Balmuda is a design company from Japan known for creating a premium-looking toaster, laptop stand, and now, a cool-looking smartphone (depending on what looks cool to you).
Aptly called the Balmuda Phone, this device features a small 4.9-inch screen. As per CEO Gen Terao, they went with a compact design since a lot of smartphones in the market today are large and hard to use with one hand.
It also features a curved back design for better ergonomics. Plus, a sleek Balmuda logo on the back. Despite its small size, the brand is not gunning for the smallest phone award as it’s 13.7mm at its thickest side. However, it should feel really nice in the hands, especially since it only weighs 138g, while most phones averages at around 180g
The hardware on the inside is not too shabby, either. It’s powered by a decent Snapdragon 765 processor with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There’s a 2,500mAh battery that charges via a USB Type-C wired or wireless Qi charger.
To match the design, Balmuda dressed the Android 11 with their own camera, notes, calendar, and notes apps. Plus, a couple of gesture toggles, swipe interfaces, and matching themes.
For a streamlined design, it only has a single 48-megapixel camera on the back, together with the speakers, LED flash, and a minimalistic-looking fingerprint scanner. An 8-megapixel selfie camera is in a punch-hole on the top right of the screen.
The Balmuda Phone has a price of JPY104,800 (around Php45,900) and is now available for sale in Japan.