Flic is a wearable connected button control for your smartphone and smart devices

Flic is a smart button that can convert simple touches into specific commands pre-assigned by user and redirect them to your smartphone

Anything that integrates intelligence with wearability always excites me and it most definitely is how the tech giants of today are building the foundation for the automated functional systems of tomorrow. Whenever someone refers to the term ‘wearable technology’, it’s hard to not think about garments. Although we’ve got a long way to go with the discoveries we have been fortunate enough to make, such as Graphene and 3D printing. But one thing that can take you as close as possible to feeling like you’re clad in ‘smart’ clothing, is the Flic button. Masquerading as an unassumingly cute and chic little stick on knob, the Flic button is not just for clothing. It can stick onto a variety of surfaces and function like a remote control that instructs your smartphone to perform specific tasks.

Designed by a Swedish startup techie group, Flic is smaller than a quarter and is based on the idea that as easy as our juice-guzzling smartphones have made our life, they also force us to keep looking at their screen for every single action. Yes, voice activated recognition system have made it hands-free to a great extent but Flic goes beyond that to extend control over your smartphone apps to just about any physical entity you find at home. Be it the walls, the refrigerator, a photo frame, a white board, your bag or jacket — Flic can append to surfaces and take touch commands from you and redirect them to the smartphone app it syncs with. The tiny button responds to three types of handling — a single tap, a double tap and a simple hand hold.

Consider this situation. You’re home alone and seem to have misplaced the only phone at home.

What do you do? Just tap on a Flic button and it will make your phone ring. Picture this. You have your girlfriend over for dinner and want her to feel special without making it too obvious. How about pressing a single knob to soften the lights, play her favorite music at a low volume and turn on the TV all at once? That would make it look like magic, right? Well that’s what Flic aims to do for you.

Not unlike the smart devices of today, the water-cleanable Flic connects using Bluetooth Smart or Low Energy and supports iPads 3rd generation and above, Android devices running version 4.3 onwards and iOS 4s and upwards. Powered by conventional, replaceable button-type battery cells, each button can purportedly last upto five years and can withstand about 60,000 presses.

This button can apparently be a remarkable quick-access aid for the elderly and those with limitations in using a smartphone directly even for something as basic as making a call, setting a reminder or updating a shopping list. Like the images on Flic’s Indiegogo campaign profile show, the smart button can be fitted at easy locations inside a house and enable users to perform tasks with a simple touch.

Another exciting thing is the way Flic can be used like a camera click switch which is something great for taking selfies and ussies by combining the holding and single tap stimuli. This also holds a lot of promise for motion sensor games. The startup is already involved in SDK distribution and working with developers of other inspiring home automation devices like

Flic has a lot of scope to be a great accessibility tool for home automation devices and security systems that users already have fitted in their homes. Flic wants you to forget your phones and bask in the moment while also making accessibility, organizing and general way of life itself a lot easier. One thing I personally love about it is that it can let me snooze my smartphone alarm in one simple press of a button.

Its original $80,000 crowd-funding target campaign is not even over until January and Flic has already collected over $420,000. The company will begin shipping the final product at $35 each beginning March 2015.

Watch the wacky Flic promo here:

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