Smartphones are no longer just smartphones with features and capabilities way beyond the initial need for mobile voice and having evolved into the family camera as well as digital media device. But that doesn't mean innovation is anywhere near over. This week's Kickstarter crowdsource campaigns are all aiming to retrofit smartphones with cutting-edge features in one aspect or another.
Andromium
For casual computer users who have given up on their 'email' machines -- dated computers good for little more than correspondence -- Andromium can place a modern mobile device at the heart of a desktop system. When planted in the Andromium dock, a smartphone can replace a computer tower. An Andromium docked smartphone can accept keyboard and mouse input, as well as game pads.
While Andromium's1,200 backers have pledged over $63,000 into the campaign the support figure is still well shy of its goal of $100,000. With just two days left, the funding chasm may be too wide to close.
Vikaura Screen
Sometimes important things get lost among all of the notifications on a mobile device, Vikaura can serve as a haven for the moments that matter most. Users can push images and text to Vikaura's ink screen, using the companion app and a Bluetooth connection. For example, a father could send an inspirational note to his daughter via the app and the girl's mobile device would relay the message to her Vikauara frame.
Roughly 160 people really like the idea of pushing images and messages to loved ones' Vikaura screens. But the backers' roughly $42,000 in pledges falls well short of the campaign's $125,000 goal and there's just under two weeks left in this fundraiser.
ExoDrive Cases
For those who manage to consume all of a phone's storage space, ExoDrive Cases can equip the smartphone with with even more memory. The case, which is sfitted with Micro SD slots, tap into a smartphone's USB port to add memory on top of memory. If the campaign is successful, even iPhones could see ExoDrive cases that could expand storage space.
With roughly $6,300 in pledges from more than 230 backers and still nearly a month to go, it appears Exodrive is on its way to reaching its goal of approximately $8,100.
Next Keyboard
The furious rate at which third-party keyboard apps were downloaded to iPhone 6 handsets reveals a need for better softkeys. Next Keyboard, an iPhone keyboard app, seeks to revolutionizes the soft keyboard by improving text cursor navigation, predictive emojis, an obvious shift key, themes, swipe input and more.
Next Keyboard's campaign is just about to wrap up, but it smashed its roughly $8,100 goal long ago. Its approximately 5,600 backers have pledged around $47,900 to the campaign.
