Tag: tablet

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Tablet Accessories

Compact Plinth tablet stand features pop-out legs, versatile device support

The Premise. These days everybody’s making the switch to tablets. The simple touch screen controls and mobile computing make any quarterly presentation, Skype call, or homework assignment a snap if the commercials are to be believed. But what they don’t show is each user endlessly fumbling, adjusting, and hunching over their tablet just to be able to type and see what they’re doing at the same time.

The Product. The Plinth looks to take all the guesswork out of buying a stand for a tablet. This pocket-sized stand (roughly the size of an iPhone) unfolds with a push of a button and is ready for immediate use. With rubber-padded feet, the Plinth seats the iPad, Nexus, Kindle Fire, or Galaxy tablets firmly in place at one of three adjustable viewing angles. The simple design boasts compatibility with any protective case on the market and even small-to-medium sized hard cover books. When the job is done, the Plinth folds up in a matter of seconds and fits right back in the pocket.

The Pitch. UK Inventor John Bull has a lot of tablets, and he shows off just how quickly setting up a Plinth is with any one of them. It’s hard not to be impressed as each tablet he has on his desk fits firmly in any of the Plinth’s 3 viewing angles. £21,000 (~$35,261) is what Bull needs to cover injection moulding, patents, marketing, and design.

The Perks. For £15 (just more than $25 American), backers can put a Plinth in their pocket in May 2014 without worrying about international shipping. Personalization comes at a roughly $15 jump in cost, whether it’s a name, personal message, or late Valentine’s gift.

The Potential. Universal stands on their own already litter the market by the thousands, but the Plinth’s compact size and clever opening mechanism make for a winning combination. Plinth already has interest from a distributor in the UK and companies that sell through Amazon, but any electronics store would be wise to keep plenty in stock, and the price tag is reasonable enough to make it a companion purchase with any tablet on the market.

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Input Tablet Accessories

CruxENCORE does more than a 180°, offers keys to iPad Air productivity

CruxENCOREGone are the giant dinosaurs known as desktops, but we may have gotten overzealous when we banished the keyboard from our touch screen-populated lives. And while there are plenty of products trying to fill that all important accessory’s place, the $99 CruxENCORE means to best all of them.  A follow-up from the company’s CruxSKUNK but for the iPad Air, it also dons precision designed button, speaker, lighting and camera-port features, aircraft-grade 6063 aluminum construction, eight color combinations, Bluetooth connectivity, raised keys to emulate the Macbook typing experience, and a 3600 mAh Lithium-ion battery that provides a month of life. The most unique of the CruxENCORE’s features, however, is the locking, 360-degree hinge, which holds your iPad in any position without letting it tipping over, and latches shut, keeping your screen safely locked away.  There are also stylus, sleeve and bag accessory options.  This is a strong value compared to other iPad keyboards, like 2012’s Brydge, which has built-in speakers, but doesn’t lock, has only 180 degrees of hinge movement, and is over twice the price.

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Technology

HFC Canna lets Android call it in from home

The Premise. The landline telephone, once a necessity for any home, has steadily disappeared from homes in the past ten years. While cell phones have practically reinvented themselves monthly, the humble landline has virtually nothing new to offer.

The Product. The HFC Canna is designed to be the first smart landline telephone. Using the latest version of the Android OS, this product combines landline phone, smartphone, and tablet into something that can do much more than just take phone calls. The combination of VoIP and Wi-Fi allow the Canna to do anything an Android device can, which in the context of a home phone means it handles directory services, voicemail, and save contacts, without any added charges to your monthly bill. Compatibility with Skype makes the device equally capable for video calls.

The Pitch. A 9-minute video lays out the most relevant features that the Canna’s Android OS can handle, and includes some demos and testimonials. This information is reiterated and expanded upon as well in the campaign’s explanation, going over all the technical details and the differences between the six available models. The presentation is a little stiff and underwhelming considering these are features we already take for granted on our smartphones, but the product looks smart and capable. HFC needs to raise $50,000 to bulk order the internal components, complete tooling, and get necessary certifications. HFC’s Web site (currently only available in Chinese) has more coverage.

The Perks. The most basic, 7-inch model starts at $199, with the flashiest cordless model coming in at $399 complete with five DECT 6.0 handsets, a 10-inch display, and a quad-core CPU.

