Kyocera has developed a washable, soap-proof smartphone for germaphobes

Shawn Knight

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Germaphobes, listen up! Japanese electronics maker Kyocera has developed a smartphone that’s not only water-proof but soap-proof. That means after a busy day out on the job site or camping over the weekend, you can lather up the device and give it a good cleaning just as you would your hands.

The oddly-named Digno Rafre features a 5-inch HD TFT LCD display, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of local storage (expandable via microSD card slot). It packs a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 3,000mAh battery and ships with Android 5.1 Lollipop. The hardware itself isn’t anything special; it’s the soap-friendly technology that’s most appealing here.

As you may know, smartphones are one of the filthiest objects we handle on a daily basis. In 2012, The Wall Street Journal had a lab test eight randomly selected phones from a Chicago office for a story on germs.

All of the phones were found to have abnormally high levels of coliforms which is a bacteria indicating fecal contamination (thankfully, none showed signs of E.coli or staphylococci). Dr. Donald Hendrickson, president of HML Labs and professor emeritus of medical microbiology at Ball State University, said the results suggest a lack of hand-washing and proper hygiene.

Kyocera doesn’t yet have plans to bring the Digno Rafre overseas; no word yet on whether or not they’ll license out the soap-proof technology, either.

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The money would probably be better spent on some therapy.

That said the advertisement is the funniest thing I have seen this week.
Oddly enough, this appeals to me. I often wash my phone and PC keyboard yet I'm the only one who touches them. Soap is cheaper than therapy.
 
Oddly enough, this appeals to me. I often wash my phone and PC keyboard yet I'm the only one who touches them. Soap is cheaper than therapy.

That all depends on how long the therapy takes ;)

Soap can get expensive after a lifetime of buying far more than the norm :D
 
I don't get the whole germ thing. I think part of the problem with all the bugs running around is our inability to understand what ANTIBODIES are for.
No, don't pick up dog turds and shove them in your mouth, but going overboard about touching, sitting, or anything else is part of the problem. Over prescribed antibiotics when they weren't needed for "a cold", and now we have little critters that aren't knocked out by them.
Let yourself catch a cold, flu or sniffles once in a while. Yeah, it sucks to be sick, but, your body builds up a defense mechanism called ANTIBODIES in case the next time the bugs get you, it won't be as bad.
 
I already do this with my Galaxy S5... never had a problem. What more goes into making it "soap proof" versus water proof?
 
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