Android phones are immensely customizable, but typically, these tweaks take place internally. We swap out launchers and keyboards like car floor mats and seat covers. We pop in widgets like an aftermarket radio and toss on live wallpapers like air fresheners hanging from the rear-view mirror. But by keeping our attention inside the car (wait, what was I talking about again?) we ignore all the external tweaks that are possible. Introducing Pressy, a Kickstarter project that wants to pop into your earphone jack so that you can take pictures and turn on the flashlight without having to unlock your device.
Update: What a difference three hours can make, as Pressy has already managed to surpass its $40,000 goal. Anyone who pledges now can do so with relative certainty that they will get their hands on this product when it ships next year.
Pressy is roughly the size of a pair of earphones without, well, everything that isn't shiny. For most pairs, that leaves just the part that disappears inside the headphone jack. The actually button that extends from the phone is small enough to resemble a regular button.
In fact, the button is less than 1mm tall. Nonsense, you say? Here's an illustration.
Without Pressy, most of us have to unlock their phones, exit the currently running app, dig around for the appropriate app, and launch it. Even though third-party lockscreens like WidgetLocker save some of us from these steps, Pressy removes the need to wake the device up from sleep manually. Sure, you have to give up your headphone jack to use it, but there's always a tradeoff.
[kickstarter]http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/556341540/pressy-the-almighty-android-button[/kickstarter]
Out of the box, Pressy requires a short click to toggle your flashlight, a long click to toggle silence, and double-click to snap a photo. All of this requires a dedicated app that's downloaded separately and permits users to create actions of their own.
Pressy has already received over $13,000 in pledges after just one day. That leaves it with 46 days to reach its fundraising goal of $40,000. Anyone who wants to get their hands on a Pressy needs to commit $17, and shipments are expected to go out in March of next year.