Vikaura Screen: Use Your Android to Customize Your World
Vikaura is another hot Kickstarter item building momentum online. This time the idea is very simple in comparison to my past articles, and in the best way possible. Vikaura offers three separate screen sizes you can “cast” media from your smart phone to, and with an e-ink display that’s slightly above the quality possesed by the entry-level Kindle reader it, and it looks pretty darn good.
4″, 6″, 9.7″
Your choice among the three sizes and what you do with them is in your hands. The screen which we know, is of reasonable quality (220ppi) and the battery is advertised to last for approximately a couple of years on a single charge. That’s pretty much the coolest part of this whole idea, a screen that doesn’t need a charge offers interesting value to a multitude of industries.
One of the advertised uses was a parent sending the four-inch model attached to their child’s backpack, and wirelessly transmitting a note that appears on the screen of the key chain attached Vikaura. Okay, adorable right, but what about something that the crowd here at XDA would admire? Well the creators are offering the API free of charge, which means developers can do whatever they see fit for these devices. Bundle it with your app, hand them out in board meetings, carry dynamic hard info from management on the job site. These are just some of the thousands of potential uses for this gadget, all of which will need the know-how of our community developers, and more predominately so developers working on practical applications in underdeveloped and emerging markets. Here’s something which could really change the game in China, India, and parts of Africa.
How does this everlasting display work?
In the diagrams above we see an artistic rendition of the devices functionality in its most basic form. For example, an RSS feed streams directly through your choice smart device, and directly to the screen of our favorite new e-ink device. The amazing battery life comes from what we can only assume to be a ginormous battery coupled with a low frame rate, power-sipping e-ink display, and a processing unit which requires absurdly low amounts of energy to function. That my friends, if you were unaware, are the ingredients to innovation. Yes, that’s totally a bold statement, but weren’t we all getting bored with waiting for smart phone enhancements month after month… No? Me either. In all seriousness, these devices were designed to not be rechargeable, and instead have their batteries replaced every year or two depending on use, that should be the type of energy efficiency all smart devices strive for.
“Vikaura lets you, friends & family drive images and information out of your phone and into your world – No wires, Thousands of updates”
Prime Applications, as explained by Vikaura:
– Mothers can use Vikaura’s dedicated space to get messages to their kids without competing with text messages from friends.
– Get a message to your child without breaking the school’s no cell phone policy. The message automatically appears on Vikaura.
– Share pictures of your kids with your family.
– Take your recipe book digital. Snap a picture of all your recipes and store them in the Vikaura app.
– Create “at-a-glance” informational displays – weather, calendars, stock prices, reminders, notifications, etc.
– Write your own app or PC software to work with Vikaura. Due to overwhelming interest, the Vikaura API will be available, free of charge, to our Kickstarter backers that receive a Vikaura screen as part of their reward!
Kickstarter packages
The lowest pledge you can make, and still expect to receive a device, is the $99 option which provides you with a 4″ model and a spot on their Tribute Page. There are lesser options if you’d prefer a T-shirt, but as usual this Kickstarter provides the backer with options galore, including a $4,000 option housing 30 of these units in all available dimensions. With an expected delivery date of June 2015, there really isn’t a ridiculous wait period.
The company expresses on their Kickstarter page that they plan to outsource materials and manufacturing processes to third-parties.
A call for comments
What do you think!? Neat right. What would you pay for this functionality? I’m expecting some mixed reactions but I think it’s a very interesting project. They’re now at $56k out of a goal of $125k, with nine days to go in the campaign. I can see practical uses for this device, I don’t know how well it’ll do in the consumer market though. If the retail 4″ version starts at $25 or less, it could really take off.
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source: xdadevelopers
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