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While touch screens have their plusses, perhaps one of the more annoying minuses for some is the smudges that they collect. By the end of the day, iPhones, tablets and other touch screen devices can look like they were used as a plate for a fried chicken meal – unless you use your shirttail to wipe them off from time to time. But lime green and utterly ridiculous-looking Screen Sock aims to change all that. The one-size-fits-all digital debris debilitation device just slips over your finger (or thumb if you prefer) and lets you swipe away without leaving streaks and smudges on your screen. Perhaps the perfect gift idea for neat freaks, germaphobes, and those who feel it’s too much effort to use a cleaning cloth. For $10, backers get two finger socks and an expected delivery of April 2014.
Category: Cell Phone Accessories
The microscopic world is endlessly fascinating and always a great way to satisfy curiosity about the planet Earth, but microscopes are bulky, fragile, and expensive. The Micro Phone Lens is a surprisingly low-cost, simple method of keeping a microscope nearby at all times, because it attaches to the camera on any smartphone or device with a 5 megapixel or greater camera. This model is a follow-up to a previous campaign by inventor Thomas Larson, offering 150x magnification compared to the previous model’s 15x. This simple, intuitive microscope alternative starts at just $29 for the lens alone and will be available by July 2014.
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iPhone cables often get a lot of abuse, and it can be a pricey hassle when they break. A cord that frays, bubbles or kinks might be able to be fixed with that all-purpose tool known as duck tape or the high-tech touch of Sugru, but what if there were a way to prevent it from happening at all? That would be where Tug comes in. The rubber protector slips onto your iPhone cord and gives added stability and strength. One drawback here is that it is presently only available for Lightning cables befitting the Phone 5s, 5c, iPad mini, and iPad Air, but plans to develop it for Android and previous iPhone models are in the works. For $11, a backer gets one Tug and an estimated delivery of August 2014.
The Premise. Phones and other essential items take up valuable space in pockets and purses. They also cause for a messier lifestyle with everything floating around willy-nilly.
The Product. Snap offers a better way to keep your life organized. Snap is an accessory for your phone, tablet or any other portable device that attaches to other essential items such as money clips or earphones. This nifty product can even be used as a mount to put on bicycles or the backs of car seats. Using a male/female connector system, one side sticks to the device using a strong adhesive while the other side clicks into place.
The Pitch. Snap’s snappy video is silly and fresh, making fun of “too cool for school” campaigns. The creators are smart and use the rest of the campaign to articulate problems they’ve encountered with other mobile accessories and say how their product solves those problems. They really emphasize the fact that Snap isn’t the type of accessory that changes with each new device, but that it is universal and adaptable. Pictures towards the end of the campaign show different ways to use the product. These creators from Utah hope to raise $40,000 in a 45-day run on Kickstarter.
The Perks. Snap keeps it simple with only four reward tiers. Right now, Snap’s creators are only offering the wallet and earbud attachments separately. Both go for early-bird prices of $10 and later-bird prices of $12 with estimated delivery set at May 2014.
The Potential. Snap presents an efficient way to organize your life with tons of different possibilities. Lately, lots of other products have been trying to do just that. The Sinch is a small accessory that keeps your earbuds untangled, but can only be used with earbuds. The Nerd Herder gadget wallet is a more elaborate, feminine item that can hold a phone, earbuds, money, credit cards and other things all together. Snap seems to be the most compact of these attachment accessories, but one drawback may be that only one attachment can be used at a time. Still, its universality is welcome in the mobile accessory market where most items are expensive and can only be used with one type of device.
Using a mobile device gets difficult when we need two hands to do all the cool things a phone can do. SmartBandStand combines the handsfree nature of a wrist mount with the ease of a regular mount. This spider-like product clips onto your phone and either hangs out on your wrist or sits on a surface. The screen can be tilted up to make viewing easier. The SmartBandStand goes for $30 on Indiegogo, but oddly doesn’t get backers a stand itself, just a coupon for one by September 2014. This clawing mount/wrist accessory will need a staggering and apparently random $209,000 to compete with the other tons of phone mounts and wrist attachments out on the market.
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With the cycling enthusiast and computer savvy in mind, My Task adds additional practicality to your phone case. Trading a wee bit of girth for the convenience of a multitoo, the iPhone 5/5 case has a built-in sliding tray that holds tools that assist you with typical tasks that you might encounter on a day-to-day basis associated with cycling and computers, perhaps for a quick repair if someone doesn’t hear our Trigger Bell in time . However, the tools can be changed out so that the tray could hold other items such as change, a few business cards, spare key, jewelry or whatever suits your fancy. It’s made of polycarbonate and covered with a black or red soft-touch coating. For $50, a backer gets their choice of a black My Task Urban or My Task Bike and Jet and an expected delivery of June 2014.
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The four hundred billion dollar question posed in connection to this particular campaign via its video: Do you use your phone in the bathroom? Given the fact that 1.4 billion phones have been dropped in the toilet, there are apparently many who do. And the above noted amount is a rough total in losses. The Phone Sitter is a plastic phone mount that is specially designed to dock your phone on your bathroom wall while you dock yourself nearby for a more pressing matter. While it won’t actually do anything to prevent your phone’s demise should it go for a swim in the porcelain pool, the idea is that having a dedicated place to put one’s phone should help avoid positioning that leads to such unfortunate circumstances. The creator’s goal is to get this handy-dandy gadget mounted in every bathroom in America – even in your place of employment. (So much for hiding in the bathroom to escape the boss for a while.) For $30, a backer gets The Phone Sitter in their color choice with an expected delivery of June 2014. Or you could just leave it on the sink
Wireless just doesn’t seem to be enough anymore, people also want their phones and other devices operate handsfree. Introducing HeadWatch, a self-not-so-very smartwatch that lives on your wrist and communicates with your smartphone. This clip-to-be-square device features a touchscreen and is detachable from its wrist strap so as to to enable its awkward form to clip to your ear for easier phone calls. One HeadWatch goes for $169 at an early price on Indiegogo and $199 at a regular price. The product’s Portuguese creator hopes to raise a staggering $300,000 in a 60-day campaign.
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It seems that even if you do find a good place to store your earbuds, you’re still stuck with the annoying task of untangling them out before using. Hearkening back to the magnetic back that was one of the better features of the Zune premium earbuds, Nearbuds and Nearbuddy are small clasps that attach to the standard apple earPods to keep the gangly appendages better organized. When not in use, you can hang them up by sticking your earbuds to pretty much any metal surface. The product provides similar benefits to the Zipi, but are a lot more compact and let you hang your earbuds to the wall (for when you want to listen to some cool tunes, one would suppose). For $20, backers get a complete product with an expected deliver of August 2014.
What makes wearable technology so exciting is that it brings out the inner secret spy out of everybody. The Smarty Ring is back on Indiegogo to help those who missed it the first time pick one out before they hit the market. This sleek stainless steel ring can alert wearers of incoming calls, texts, emails, and even control music or take a photo among many, many other things. Like the device itself, the campaign materials ooze style and make this compact piece of tech look very desirable. The Smarty Ring is available without scrolling display for $175, or with scrolling for $275, and will ship out in May 2014.