Pressy
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Controlling your Android phone with one button isn't as great as it sounds
The Pressy one-button Android controller found an eager audience when it debuted on Kickstarter in August 2013, overshooting its original funding goal of $40,000 to the tune of almost $700,000. Inserting the Pressy into an Android phone adds an extra button that can be set for one specific action of the user's choosing -- you can take a photo, start an audio recording, enable WiFi or even turn on the flashlight. Backers were initially given a delivery date of March 2014, but shipments didn't actually go out until June. Though that's a fairly modest delay for a Kickstarter project, was it worth the wait? Critics weren't exactly thrilled with the final product, with AndroidBeat saying it "isn't a dependable button" and "doesn't fulfill its job of quick access to shortcuts." But with over 28,800 backers pledging to the original project, a handful of critics is far from the final word on Pressy. Over the summer, we've watched the reviews trickle in, and the verdict is... well, a bit mixed, to say the least.
Pressy stretch funding goal promises one-button screen capture-and-edit
With four days left in its campaign, Pressy -- the one-button Android controller that plugs into your headphone jack -- is still going strong on Kickstarter. If the gizmo hits $650,000 in funding by Monday (it's currently at $622,262), developer Nimrod Back will include a simplified take on capturing screenshots. How does it work? If you keep the Pressy button held down, it'll grab an image of whatever is on your display and then you can annotate it, or, like the animation on the source shows, add a fancy moustache to our president's face. From there, you select how you want to share the image, and release the Pressy to send it. Hopefully this approach can keep at least a few handsets safe from accidental drops. To help make it happen, hit the source link if you aren't already one of the current 25,841 backers.
Pressy: the one-button Android controller so cool it was Kickstarted in under a day
If Kickstarter had a 24-hour funders club, Pebble and the Bolex Camera would be welcoming Pressy today. In under a day, the multifunction Android controller has more than doubled its $40,000 goal (raising $108,435 from 4,889 backers as of this writing) and with 45 days left to go, the numbers keep climbing. Perhaps its simplicity is what's making it such a hit. Pressy plugs into any Android device's headphone port (Gingerbread and above), and clicking its unobtrusive 0.7mm-tall button controls and automates any manner of your gizmo's functions. Through its app you can assign a given task to a sequence of clicks; it's up to you if it takes two short clicks to speed-dial your mom or one long press to snap an unobtrusive picture, for example. You can still use it if you have a pair of headphones in too, with the cans' play button subbing in for control. Clever. Unlike other Kickstarters, this isn't some far-off prospect: Developer Nimrod Back has promised Pressy will be available within four months. A basic Pressy will set you back $17, for a choice of colors with a keychain storage sheath you'll have to pony up $25. Oh, and if you fancy yourself a programmer and want the device's API, then drop $1,000 and make that tier's one other pledge less lonely. [Thanks, Yaniv]
