This case will transform any table into a giant trackpad for your iPhone

Home / News / This case will transform any table into a giant trackpad for your iPhone

Fuffr. It’s a word that sounds like a marshmallow-based Pokémon, or the name of a particularly spoilt poodle, but it’s actually a rather clever iPhone case which could revolutionise how we interact with our smartphones.

Clipping the unobtrusive case to your iPhone lets you interact with it by moving your fingers around on the surface of a surrounding table, essentially turning the iPhone’s surroundings into one big giant trackpad.

This means that you have the luxury of the entire screen during games and web browsing, without pesky fingers getting in the way to spoil the view. Not only that, but the larger space offered by the surrounding tabletop should make for a more comfortable and natural navigation experience.

The case itself communicates with the iPhone via Bluetooth 4.0, and although the exact method of its gesture tracking technology have yet to be revealed, we believe it’s based on infrared technology, similar to that found on the Leap Motion controller.

The Leap Motion controller has three LEDs which emit a pattern of 3D infrared dots. Two infrared cameras are then used to determine the position of your hands as they move through the emitted infrared beams.

Its possible that Fuffr uses a similar, shrunken down version of this IR technology to track your fingers on the surrounding surface.

READ MORE: Leap Motion: one year on review

Currently the company is only offering dev kits to developers by request, and is looking to expand its team to take its vision further.

Without app support, it will essentially be useless, so we expect to see a big drive to rein in developers before any final retail version is released.

Apple could of course always snap up Fuffr and incorporate its technology into the iPhone 8, but that’s just pure pipe-dreaming on our part.

[Fuffr via Gizmodo]

About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.