Qblinks wants to be the Swiss Army knife of iPhone remote controllers. The Bluetooth LE device, which is currently seeking $35,000 on Kickstarter, can be used to alert you to notifications from different apps on your smartphone; as a camera remote shutter; to activate Siri; play music; and help you find missing phones by prompting it to ring even when it is in silent mode. Qblinks even has an ambient temperature sensor.
One key difference between Qblinks and other iPhone remote controllers is its cloud-based platform, which lets you connect one iPhone to several Qblinks at once (in case you want to share alerts with friends or family members) and keeps a log of all notifications through apps connected to your Qblink, as well as room temperature (which is saved to Google Drive). For each notification, you can set its LED light to flash up to three times and select from seven colors. You can also set different actions (like taking a photo or shuffling through music) based on how many times you click Qblinks’ button.
I saw a demo of Qblinks at its Taipei-based office. Qblinks general manager Samson Chen said that the company did not want to make a smartwatch or other wearable device because it would limit the ways in which Qblink can be used. The plastic device, which is lightweight and battery-operated, does come with a clasp, however, so you can attach it to your keychain or purse.
For more information about Qblinks, visit its Kickstarter page, which the company is using for pre-orders since Qblinks’ prototype has already been finalized and it is ready for manufacturer. The Early Bird special is $29 each and the devices are set to ship in October.