Is This Design For Designs Sake?

The company that has set the benchmark for style, technology and popularity is Apple. It wasn’t going to be long then before new gadgetry was designed around the deity of the techy world, to make the already usable iPod even easier to live with. Introducing the iRing, a Bluetooth  ring concept that you wear on your finger to control the playback functionality of your iPod… and to show everyone around you just how tech-savvy you are!

Its wireless connectivity means that skipping that one song that you hate on your favourite CD no longer warrants you rummaging through your handbag, or risking cracking a vertebrae as you twist around for your iPod in your back pocket. You no longer even need to jostle the people around you on the ever-crowded bus, just subtly press on your ring and be in total control of what you listen to.

The iRing’s functionality is every bit as cool as the iPod’s. To adjust the volume, you simply need to slide your finger across the touch sensitive surface of the ring. To play or pause songs, just tap the apple icon on the ring and to skip tracks you need only touch on either side of the icon depending on which direction you want to go.

The initial question with this gadget now rises: with a touch sensitive face, isn’t there a chance of constantly tapping the ring by accident? Well this worry has been taken into account with a lock function incorporated into the design. Simply bend the finger that the ring is on to squeeze two rubber pads on the underside of the ring, and you can listen to Sarah Blasko all the way home without interruption.

The iRing is USB powered and comes with an equally stylish cradle for you to keep the ring safe or (as I would!) display it proudly on your coffee table. The cradle is also used to recharge the iRing through a USB connection.

Some people may think that while the the ring looks good, it wouldn’t match every outfit. All I have to say is that I never thought white earphone wires would take-off in the fashion world either and yet you see them everywhere. People dressed in business attire, sportswear, clubbing outfits all have these same white wires running from their ears to their pockets. It has become a statement in itself, of being cool and being up to date with technology. It won’t be long then for sleek white or black rings to be adorning the fingers of everyone in the street.