BEAM AMOLED smart button lets you wear a GIF

BEAM Authentic has taken the wraps off what it calls a "smart button" by the same name. BEAM is a wearable broach, basically, except it packs an AMOLED display, making it possible to literally wear GIFs. The smart button works with a related app for adding the GIFs to the device, the end result being what BEAM Authentic calls "the world's first digital dynamic button."

BEAM smart button is circular with a 400 x 400 resolution display, 24-bit color support, a 24-hour battery life, an accelerometer, and an ambient light sensor. The device's website says the smart button can hold "100 Beams," which appears to refer to GIFs and/or slideshows of content. Bluetooth is used to shuttle content from a smartphone with the mobile app to the device directly.

BEAM explains that users can create their own content using images from the web or by taking pictures. These images can be displayed as a static image, as a slideshow of content, or a GIF can be uploaded for an animated image. The product is presented as a reusable way to showcase different things; awareness causes, event info, and just fun images or animations that you want to share with others.

The app also makes it possible to find content from other "Beamers," as the company is calling them, via the app's news feed and libraries. You can follow other people, as well as organizations and causes, assuming the service ever reaches that level of popularity. Friends can also beam content directly to your BEAM.

Finally, the company says that BEAM can be used as a panic button. The user can choose up to four recipients to receive a text message, GPS location and map link, which is sent from a paired phone if the BEAM display is pressed for 10 seconds. It seems like setting that up may not be a good idea in some cases, though, considering how easily one could leave forward and accidentally touch the display, sending out a mass panic text.

BEAM is priced at $99.

SOURCE: PRNewswire