A new Kickstarter project says that you can improve smartphone battery life by adding a second screen to your Android handset, thus stopping yourself from continuously turning on the smartphone’s main display. Called InkCase Plus, the device is actually an E Ink screen that’s mounted in a special case, and it’s able to display incoming notifications and run certain special applications.
InkCase Plus supports sports and fitness apps, photos and eBook content as well. The device comes with a 3.5-inch display, Bluetooth support and a built-in 500 mAh battery ready to offer 19 hours of continuous screen time, or up to 7 days of standby time.
“InkCase Plus is built with a high density aluminium alloy frame shell and a hardened screen with 5H hardness,” the company wrote. “The display is one of the thinnest and lightest on the market. You can view your vital information when you are enjoying sports and other outdoor activities.”
The cheapest InkCase Plus costs $79 on Kickstarter, and will ship in October assuming funding is achieved. The team is looking for $100,000 to build the smartphone accessory, and has raised over $40,000 already, with 29 days to go until deadline.
On the other hand, Android fans could always check the Yota Phones, especially the second-generation version, which offer some very interesting dual-display action.
A video further explaining InkCase Plus and a full press release follow below.
OAXIS adds a second E Ink screen to your smartphone with launch of InkCase+ on Kickstarter
OAXIS hopes to raise $100,000 to bring power saving notifications, easy access information and infinite customization to smartphone market.
July 15th, 2014 – Los Angeles — Today OAXIS launches its campaign on crowd funding site Kickstarter to bring theInkCase+ to life. Starting from $79 for the very early bird special, InkCase+ is a removable 3.5-inch E Ink display module. InkCase+ can be inserted into a dedicated smartphone case and used as an auxiliary screen, bringing all the benefits of E Ink to Android smartphones.
An early prototype was showcased to the public at both Mobile World Congress and Computex Taipei trade shows earlier this year. The prototype saw such a large amount of interest that OAXIS will work alongside Kickstarter backers to get through the difficult process of bringing a product to market.
InkCase+ will let consumers personalise their phone case and allow alerts to be pushed to the low power E Ink screen. This means that when users want to check their notifications or even read a book there’s no need to power on the main screen, what’s more the low power E Ink screen also means notifications are always visible.
As well as notifications the InkCase+ can provide reference materials such as maps, tickets or shopping lists even when it is out of power. InkCase+ can also display your favourite pictures, customizing your phone case according to moods and trends. Why stick with the same phone case when it could be infinitely customizable.
“Kickstarter provides a unique opportunity to work closely with our customers and have them shape the product we’re creating” said OAXIS CEO G-Jay Yong “We’re excited to be working alongside the Kickstarter community bringing a fantastic InkCase product to Android users for the first time. We regularly hear from our friends and family that their phone has died and we hope that InkCase+ can alleviate this problem by making checking your phone a less power hungry process. We also look forward to the millions of photos people will use to customize their phone making the blank black slate a thing of the past.”
InkCase+ provides a rich set of APIs to seamlessly integrate into the apps people use on their smartphones in their everyday lives. The available SDK and InkCase Companion Apps provide valuable resources to developers that will create a vibrant ecosystem of applications for InkCase+
Specs:
3.5” (8.75cm) E Ink display in a compact 2.25” (5.7cm) x 4.25” (10.8cm) body.
InkCase+ uses industry standard BlueTooth technology to communicate with smartphones.
At just 45g and 5mm thick the InkCase+ is one of the smallest and lightest information displays on the market.
500mAh lithium polymer battery allowing 7 days of standby time, 2000 pages of reading or 8 hours of continuous operation.
InkCase+ supports all Android smartphones running Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) and above.You can back the OAXIS on their Kickstarter page now: starting at $79 for the Very Early Bird adopters.
