Previously featured in a successful Kickstarter campaign, the Sensus case was the star attraction at Canopy’s 2013 CES booth. Wrapping around the body of an iPhone 4/4S—the iPhone 5 version’s still in prototype form—Sensus adds ten point touch sensitivity to the back and side of the iPhone, enabling you to control certain apps and games without obscuring the screen. Demonstrations of the technology included a simple shooter, which let you move your auto-firing spaceship around with rear controls while toggling weapons with the side control bar, and a web browser that lets you scroll with the side bar rather than touching the screen. Pricing could be as low as $59 or as high as $99 for Sensus; the price at Apple Stores would likely be artificially higher. A mid-2013 launch, around or after the Game Developers’ Conference, appears to be in the cards.
Sensus’s rear and side touch surfaces are tactile and intuitive to use, so long as an app supports them.
According to the company, “hundreds” of third-party developers have expressed interest in the Sensus software development kit. Current demo software includes a braille input app that can replace significantly more expensive assistive devices for visually-impaired users.