These are the days of touchscreens on smartphones, tablets and even on laptops. Touch seems to be the revolution, and with it, swiping and tapping seems to be the norm. But not everyone loves this new revolution, and some people still like things as they used to be in the past. Some of us still long for physical buttons, and that’s why there’s a new Indiegogo project that aims to add not one or two, but a total of four physical stick-on buttons to your Android smartphone or tablet.
In most cases, a smartphone these days has only three or four physical buttons, but none of them are programmable. What this means is that each button is meant to perform a certain function. But if you have ever wished for physical buttons, then meet Dimple, a new Indiegogo campaign.
Dimple is a stick-on physical button which utilizes NFC
Basically the Dimple is a small sticker with four user configurable buttons. It sticks to the back of your Android smartphone or tablet or to the small bezel. You can stick it anywhere, provided you find that place convenient to reach. There are only two requirements to use Dimple. You must have an Android device with version 4.0 and up, and your device must be NFC-enabled. The buttons can be programmed by a companion app.
“Attached in close proximity (even over a case) to your device’s NFC reader, DIMPLE lets you extend the functionality to your own liking, from launching your favorite social network app, to launching sophisticated Tasker tasks or even your own developed plugins through DIMPLE API.”
Dimple is close to reaching its goal on Indiegogo. Out of its $43,000 goal, at the time of writing, $32,650 had already been raised, with 34 more days left. From what it looks like, it will definitely reach its goal within a few days. The cheapest $25 option has already sold out, but you can still book one for $27. You can also choose a color from three choices.
Shipping starts in the 2014 holiday season. As stated already, you’ll need to be running Android 4.0 or higher and must have NFC for this to work. Also note that your device should not have a metal body, as these days some devices like the HTC One M7 and M8 feature a metal body. On such devices, the Dimple won’t work.
