This Case Uses Your iPhone’s Electromagnetic Energy to Display Glowing Notifications
Surprise! Every smartphone emits trace amounts of electromagnetic energy, in levels that are measurable but not harmful to humans. Every smartphone does it; the technology site CNET even ranks smartphones, based on the radiation they emit.
Armed with that knowledge, a team of young Ukrainian entrepreneurs invented the Lunecase, an iPhone case that harnesses that energy to power notification displays in a unique and compelling way. The Lunecase snaps onto the back of your iPhone and, when you receive an incoming call or text message, lights up with the appropriate notification.
Yes, we’re talking about the case itself: It has two built-in light displays — one that resembles a phone, and one that resembles Apple’s Messages icon — that illuminate when you get a call or an SMS, respectively. Despite this illumination, the case does not require a battery or any charging whatsoever: Instead, it’s using those trace amounts of electromagnetism to power itself. That allows the case to stay thin. No battery, no bulk.
Pretty cool, no? The Lunecase is now seeking funding on Kickstarter, and it’s off to a fast start. If you act fast, $29 will get you a black Lunecase. Once 200 of those have been bought, the price goes up to $35. Models are expected to start shipping in August of this year.
UPDATE: Concepter has added another case, called the Eclipse, to its Kickstarter drive. This case has a ring of LED lights that accentuate the Apple logo on the back of your iPhone whenever you receive a notification. We covered the Eclipse back in January here.
The team behind the Lunecase is Concepter, a Ukrainian startup that previously found massive Kickstarter success with its iblazr iPhone camera flash. The iblazr raised almost $200,000 when it debuted on Kickstarter in 2013.
The Lunecase is Concepter’s second attempt at crowdfunded gold. Here’s the team’s pitch video (rest assured that the Concepter guys are better at engineering than they are at dubbing speech over video):
We first profiled an early version of the Lunecase back at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. That prototype case simply illuminated a small ring of LEDs when there was a new notification on the phone. This one appears more refined, and more functional.
$35 is more than you’d spend on a monochrome case that simply protects your phone, obviously. There’s a bit of gee-whizzery about this case, a “look what my case can do!” vibe to it. If you’re looking for an iPhone case that’s a conversation starter, the Lunecase is a neat place to start.
You can view the Lunecase’s Kickstarter page here.
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