Samsonite has launched two new Konnect-I backpacks. Proposals that surely attract your attention, because they offer the ability to interact with your mobile phone without having to touch it or remove it from wherever you have it stored. How? Thanks to the use of Google Jacquard technology.
Konnect-I, the backpacks that control your mobile
The world of accessories can be much more exciting than some believe. As much or more than the products for which they are designed. Even so, if there is a category that many of us call our attention, it is that of backpacks and bags. Because at the end of the day we all need one of these products to store the rest of the personal belongings that we carry when we travel or during the day to day.
The two new Konnect-I backpacks are a clear example of backpacks that attract attention from the first moment you get to know them a little more thoroughly. And it is that these incorporate a fabric capable of responding to touch and with options to perform various actions that go far beyond the classic multimedia controls.
Thanks to Google’s Jacquard technology, these backpacks can interact with your mobile phone without having to take it out of where you have it stored. How? Well, thanks to a small module and the joint use of an application that is available for both Android and iOS terminals.
Once you pair the small device to your mobile phone, you can assign different actions through its application. These actions, in turn, will be executed using an area of the backpack (one of its straps) that incorporates a fabric capable of interacting as you slide up or down, tap or cover it by leaving your hand on for a few seconds.
Available in two versions, with differences in design and storage volume, these Samsonite backpacks cost around 200 and 220 euros depending on one model or another. Somewhat high prices, although not much if we take into account what other backpacks cost such as Peak Design. In addition, you would be the envy of your friends being able to take a selfie by simply touching one of the suspenders, picking up a call or adding a markup on Google Maps while you are moving around the city.
Jacquard project, provides interaction with any product
The use of Google’s Jacquard technology is not only designed for backpacks, it is really valid for any other product and its purpose is none other than to unite the physical and digital world through everyday objects. Hence, as you can see in the video above, it can be incorporated into products as varied as a backpack, a denim jacket or soccer shoes.
Here it depends much more on the user’s imagination and the different actions that they may consider useful in their day to day. So by combining these small modules with different everyday objects, really striking and practical interactions could be achieved that we could apply not only to objects that we carry, but also to others such as surfaces or other common elements in our day to day life.