If you're constantly doing the same thing on your phone and you wish there was just a button you could press instead, then you're in luck. Flic is a wireless button that you can set up to do a range of tasks. Examples include controlling lights, snoozing a phone alarm, playing music and triggering photos.
Flic isn't the first device of its type. Earlier in the year, Gizmag featured the Bttn, which uses the If This Then That web-based service to set up actions that are carried out when it's pressed. Flic, however, is smaller than the Bttn and is said to last for significantly longer, at five years.
Users can set up Flic using the accompanying smartphone application for iOS and Android. Different actions can be triggered depending on how the button is pressed. The different commands recognized are click, double-click and press-and-hold. This functionality could be used to speed-dial the three different people you phone most regularly, for example.
The buttons connect to a user's smartphone via Bluetooth Low-energy (BLE), and any number of them can be used with a mobile device. They have a range of up to 150 ft (50 m) and so will only trigger the assigned actions if they are within that distance and the user's smartphone is switched on. The Flic button communicates the click-type to the Flic smartphone app, which then relays the configured action to the relevant service via the internet.
The rear of the Flic buttons is adhesive, meaning that the buttons can be attached in the places that are most convenient without being lost. The buttons can already be used outside, but there are plans to make them weatherproof too. A developer kit has also been made available so that the buttons can be integrated with other services.
There is an Indiegogo campaign under way to raise money for the production and testing of Flic, which has already raised over double of the targeted US$80,000. At the time of writing, individuals can pledge from $27 to receive a single button, assuming all goes to plan with the production process.
The video below provides an introduction to Flic.
