Home iPhonia iPhone Accessories ,,,,, Cases aren't just for protecting your smartphone. A clear example is the InkCase i7, a cover that our editorial staff has had the opportunity to test in recent weeks and which essentially adds an E-Ink screen on the back of the iPhone 7. In practice, you get a sort of “mini-Kindle “Always at hand, with all the advantages that this entails, starting with excellent visibility outdoors.
This case, with dimensions not so different from those of any cover, thus allows you to keep in memory books and articles found on the web, including those that we publish every day in these pages, but if necessary it can also show date, time, steps and activities, including weather information, future appointments and reminders, without forgetting that it can show any static image thus allowing us to change cases every day … without actually replacing it.
How it's made
We found out that we are dealing with a well thought-out product as soon as we took it out of the package. To be fair, we expected a much heavier case or, if nothing else, that would add a considerable bulk to our iPhone. In reality, it does not differ much from one of the cases we use every day, one that protects the phone from bumps and falls and therefore adds a minimum thickness to the device.
In the case of InkCase i7, the weight of the case is just 63 grams , very few if we think that the aforementioned case weighs practically half of it but that for its part it does not have an E-Ink screen on the back and all the other components that allow it to work between battery, chip and charging system. The thickness is about 1.3 centimeters , thus adding almost 0.6 centimeters to the iPhone 7 (0.715 centimeters) and, if we want, it roughly evokes the handling of the iPhone 3GS ( 1.23 cm).
These numbers seem to scare, but in practice the increase in weight does not seem so exaggerated and the overall thickness is also noticeable, but not bothersome. The phone continues to fit safely in your pocket and enjoys excellent protection: the case fully protects all edges, leaves the necessary openings for the sockets and also protects the buttons, and is also made of rigid rubber , so it can absorb small bumps without breaking.
The back of the case, precisely because it houses an E-Ink display (9.3 x 5.5 centimeters), is very rigid and, from this point of view, the manufacturer warns in the small user manual to avoid bending – in order to avoid permanent damage to the screen. – especially when you want to remove the case , an operation that must necessarily be carried out by pushing the phone outwards by acting on the large dedicated rear opening to the camera.
The E-Ink display
The screen on the back has a diagonal of 4.3 inches and offers a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels at 217 dpi. As already repeated several times, it is of the E-Ink type, i.e. it simulates the effect of printed paper, and this mainly entails two enormous advantages: the first concerns the visibility .
In fact, there is no need for a backlight, even in direct sunlight it is always clearly visible while at the same time, if the intention is to use it to read a book from bed before going to bed, take care to turn on the lampshades. This system is also excellent from the point of view of autonomy . The technology is not at all expensive in terms of energy: according to our tests, which we will discuss in more detail a little later, it can also work for “weeks” on a single charge.
The interaction with the screen does not take place via touch screen, but through three capacitive keys positioned on the lower area of the screen. The touchscreen would certainly have allowed a more comfortable interaction with the contents but at the same time it would have forced the manufacturer to implement the technology, at the expense of an even greater thickness.
Of physical button we find only one, near the lower frame, marked by a horizontal stroke made up of 6 dots. It is used to lock the screen and avoid accidental touches of the capacitive keys or to turn off and restart the display in case of malfunctions.
How does it work
Initially you may find yourself a bit confused, on the other hand it is not a common e-reader but a case that imitates its capabilities and which collaborates, instead, through an iPhone application by communicating via Bluetooth . Having become familiar with the system (it took us about half an hour between the user manual and the first approach with the app and the software), interacting with the E-Ink screen is actually much easier than expected.
The operation of the various modes revolves around the central capacitive key, marked by a circle . With a double click you access the menu, shown in a central window and made up of four sections:
With the central button you can make the selections (with a click), the arrows are used only to move within the menu or browse the pages.
The application
In order to use the case you need to install the InkCase app available for free on the App Store. Just like the E-Ink screen menu, it shows through a rather minimal graphic interface the four sections relating to the Reader, Photos, Read Later and Widget tabs, as well as a fifth tab to access the Settings .
From the latter it is possible to pair via Bluetooth with the case, adjust the auto-off for energy saving, adjust the font size, the alignment of the text and the spacing between one line and the other and adjust a few other Widget parameters and other functions offered.
At the moment the application is localized only in the language English but the functions are few and easy to understand even without full knowledge of the language. Aesthetically speaking, the lack of a localization in our language as regards the Widget section, which essentially transforms the back of the iPhone into an updated panel with all the useful information during the day, can turn up the nose.
