Does Form Make a Camera?

This one comes from old pal Jonathan Jackson, and it's a little silly on the surface - but like a lot of silly products, it's packing some design commentary just underneath the surface.  What you're looking at there is an iPhone case - and yep, it makes it look just like a somewhat old-fashioned camera.  Besides the disguise, the Gizmon iCa adds some function: it lets you attach different lenses to the iPhone camera in the bottom left corner, and features a big tactile shutter button and optical viewfinder.  But what's really apparent here is that smartphones have generally failed as a form factor for a camera.  You can't find the shutter button (if a real one even exists); your finger often blocks the oddly-placed lens, and holding the phone only by its edges (to prevent touchscreen interaction) just begs for an accidental drop.  Something like this silly case could actually improve the usability of the phone as a camera.  Now if only it didn't look quite like that...
[via TechCrunch]