Nod Bluetooth Ring

As our primary computing environment gradually shifts from the desktop to mobile, so too will our interface needs. To that end, a group engineers in Mountain View, Calif. believe that they have the solution for the next phase of interfaces, and it comes in the form of a ring.

The Nod ring is a Bluetooth-enabled gesture controller that connects to your smartphone to accomplish a number of input and controller tasks all by using natural motions with your finger.

In addition extending the capabilities of your smartphone, the ring can also be connected to other smart devices, such as a smart television and other Internet-connected devices like the Nest. If a device doesn't have Bluetooth capability, you can connect the ring to your smartphone, which will then connect to the device via Wi-Fi.

Image: Mashable, Will Fenstermaker

Housed in a waterproof, black plastic casing, the ring's battery is designed to last about one day and can be easily be recharged via its holding case. One shortcoming of the device is that you'll need to keep the holding case with you whenever possible because the Nod is always on and can only be recharged using the case.

The flat surface of the ring, which is meant to be worn pointing inward toward your palm, features a tiny capacitive touch panel, bookended on both sides with small buttons that can be programmed for a number of functions (e.g. volume up and down, etc.). Functions of the ring will be controllable through associated apps on both iOS and Android.

The team behind Nod visited Mashable and gave us a demonstration of the device and it didn't disappoint. Among the functions shown off during the demo, we witnessed the ring being used to type text and surf the web on a tablet, answer a smartphone call and even play a game on a tablet. Other programmable functions include using it as a trigger to take selfies with your smartphone, or as a controller for your smart television.

In your hands the Nod feels solid, but relatively light. When it hits the market, the makers will offer various sizes, which means that the device will work for both men and women with fingers of varying sizes.

Image: Mashable, Will Fenstermaker

But despite the device's slick design and promising functionality, there will be those who will — with some good reason — be a bit skeptical about the potential of the device. Consider the Leap Motion, the gesture controller that some believed would revolutionize desktop interfaces. Now, almost a year after its commercial release, the interface device, which promised an early look at Minority Report style computing, has failed to take off with consumers.

A stripped down version of the Nod shows its inner components. Image: Nod

According the founders of the Nod, part of the reason for Leap's failure to catch on resides in a set of unnatural gesture commands and its "bounding box" space, which limits the space in which the user can gesture. In contrast, the Nod is designed to allow you to use more natural gestures with your finger.

However, even taking all those attributes into consideration, it remains to be seen if users — still palm-deep in the touchscreen era — are even interested in gesture controllers, no matter what form they take.

If you've followed our coverage of this space, you know that we seen something similar to this before in the Ring, in March. We didn't have a chance to demo the Ring in-person, so at this point we can only compare features.

On that note, the two devices seem to serve similar purposes, but on the hardware front, the Nod definitely appears to be several steps ahead.

Pre-orders of the Nod, which costs $149, are being accepted now, and they expect to deliver it by this fall.