For years, many have been trying to figure out how to add physical gaming controls to the iPhone: a few solutions have surfaced so far, such as the BladePad and the iControlPad, but many of them are either too bulky or just downright unpractical. Luckily, there’s a new case in town: albeit in prototype stage, it has the potential to make your gaming experience much easier and keep the nacho smudges off your iPhone touchscreen.
The advantage of FlipSide is its structure: the seamless and ultra-thin casing lets you use the iPhone naturally when you need to, but easily unsnap the gaming controls from the back of the case and place them right on the screen when you’re ready to start gaming. Lightness is the key selling point of this case: it is ultra-thin, not much heavier than a standard iPhone case, in part due to its ultra-thin battery provided by Infinite Power Solutions. There’s no plugging, docking or charging either: this case relies fully on solar power and Bluetooth 4.0, so it’s fully wireless in every way.
This case has been dreamed up by iDevices, a creative accessory maker that has pumped out several other iPhone goodies in the past, such as iShower, a waterproof Bluetooth-enabled speaker, and the award-winning iGrill, an iPhone accessory that makes it much easier to measure the temperature of food from a distance (to keep nasty germs off your food, and presumably, off your iPhone).
If you are already staring at your mailbox expecting to get your hands on one of these cases soon, don’t keep your hopes up just yet: FlipSide is still in prototype stage and currently raising funds in order to begin mass production. iDevices is accepting Kickstarter donations to make this product a reality: donating $60 will buy you a special-edition case once the product enters mass production, donating $200 or more will buy you one of the only 125 prototypes in the world right now. If you happen to have $10,000 lying around, you will be invited to a launch party in California, where you will be personally hand-shaken by the founders and given a sneak peak of a secret project.
iDevices has proven to be able to get its ideas to market, so we’re confident that this will enter mass production quite soon. iPhone gamers rejoice!
Watch the FlipSide in action below:
You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web.
