E-ink® Screen on the Back of a Phone: 5 Practical Uses
Gilliam MarcusTable of contents
You carry the back of your phone everywhere, and it does nothing for you until you snap a second screen onto it.
Magnetic e-readers that snap onto a phone already exist, and they hold a book for the train ride. Flowtica Verso uses the same spot for work. It is a MagSafe E-ink® Display with an AI meeting assistant inside, and it stays useful whether you are in a meeting or not.
1. Live Meeting Notes on the Table
Put your phone face-down on the meeting table. The screen on its back faces up and shows the conversation as it happens.
A sentence appears on the screen within 2 seconds of the speaker finishing it. Tap the tab to switch from the running transcript to live notes that summarize the discussion so far. You follow the meeting with a glance instead of an unlocked phone, which helps when your mind starts to wander.
In a three-hour planning meeting, the idea someone raised in the first half hour is still on the screen when the room comes back to it.
2. A Desk Display for the Workday
Between meetings, Verso shows your agenda and open to-dos. Take it off your phone and stand it next to your monitor, and it becomes a small desk display you read without opening an app.
The E-ink® Display has no front light and no backlight, so it does not glow on your desk the way a phone or tablet does. It sits in the corner of your eye like a printed card.
When the next meeting starts, snap it back onto your phone and press record.
3. A Sticky Note That Stays Put
Verso holds on with magnets, so it sticks to any steel surface: a filing cabinet, the fridge, the side of a metal shelf.
Put a note on the screen and it stays there: "Send the deck to Lena by 3 pm." An E-ink® Display keeps showing its last image, so the note does not fade or time out the way a phone screen does.
4. A Name Badge at Events
Clip Verso to a lanyard (sold separately) and Card Mode turns the screen into a name badge with your name, title and company, set the way you want.
At a conference, the same device that recorded your 10 am meeting hangs around your neck by noon. When a hallway conversation turns into something worth keeping, it is already there.
5. Phone Calls Recorded Through the Back
On the back of your phone, Verso records calls through a contact mic, so you do not need speakerphone. We tested it with the thickest mainstream cases on the market, and cases up to 3 mm / 0.12 in thick make no difference to call recording.
After the call, the transcript and notes are waiting in the Flowtica App. Our guide to writing action items after a meeting covers what to do with them.
Coming Later: A Few Pages of Reading
Verso is not an e-reader, and the small screen is not built for long reading sessions. A reading mode for EPUB and TXT files is on the way. It is meant for the moment you want a few pages away from notifications and your Kindle is at home: flip the phone over and read.
Fit, Size and Compatibility
Verso weighs 78 g / 2.75 oz and measures 6 mm / 0.24 in thick. It snaps onto MagSafe iPhones, Pixel phones with Pixelsnap and phones that support Qi2. For other phones, use a case with a magnetic ring, or the stick-on magnetic ring included in the box.
Battery life is 72 hours of mixed daily use. Recording and saving work without an internet connection, and 64 GB of storage keeps the audio on the device. Verso works with Apple Find My and Google Find Hub, so you can locate it the same way you locate your phone.
For the full case on why a screen changes the meeting, read AI Recorder With a Screen vs Without: 5 Key Differences.
Pre-orders open November 17. MSRP $299.