On February 14, Rakuten Mobile released a new smartphone product "Rakuten Hand 5G".It is a model with a sense of size that can be used with one hand, but the price has been raised about twice as much as the previous model.I explored why.
Rakuten Mobile sells its own brand smartphones.Manufacturers such as China are outsourced to manufacture, but are optimized for Rakuten networks, and have functions for Japan, such as Osaifu -Keitai using FeliCa.
Among them, Rakuten Hand is characterized by the narrow width that can be held with one hand.The new model maintains a sense of size of about 63 mm width while supporting 5G communication (SUB6), and according to Rakuten Mobile, it is "the most slim in 5G -compatible smartphones released in Japan".
In addition to 5G compatible, there are several differences in specifications.The processor has been changed from "Snapdragon 720g" to "Snapdragon 480".It is worrisome that it has changed from 700s to 400s, but it is a new generation of chips, and it is expected that the benchmark test score will be slightly lower.
The point that the usability has changed is 3.5mm earphone jack has been abolished.Rakuten Mobile explains that "we have pursued a simple design because there are alternatives such as Bluetooth earphones that are becoming mainstream these days."
Instead, a conversion adapter for USB Type-C is included in the main unit, and you can use wired earphones using this.
An interesting new feature is "Dual ESIM".The fact that physical SIM cards cannot be used has not changed, but it seems that the use method is likely to expand, such as assigning a plan of a different telecommunications carrier to two ESIMs.
One of the major complaints in the previous model Rakuten Hand was the update of the Android OS.Although the security patch has been distributed, the OS itself is undecided, as it is still Android 10 at the time of release.
On the other hand, Rakuten Hand 5G explains Rakuten Mobile, "We are planning to update Android OS in the future."It is said that it is a 5G -compatible entry model, but I would like to expect that it can be used for a long time due to updates.
The price is about twice from the previous model
The most worrisome thing about Rakuten Hand 5g is the price change.The previous model was 20,000 yen including tax from the beginning, and it was too cheap compared to the specifications, but the new model has been raised about 39,800 yen including tax.
Regarding the reasons for setting this price, Rakuten Mobile states that performance is improved, such as 5G compatible, camera performance, waterproof and dustproof, and ROM increase.In fact, the storage capacity is 64GB to 128GB, the camera is about 48 million pixels to about 64 million pixels, and the waterproof and dustproof performance has been enhanced from "IPX2 / IP5X" to "IPX6 / IP6X".。
In addition, I focused on "point reduction".By satisfying conditions such as new applications for Rakuten Mobile, points worth up to 20,000 yen are returned.In that case, the real price is 19,800 yen, and it is the same level as the previous model 20,000 yen.
Rakuten original terminals such as Rakuten Hand 5G are not exclusively for Rakuten, but can be used in other carriers.In the case of the previous model Rakuten Hand, "POVO2."0" was listed as a compatible model, and was trying to import Rakuten users.
Given these backgrounds, I feel that the price setting that can provide as large as possible can provide a price, so that we want to strengthen the set sales with the Rakuten line rather than selling it alone.
In addition, the previous model Rakuten Hand reduces the price by 7000 yen, and is sold for 12,980 yen including tax alone.Considering that the development of Rakuten's 5G area is still going to take some time, it has a great impression.According to Rakuten Mobile, this sale is "as long as possible," so if you are interested, you should consider it as soon as possible.
