Cane Wireless Cliki review: The Cliki smart button nails the hardware, misses the magic
Smart buttons are hard explain, partly because they look so different depending on who’s using them. You can control the music on your phone, toggle the smart lights in your house, order a pizza, and more — all with the press of a button. At it’s best, using smart buttons can feel magical.
But when it comes to reviewing any particular smart button, the process is strictly scientific: How flexible is it? How many functions can it perform? How many platforms does it work with? These are the simple building blocks that construct the user experience.
Cliki, a new smart button by Florida-based Cane Wireless, is Android-exclusive and can perform thirteen distinct functions. It sends commands to your phone — to take a picture or toggle tethering — and it does so reliably. The problem is, for a $39 product, Cliki should do so much more.
Cliki does a few things well. First off, you can attach Cliki to your keychain and use it as a fob. To me, that feels much more useful than the adhesive strips that other smart buttons have used. The Cliki app is also efficient. Rather than programming the button one command at a time, the commands are grouped into sets. That way, when you select the music icon, your button will automatically be able to play/pause your music with one press, and skip to the next song with a double press. Grouping commands in this way makes transitioning between button uses really easy.
