Small business owners rejoice! The Square Handheld, unveiled today, is the company’s most powerful, portable point-of-sale (POS) device yet. It’s designed to help small business owners, particularly those with tight budgets, streamline operations
About the size of a smartphone but a bit thicker, weighing 311 grams and less than an inch thick, it’s easy to carry and slips into a pocket. It has a 6.2-inch Gorilla Glass touchscreen that resists spills and splashes, with an IP54 rating to protect against drops, water, and dust.
- With Square Terminal, you can ring up sales, accept payments, and print receipts, all with one device. Use it at the counter or ring up customers...
- Accept all major credit and debit cards and pay one low rate with no hidden fees and no long-term contracts.
- Process chip cards in just two seconds.
The device handles tap-and-dip credit or debit card payments, scans QR codes and barcodes, and has a 16-megapixel camera for taking product photos to update item lists. Think of it as the Swiss Army Knife of POS devices, as it can also track inventory, process orders, and take payments at tables, making it great for restaurants and shops.
Battery life? It lasts all day, staying reliable during busy times, but Handheld still needs a wireless internet connection to work, tying into its cloud-based POS system for instant data access.
The device is just $399, and it comes with Square’s free POS software plan, so you can keep your costs low. Want more features? They’ve got an optional Plus plan for $29 a month. The free plan gives you a merchant account and handles payment processing, which is awesome for startups or small shops. their transaction fees are pretty fair, though they’ve gone up just a bit to 2.6% plus 15 cents for in-person payments on the free plan.
Square Handheld is just what we needed. It’s tremendously helpful to place orders instantly at each table instead of waiting at a counter and entering multiple tables’ orders at once, which introduces wait time to parties that placed their order earlier. The device is reliable, comfortable to hold, and fits perfectly into our aprons. The battery is dependable, lasting through two service staff shifts, so we no longer need to worry about plugging it in between lunch and dinner. And we’re saving on paper receipt costs, going from 100% print to 75% digital,” said Trevor Ledergerber, owner of Berkeley, CA’s La Mediterranee.