The Potential. Other tech giants like Panasonic and Binatone have released similar products (the KX-PRX120 and the SMART66 “phablet” respectively) in 2013, each opting to simulate something more like the smartphone experience. The sturdy display and stand make the HFC Canna a perfect fit for any office or den. Unfortunately, the main challenge with creating a smart home phone at this point is that it’s getting increasingly difficult to justify spending a lot of money on something that’s being used less and less.  At the same time, it’s getting harder and harder to find anybody who even has a landline anymore, so unfortunately this product is being aimed at a market we know is shrinking by the month.

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Music Technology

Wily portable boombox releases an Android’s tablet’s inner voice

The Premise. It seems a week doesn’t go by without some company announcing a new portable speaker to tap into the rising tide of inexpensive smart devices such as Android tablets. Those devices today are often bridged using Bluetooth, but it might be more convenient to just have them merged into one.

The Product. The Auris Wily is basically a tablet with built-in sound, enabling it to easily access a wealth of popular audio sources such as Pandora, Spotify and Slacker as well as music stored on its internal flash memory and microSD card. It also has an HDMI connector so you can connect it to a TV and use it to stream video from Netflix, HBO Go or other sources. The curvy speaker even has a few other tricks up its sleeve such as being able to be used as a speakerphone or video chat terminal thanks to an integrated 2 MP front-facing camera. The Wily sports sleek, rounded, futuristic styling, similar to 60’s art-deco furniture; endearing, which is endearing in that tacky Jetsons sort of way. Available in red, white and black, it can also pump the volume thanks to its 90-decibel speakers.

The Pitch. The creators of the Wiley make their case with a video that features high production values, including an orchestral soundtrack and expensive digital transition effects. Detailed pictures of everything from production sketches to user-interface closeups are included and it runs through a detailed list of the products specs.

The Perks. Set to release in June 2014, the Auris Wily will cost early birds $169 for a model with 8 GB of on-board memory, and $188 for 16G. It will be available to backers for $189 for the 8 GB version and $208 for the 16 GB version.

The Potential. Although the Auris Wily logo bears a striking resemblance to that of the “Beats” franchise (Seriously, it looks like they just flipped it over) its design and concept stands out. The Wily comes on the heels of January’s announcement of Vizio’s portable smart audio system, which is heavier (8.8lbs for similar, 7-inch screen option) and has less bass response (60Hz). The Wily could be a fun poolside companion to backers who’d rather keep their smartphones out of the streaming chain this summer.

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Cell Phone Accessories Tablet Accessories

Holho holograms float animated images atop your tablet display

The Premise. From Star Trek to Coachella, people have been waiting for the day that holograms become a staple in every home. The technology has existed in primitive forms for decades, but it’s always been too costly and complicated for personal use.

The Product. The Holho Full Pyramid can take any smartphone or tablet and turn it into a hologram projector without any modifications or complex installations.  By simply placing the full pyramid on the device’s screen in cooperation with the proprietary Holho app, any image or video properly converted can be displayed inside the pyramid and becomes fully rotatable.

The Pitch. A series of videos displays how the Holho system works on both smartphones and tablets and how owners can even make their own hologram version of Star Wars with a little movie magic. Imagination Farm which already has a Web site going for the product, seeks 8,500 euros to complete the project: the cost of a steel mold, pre-ordering the pyramid base in multiple colors, and finishing the companion app.

The Perks. Twenty-five euros gets you a Holho Full Pyramid for a smartphone, the app, and 4 videos for use with the app available as early as April or May of this year. €50 offers the same reward but for a larger Pyramid designed for 10” tablet screens. Additional money can be spent on purchasing more videos for use with the app or multiple Pyramids. For €438, Holho will create a video of a rotating cube with photos or videos of your choosing on its sides. Distributors can reserve 50 smartphone-sized Pyramids and 50 tablet-sized pyramids for €3,250

The Potential. While it’s certainly a low-tech solution to the absence of holograms in the home, the Holho system is a long way off from having Tupac do that concert in your living room that you’ve always wanted. The need for it to be used in conjunction with a smartphone or tablet at all times also prevents it from being used as a long-term decoration when you’ll undoubtedly need that device for something else. The high cost of the simple videos and thin novelty means that this product probably won’t revolutionize entertainment, but it could definitely be an interesting gift idea for that friend you met in the holodeck.