The Banana Phone, it’s got…appeal
OK, let’s talk about the Banana Phone. This company hit me up on Twitter Wednesday of last week and asked if I wanted a Banana Phone.
Secretly this has been a desire of mine since I first heard the Rafi song, but I played it cool.
@nopking Paul, we would love to get Banana Phones for your office/sample testing/laughs and smiles/save gorillas. Where can we send them? pic.twitter.com/jsKHBSBj0d
— Banana Phone (@bananaphoneco) January 17, 2018
Coming in at just 23 words visions of banana tech flung through my head… also of everything ever written by Robert Anton Wilson, but that’s a whole ‘nother story involving the number 23 and pretty much a sidetrack.
The Banana Phone is a Bluetooth headset essentially. Take any mono earset and that’s what this is, but it’s a banana, and it doesn’t quite feel right talking on it due to the lack of an ear-divot. Not bad mind you, but when I whip out my Banana Phone to talk to someone I might have the ear portion off an inch or so. Maybe with use I’d get it down to a science. Maybe not.
As a headset, it’s got about 10 hours of battery life, you can trigger an assistant, and control volume. The speaker quality seems OK for talking. It’s a Banana. It’s a Bluetooth handset. It’s not a phone. That said, Banana Bluetooth Handset sounds significantly more like a band that just gave up trying to come up with a cool name.
Of course with something so kitchy there’s probably an added dimension, and in this case it’s an attempt to raise awareness of a charity called Gearing Up 4 Gorillas, which is a registered UK charity (id 1111663) that focuses on conservation efforts of mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park.
Checking out Mountain gorillas, there’s no mention of bananas in their diet. That’s more of a chimpanzee associated food. Oh well. Pick your primate battles.
Quickly checking Gearing Up 4 Gorillas, out it appears in the past 5 years (not including 2017 which hasn’t filed yet,) this charity has taken in £28,598 and accounted for the distribution of 99.45% of that funding (presumably to the park rangers in the eastern Congo they say they support).
The Banana Phone has made me realize this charity exists, and also that only 1% of the sales of the banana phone will go to the charity. So if you buy a $100 of Banana Phones, G4G is getting a dollar. Awareness raised, I’ll be dropping G4G some money as 1% of a review unit is only $0.0review.
I’m amused somewhat and appalled somewhat and it’s a banana headset so there you go.
Their website is here, it’s been working on and off all day for me so if you want to see more about it and it’s down, go to the Indiegogo campaign.
One thing to note, the packaging hides a charger cable in the bottom and it’s not evident.
I feel the whimsical and the charity to be a little of a dichotomy, but don’t mind what I say, I’ve got a banana in my ear.
