Regardless of whether you have positive or negative connotations regarding Apple as a company, it’s very difficult to argue with the level of masterfulness that goes into designing and crafting each and every Apple device. In today’s market it’s rare to find another company that goes into the same level of design detail that seems to be applied to each and every Apple device, and even rarer to find the same level of expertise applied to third-party accessories, which is why the Spira immediately stands out as an innovative accessory worthy of applaud.
The Spira is the product of a vision by a student of design called Alice Robbiani. The beautifully crafted square accessory has multiple facets of use, including acting as an inductive charger for a connected iPhone, a magnetic photo frame, and believe it or not, as an interactive clock that harnesses the power and display of the connected iPhone to provide the current time. Of course, a powerful feature set and beautiful design would count for nothing if the accessory couldn’t take pride of place in a home or office, which is why Robbiani has had the foresight to make the Spira a wall-mounted solution.
When the iPhone in question is connected to an inductive charging case, the Spira can be attached magnetically to invoke the wireless charging process. This magnetic connection between the accessory and device also allows the iPhone to be mounted in a number of positions and rotated periodically as the device receives charge from the Spira.
An accompanying native Spira app can also be running on the iPhone at the same time with the intention of providing beautiful circular animations to let the user know at a glance just how much charge is currently in the iPhone. Each animated circle represents 10% of charge.
The inductive charging, native app and intelligent mounting mechanisms are reasons enough to love this prototype accessory, but the real magic comes from having the ability to rotate the Spira into a different position on the wall to turn the device into a beautiful analog clock.
It’s currently only a prototype accessory, built as part of a graduation project, but let’s keep pour fingers crossed that it makes it into the real world at some point.
(via: Mashable)
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