Kyocera's germaphobe dream phone finally gets a successor

To the absolute delight of germaphobes everywhere (well, or in Japan at least), in late 2015 Kyocera brought us the world’s first soap-proof phone in the form of the Digno Rafre. Now they are back again, this time dropping the “Digno” part of the branding to bring us the new Kyocera Rafre.

The original model rocked pretty ordinary specs, aside from its soap-immune gift, and the 2017 iteration is no different. Under the hood is a 5-inch 720p display, an unspecified CPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, and a 3000 mAh battery. You also get Android 7.0 Nougat, a 13MP rear cam, and a 5MP front cam. It’s also worth noting that Kyocera Smart Sonic Receiver tech is present here, meaning it uses vibrations to transmit sound to the eardrum.

As for its water and soap proof specs? The Rafre has MIL-STD-810G certification, alongside IPX5, IPX8, and IPG5X ratings. Basically that means it is dust, water, and shock resistant. Kyocera also says it can handle both regular and body soap, in case you like jumping in the tub with your phone of course…

All in all, this is obviously a very niche device catered towards those who are going to be using their phone in scenarios where it could get pretty dirty and germy such as the kitchen, bathroom, a lab setting, hospital, and so forth. As far as the first situation is concerned, Kyocera seems to be aiming here especially, as the phone comes with its own special cooking app built in.

No official pricing details have been released at this point but judging by the former model, we’d say a price range around $400 to $500 wouldn’t be completely crazy. It’s also worth mentioning the odds of finding this outside of Japan will be slim to none.

If this phone came to your region, would you consider it or is this a silly gimmick and nothing more? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments.