone terminal that deteriorates over the course of three months and one year after you buy it. I gave it a special finish to give it a taste. I want you to use it for half a year or a year. "

The back panel showing the commitment

Originally developed "memo" and "computer" apps

Mr. Terao explained that in addition to the housing, the "home screen" installed as a basic application, "scheduler", "calculator", "camera", "memo", and "clock" are also features. It is provided as a BALMUDA Phone dedicated app that pursues simple yet comfortable use so that you can reach what you want to do with intuitive operation in the shortest time.

On the home screen, you can set your own commands for the "tap control" that taps the upper left of the screen and the "personal stripe" that swipes to trace the two-color stripe, in addition to arranging excerpts of the basic applications. You can make a call or launch a map with just a tap or swipe.

Various commands can be linked to the tap to the upper left of the screen displayed as a circle. You can customize the color and display contents of the home screen.

With the scheduler app, the display range can be expanded or contracted from one day to several days, one week, one month, or one year by "pinch operation" that enlarges or reduces the screen with two fingers. You can grasp each schedule in an instant. The 1-day to 1-week display also displays the weather and temperature, which is useful when checking the schedule. It can also be synchronized with external schedule data such as the "Google" calendar.

Expand and contract the schedule to be displayed by pinch operation

With the calculator app, you can switch between 3-digit comma display and Chinese character display, and display the calculation history. It also has a "exchange" mode that allows you to calculate exchange rates at current rates such as dollars, euros, pounds and yuan.

Convert to dollars, euros, pounds, yuan, etc.

In the memo app, each memo is displayed in the "tray". The color of the edges of the memo can be changed and is visually memorable. You can pinch to enlarge or reduce the tray or memo, and change the location of the memo, so you can quickly find the memo you are looking for.

You can organize your notes in the tray and stretch the display.

In addition, the clock app has a rotating bezel inspired by divers' watches. In addition, all functions can be used on the home screen.

The camera app is equipped with a "cooking" mode that makes good use of the know-how of Balmuda's cooking team.

BALMUDA Phone dedicated app

"Two reasons" that Balmuda dared to make a smartphone

Mr. Terao explained two reasons that led to the product development.

The first is that smartphones in the world have become too uniform. "There are different types of iPhones and Android devices, but they look almost the same to me. I felt like there was no" freedom of choice "in the world of smartphones," he said.

The second reason is the ever-expanding screen size of smartphones. "In the history of smartphones for more than a dozen years, the screen size has increased from 3 inches to 6 inches, and the area has increased more than 2.25 times. I have such a large board in my ear, but we (how to use it) ) Is so smart? ”(Mr. Terao)

In developing BALMUDA Phone, we created various designs in 0.1 inch increments from 4.5 inches to 5.5 inches. He returned as a designer for the first time in more than a dozen years and described it as his self-confident work that he drew his own lines.

He says he drew a line himself