There’s a new Banana Phone, and it can play ‘Bananaphone’
3Reported today in The Verge.
There’s a new Banana Phone, and it can play ‘Bananaphone’
It’s new tech season. New iPhones, new Pixels, new Surface devices, new Echos... and a new Banana Phone.
Now, before I tell you more about the biggest tech gadget of 2019, I want to be perfectly clear that the Banana Phone isn’t a phone — it’s a Bluetooth headset that connects to your phone, and you can use it to take calls. But it looks like a banana!
And soon, it’s getting a refresh. Earlier today, I spotted FCC filings for an updated model of the Banana Phone, so I called up Brian Brunsing, president of Banana Phone LLC, to learn more about what’s new. Turns out, it has some meaningful updates.
The biggest new feature: the new Banana Phone will apparently be able to play music over a speaker that’s louder than the original model’s. So yes, you can now play Raffi’s “Bananaphone” on a literal banana phone.
Don’t expect the new Banana Phone to be a Sonos replacement, though — Brunsing told me the new model isn’t designed to compete in the speaker space. And honestly, I don’t really care how it sounds compared to a Sonos. “Bananaphone” on a banana phone. Come on.
Brunsing also tells me that the new Banana Phone has an improved battery life of 20 hours of talk time, up from 10 hours. And the price remains the same at $39.99.
If the new improvements are enough for you to take the plunge, Brunsing tells me you’ll be able to get your hands on the new version sometime around Black Friday.
The first Banana Phone launched as an Indiegogo campaign in 2017. My colleagues Jake Kastrenakes and Chaim Gartenberg tested a call on that original model, although the quality didn’t seem to be very good at all.
We tested the Banana Phone and it was awful.
We’re not sure if the new one will be much better for talking to your friends. But if you’ve always wanted to have a banana-shaped phone that — and I can’t stress this enough — can actually play the song “Bananaphone,” you’ll be able to do that very soon.