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January 23, 2009
Glove Handles
Dear Larry,
I’m an iPhone user and have become frustrated by the fact
that I can’t use it with gloves on. Is there a way around this problem?
P. B.
Dear P. B.,
The iPhone can detect your taps, drags, and pinches because
your fingertips interrupt the small electrical signal on the surface of the
screen. However, gloves prevent any sort of electrical contact, which is
precisely why you can’t use an iPhone with anything other than your bare
fingers. No styluses and no fingernails—though your nose will work!
So why not use a glove that can temporarily expose the index
finger and thumb of either hand? Sounds like a pretty simple idea, but no one
really did anything about it until Josh Rubin designed the Freehands gloves (www.freehands.com).
Rubin is the founder of a technology and design website called
CoolHunting.com, which is ironic
because hunters have often relied on similarly designed gloves in order to keep
their trigger fingers exposed. (The CoolHunting website has nothing to do with
hunting animals—just hunting for fresh ideas.)
Here’s how it works. The black, unisex gloves—available in
fleece, stretch, and leather—have a tip on the thumb and index finger of each
glove that can be pulled off and folded backwards. A hidden magnet is supposed
to keep the tip pressed against the glove so that it doesn’t get in the way
while you’re using your iPhone or other device. When you’re done, simply return
the flap to its original position.
The concept is indeed simple and effective during these cold
winter months in the Northeast. I tried a pair of leather Freehands (they have
an inner layer of microfleece) and found them to have the look of a classic
dress glove. Even better, they’re designed with a generous cuff that keeps the
cold air from seeping in through the gap between your gloves and your coat
sleeves.
This is the first season for the Freehands gloves—version 1.0,
if you will—and they’re not entirely without flaws. The magnets, which are
embedded beneath the outer layer of the glove, don’t always do the job (the
index fingertip of my right glove refused to stay in the back position). I also
wish there were more overlap between the removable tip and the rest of the
glove; as it is, there’s enough of a gap that a draft of cold air could make its
way in.
Then again, these gloves aren’t intended for mountain
climbing, and, in practice, the problems I’ve described here aren’t deal
breakers. The gloves do what they’re designed to do, and all things considered,
I’m happy with them and will continue to use them on a regular basis.
So this winter season, keep your hands warm while your fingers
do the walking—across the surface of your iPhone!
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
