In an increasingly wireless world, we still need a whole lot of wires to keep our devices charged. It can be difficult to remember your charging cord at all times and definitely inconvenient when you’re caught without it. Echo Connect aims to fix this problem. This product is a small, silicone keychain that syncs and charges your iPhone, iPod, iPad or even Android phone from anywhere. This British product is a slightly more stylish version of the Chargekey device made with the same idea in mind. Echo Connect costs backers $15 and hopes to raise $50,000 over 60 days on Indiegogo.
Tag: iPhone
They always say that it’s not good to leave your devices out in the sun. Now, it’s actually good for them! SunJack harnesses solar power to charge your iPhone or iPad. This black case comes in two wattages, 14 and 20, to charge several devices at once with only a few hours of sun. The SunJack isn’t the first crowdfunded product to harness our favorite star to charge out gadgets, but is definitely among the most powerful of these to date. The 14W version costs $100 and the 20W costs $200. SunJack has a $33,000 goal in a 33-day Kickstarter campaign.
Many people own a memory stick that lives on their key chains to carry around their files with them. The GoKey is like that, but on steroids. This small keychain has memory storage, a USB to charge your iPhone 5, Android or Windows phone, and Bluetooth capabilities to help locate your keys. One drawback is that, due to its small size, you’ll only be able to eek a couple of hours out of its charge. The Stiktag also helps people locate their keys, but this is a much more versatile product. A GoKey costs backers $39 at a base price; the developers seek $40,000 in a 31-day Indiegogo campaign.
The smartphone accessory market is constantly at odds with itself trying to create devices that protect phones and offer new features while also trying not to sacrifice the design of the phone itself or become too bulky. The Lunecase from Concepter is a thin, no-power iPhone case that secures the phone and uses electromagnetic waves to display notification icons on the back of the phone. Once attached, the Lunecase can immediately notify users of incoming calls or text messages with bright, rich icons that appear on the back of the case. Lunecase is launching at a price of $39 and will be ready in August of 2014.
We’re constantly attached to our iPhones and use them as cameras, recipe books, GPS’s and a million other things. The Fritzframe makes the iPhone even more versatile acting as a case, stand, video stabilizer and more. The case folds out so that it holds up the phone on any surface or hangs from a hook. Much like the Casio TRYX Digital Camera of yore, the Fritzframe makes it easy to take photos or videos from any angle. The lightweight aluminum Fritzframe only works with the iPhone 5 and costs backers $71 with an estimated delivery date of June 2014. This product has a modest $1,000 goal in its 45-day Indiegogo campaign.
We’ve all had that awful moment when our phone dies and we’re stuck without a way to charge it. With Buckle Charger, the answer lies just above your crotch. This portable charger lives right on a belt buckle and can charge any Android phone, iPhone or Bluetooth headset. It’s subtlety, convenience and portability make this product extremely appealing, much like the Carbon Watch. One Buckle Charger costs buckled backers $49 at an early price or $59 regularly with choice of leather color and three connectors. This product needs to raise $100,000 with its hilarious 40-day Indiegogo campaign.
The Premise. No matter how hard people try, it seems like once high school and university are complete, it’s hard to maintain the same level of friendship with people. As friends move away and professional and family lives become more prominent, keeping closely in touch with people grows more difficult.
The Product. The Feeling Skin is a case for iPhone 5 and 5S that aims to bring back that simple, honest level of communication by creating simple, easy-access notifications. The display light on the Feeling Skin glows either blue or red to show when friends are in a good or bad mood respectively. To display a mood, users record a video of their current location and situation and display a mood to it. For those that want to be proactive, a button is available at the bottom of the case to ping added friends to post their current mood. Additionally, the Feeling Skin acts as a battery pack for the iPhone, offering an additional 80% battery life.
The Pitch. The team at Twelve Monkeys Company are eager to show off how intuitive and easy using the Feeling Skin is to keep in touch with friends. The campaign explains something that isn’t addressed in the video — the Feeling Skin app is available on the major mobile platforms, but the skin itself is only available for iPhone 5 model phones at this point. Twelve Monkeys wants to raise $40,000 to complete tooling, testing, and mass production.
The Perks. Backers can get a Feeling Skin for just $49 as a limited deal. All rewards are expected to ship in July.
The Potential. The chances of the Feeling Skin finding a foothold in the mainstream market are pretty slim. At first, the idea of having a private little inner circle of great friends sharing videos and moments with each other sounds tempting, but like any social network, this one would inevitably be filled with people that sat in adjacent desks in homeroom. Having extra battery power is a nice add-on, because if it was just the mood network or the battery pack, there wouldn’t really be anything here worth buying. Everything this device does is pretty much already handled just fine, whether by phone call, text, Facebook, or Instagram. At least it allows users to charge an iPhone with a microUSB cable.
So you’re on vacation, getting ready to climb into bed and realize that you need to charge your iPhone. You don’t want to leave it in the car and risk vandalism and theft, but your hotel room’s outlets are either too near to the floor or way to close to the bathroom sink for your comfort. That’s where Chargearoo comes in handy. A slightly more evolved and customized version of this generic, throwaway promotional item, the charging gadget safely holds your phone in a built-in pocket that keeps it out of harm’s way. For $10, backers get their choice of white, red or green with an expected delivery date of May 2014.
Ever wanted to capture a candid moment with your iPhone camera, but ended up spoiling the scene when you were too obvious about taking the photo? COVR Photo is an iPhone case with a slide-able prism that fits over your camera, allowing you to take photos discreetly. You only need to point the top of the phone to the subject in order to take the photo, much like the Peek-I that allows you take photos in secret. One COVR Photo lens cases costs backers $55 with an estimated delivery date of September 2014. COVR hopes to raise $80,000 in a 33-day Kickstarter campaign.
Lensbaby has created a lot of fans with its creative lenses for pro photographers; now it’s bringing its sometimes-blurred focus to the world of smartphone photography. The LM-10 Sweet Spot creative focus lens attaches directly to your phone’s camera and accomplishes a cool blurred effect as you take your photo. As with many other add-on mini-lenses for the iPhone 4 and 5-series phones, it attaches magnetically. One of these special attachments goes for an early price of $40 with an estimated delivery date of July 2014. Lensbaby hopes to raise $20,000 in its 30-day campaign on Kickstarter.