The finish on the back of the iPhone 5 is sort of susceptible to scuffing. We've known this for a while. And if you're the type of person who wants to keep your new device looking as fresh as the day it arrived from Apple, a protective case is a no-brainer. But why settle for a boring old cover with a static design, when there's a new case in the works that incorporates an e-ink screen?
One of the coolest accessory ideas we've seen in a while, the popSLATE turns the rather humdrum, flat back of an iPhone 5 into a customizable, 4-inch e-ink screen.
"People often have two social worlds. There’s the brick-and-mortar social world and virtual social world," popSLATE co-founder Greg Moon told Wired. "By piggybacking you traverse both of those. On the front of the phone you are sharing virtually. On the back side, you are taking it into the real world, where people can see it and talk about it."
The popSLATE actually borrows power from the Lightning Connector, but considering the low battery requirements of e-ink, the screen keeps on displaying your selected image until it's changed.
The popSlate social app offers social functionality to share pictures with friends, or pop an image to the back of the case. When the iPhone is face-down, the app uses the device's accelerometer to interpret taps on the back of the case.
The case opens a whole bunch of opportunities to display images that would otherwise require draining the iPhone 5 battery to keep static. Beyond the on-the-go customization, imagine using the back screen to display a grocery shopping list, map, or speech notes.
Moon, and co-designer Yasha Behzadi, launched an IndieGoGo crowdsourcing campaign, and until January 15 (or when supplies run out), you can snag your own popSLATE before the masses for a reduced-price donation of $79. The non-early bird price is $99.
The popSLATE team is also planning to release the API to other developers, so there's no telling what other functionality may show up in future apps.
Here's hoping for a larger, iPad version working in unison with an e-book app. The idea of an e-ink reader built right into the back of our favorite tablet sounds too good to be true.
Follow this article's author, Matt Clark on Twitter.
Image source: popSLATE