Articles and compatibility with Pocket
InkCase collaborates with the Pocket application for the acquisition of articles. Although it is possible to send directly to the cover an article that we are reading from the browser or from an app on the iPhone through the sharing panel (see following video), by connecting your Pocket account it is possible to synchronize all the articles saved within the service ( a few seconds for a dozen articles) to read them directly through the E-Ink screen on the back of the phone. The choice of relying on an external service is convenient when reading articles from other devices, such as from a tablet or computer: simply send them via app or desktop extensions to your account and in a few seconds they will end up in the memory of the case.
Perhaps a limitation is the only compatibility with Pocket: we would have preferred, for example, the possibility of choosing other services such as Feedly or, to name a direct competitor of Pocket, Instapaper, two of the applications that we usually use with our devices. With this in mind, you could consider creating a recipe on IFTTT to automatically send to your Pocket account all the new articles contained, for example, in a collection of Feedly: in this way you just have to synchronize the contents of the app and read the news from your own reference sites without having to look for them.
Photo Section
The photo section, as mentioned above, allows you to transform any image contained in the iPhone roll into a static background for the cover, which can also be selected for when you are going to lock the E-Ink display screen to avoid accidental touches.
Initially the application had some problems in the cropping of the images which have however been solved with the latest software update released in the first days of March.
You can select photographs but also images found on the net, including any compositions of our creation. Also consider the possibility of taking a screenshot for example to the shopping list to temporarily move it to the back of the iPhone, or for the barcode of the work badge or the card of your trusted library.
Ebook section
On the other hand, the synchronization of eBooks with the cover is definitely too cumbersome, at least if you opt for the system suggested by the manufacturer . In fact, the company recommends self-sending the files, strictly in Epub format, via email: once the latter is received, simply open the attached epub and send it to the InkCase app via the sharing panel.
This system works, but sometimes implies long waiting times in the upload and download of the attached epubs via email, without considering that if you are not on a WiFi network this also affects data consumption and could become a problem for digital nomads. Uploading the epubs to Dropbox, perhaps from home or when you have the opportunity, is unfortunately not a solution because the service, in sharing the ebook, tends to create a link to the file, rather than sending it to the InkCase i7.
One of the many solutions that we have by far preferred is the use of applications that transform the iPhone into a sort of external disk. We used the GoodReader app (we have talked about it several times in the past), but in reality on the App Store there are now dozens of them that perform at least the useful function for sending “zero kilometers” files on the cover , just as there could be many other paths that can be taken (perhaps via the cloud) to achieve the same result.
In any case, in the case of apps like GoodReader, it is sufficient to access the free space on the iPhone (via WiFi or cable), then load the ePubs, select them and send them to the InkCase app via the sharing panel: the upload is instantaneous and does not include any data consumption.
From this point of view, the InkCase application can improve: it would be sufficient to be able to access the folder dedicated to eBooks simply by connecting it via c avo to iTunes, or as GoodReader does, momentarily creating a link to access it in WiFi and load the books without going through other software.
It would also be sufficient to be able to access it via the magnetic cable *: in fact, the latter can not only be used to recharge the internal battery of the InkCase, but can also be used for data transfer as it guarantees the firmware update via Mac and Windows PC. (here the links for downloading software and firmware).
Conclusions
For the functions it offers, the InkCase cover is an excellent iPhone companion. The additional footprint is there but it's not annoying and it's well rewarded by the ability to read books and articles for days on end without worrying about draining the iPhone battery, especially if you use the Bluetooth connection only for file synchronization.
However, this ingenious case is also useful in everyday life, with the Bluetooth connection constantly active. The iPhone battery saving is there, especially for those who activate the screen dozens of times during the day just to read the time. With the Widget mode you will have a constantly updated overview of the most useful information during the day including time, events, reminders and weather (for the latter, however, there is the constant GPS connection which affects, even if minimally, the consumption of the phone). And if you use it only occasionally, with only the personalization image printed on the screen, the cover survives even “months” on a single charge.
But not all that glitters is gold. While InkCase already offers a lot, we think it could do a lot more, especially from a software point of view. It would be sufficient to seek collaboration with other developers, such as those of Stocard for easier sending of loyalty cards on the E-Ink display, just to return to the example of “barcodes always at hand”. But also the Widget section, for example, would certainly be more interesting if it could be customized with those of iOS. By the way, the same could be said for notifications.
Ultimately the product is constructively excellent, in short, there is a solid basis to be able to do well, but it can – and must – still improve from the software point of view to give that something extra to the average user who may not be satisfied with eBooks , articles, memos and souvenir photos printed on the back of the iPhone.
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Retail price
InkCase i7 is on sale on the official website at a price of $ 129. The manufacturer, Oaxis, also has in its catalog a specific version for the Plus model and for some years has been marketing the InkCase i6 version specific for the iPhone 6 and 6s generations, as well as a brand new Ivy model with a reduced E-Ink screen. dimensions designed to withstand bumps and drops.
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