The Flexbar is a alternative for Apple’s Contact Bar that might give the Stream Deck a run for its cash — assuming the software program is totally hammered into form in some unspecified time in the future.
The Contact Bar was a component of the MacBook Professional keyboard that supplied the promise of productiveness. By giving customers the power to the touch a row of context-aware buttons that carried out shortcuts or modified settings, they may doubtlessly do extra without having to navigate menus or keep in mind key mixtures.
Whereas the element had potential, it was usually derided and was finally changed by a row of bodily perform keys, following the loss of life of the 13-inch MacBook Professional.
Customers now not have the choice of utilizing the Contact Bar in Apple’s present crop of {hardware}, and as an alternative they need to look elsewhere if the need one thing related. The Stream Deck is an apparent and well-tested choice, however in case you wished an interface that is a lot nearer to the Contact Bar in idea, you must as an alternative flip to the Flexbar.
Created by Eniac, the Flexbar is a skinny OLED show that gives a set of software program buttons and controls to work along with your Mac and its apps. By touching the display, you’ll be able to set off shortcuts, macros, or in any other case management the linked Mac, all from a bar designed to take a seat above your keyboard, like the unique Contact Bar.
Whereas it will not essentially provide the entire performance of Apple’s Contact Bar, it does provide a variety of what its predecessor promised.
Flexbar overview – Design
The Flexbar is, mainly, an OLED show in an aluminum alloy enclosure. It is a skinny bar of a show, and at 10.8 inches lengthy, 0.6 inches large, and 0.3 inches thick, it is virtually so long as a Magic Keyboard.
The aluminum alloy enclosure would not go amiss when surrounded by Apple {hardware}, so it’ll mix in with most individuals’s Mac setups with ease.
The guts of the system is that 2K AMOLED display, which has a decision of two,170 by 60 pixels. This clearly is not meant for use as an precise show for content material, nevertheless it’s large enough for tappable parts to be seen.
Flexbar overview: The show is shiny and simply readable.
It is a touch-enabled display, however there are additionally two black display-less parts on the ends. Whereas not used as a part of the seen show, they do nonetheless have makes use of, akin to opening a small interface drawer or being the default “back” button.
It is also very mild at 71.7 grams (2.5 ounces), so it is simple to hold round with a MacBook Professional. That’s, in case you can stow it away in a right-sized pocket in your bag.
When used as meant on the prime of a MacBook Professional’s keyboard, it does imply it’s important to elevate your fingers about half an inch to press parts of it. When used on a desktop Mac, positioned on the desk behind the keyboard, it will be much more degree with the keys.
Flexbar overview: It is a lengthy touch-enabled show, just like the Contact Bar
When used by itself, its easy base means it will possibly simply slip round your desk in case you’re not cautious. Eniac does provide some pads to extend the quantity of grip, however there’s additionally a magnetic stand that ships with it.
The wedge-shaped stand sticks to the Flexbar firmly, and angles the show towards the person, making it simpler to see the display. This does elevate the Flexbar up greater, so it is more durable to achieve on a MacBook Professional, nevertheless it’s significantly extra helpful for desktop-based customers.
Flexbar overview: The provided magnetic wedge helps angle the Flexbar
Connecting the Flexbar to your Mac is dealt with by a USB-C cable, with a woven one provided within the field. This connects to 1 finish of the Flexbar, dealing with knowledge and energy.
This could possibly be an issue for individuals wanting a wi-fi desktop, however it will be arduous to think about hiding a battery in that enclosure without having to make it thicker.
By default, you hook up with the USB-C port on the right-hand facet of the show, however you’ll be able to flip it round and alter a setting so it really works with the port on the left too.
The sunshine weight of the Flexbar does introduce the issue of cable jostling shifting the bar itself very simply. It is much less of a difficulty when utilizing the stand for additional weight, nevertheless it’s nonetheless one thing to keep in mind whereas utilizing it.
Flexbar overview – Designer
Whereas the {hardware} itself is half the equation, the opposite is the software program. Flexbar Designer is the app you employ so as to add the entire software program buttons and parts to the Flexbar itself.
Given a illustration of the Flexbar, customers can add buttons of various varieties that carry out totally different duties. The obvious are buttons used to carry out a macro or to carry out keypresses for you, akin to a button that locations fundamental HTML code right into a textual content field.
Different varieties embody media management, {hardware} administration parts such because the display brightness of your Mac or quantity management, and buttons to open webpages or purposes.
The entire buttons may be positioned simply, and with a variety of management over how every button appears. This will embody making a button wider or narrower, border types, font types, and association of parts inside the button itself.
They don’t seem to be simply buttons, both. For instance, you’ll be able to arrange a quantity management slider in an effort to set the precise quantity proportion you need.
Not every part needs to be interactive, as you would additionally use the Flexbar as a show for knowledge. There are alternatives to view metrics akin to CPU load or RAM utilization, that are proven as live-updating graphs.
Flexbar overview: Flexbar Designer is used to configure the menus out of your Mac.
You are additionally not restricted to only one display of icons and parts, as you’ll be able to outline pages. Every web page can maintain a number of buttons, which might make it so much simpler to group collectively shortcuts relying in your presently in-use software.
Within the brief time spent with the Flexbar, we have been capable of arrange a web page of shortcuts for Blender and Twitch. In an indication format preinstalled on the Flexbar, it included pages for Adobe purposes, video games together with Minecraft, OBS, and pages of ready phrases and statements for chatrooms.
It’s potential to rearrange as much as 14 ranges of nested pages within the Flexbar, so you would simply arrange teams of icons into bigger teams. For instance, pages for Adobe Premiere, Lightroom, and Photoshop could possibly be nested inside a common Adobe web page, which itself could possibly be inside a Work nest.
The guide does clarify that it’s potential to bind a web page to a window, so that it’s going to seem on the Flexbar as quickly as that window or software is in deal with the principle desktop. This may be extraordinarily helpful, if correctly configured.
Whereas Eniac has gone to some hassle to make the method of including parts to the Flexbar’s show comprehensible, it’s nonetheless a variety of work for a person to undertake. It could possibly be made so much simpler for a person to get began with the Flexbar, akin to having pre-defined default shortcut collections for apps that customers may add.
This is not out there now, nevertheless it could possibly be sooner or later.
As a mission supplied on Kickstarter, the group continues to be engaged on getting the entire parts in place, together with creating the software program that Flexbar must run. As prerelease software program provided to AppleInsider earlier than the Flexbar shifts, the software program is in a usable state, if not totally polished.
Because it’s software program, there may be at all times the prospect of increasing its options to make it much more user-friendly. Certainly, there are already guarantees of parts which are in improvement to perform this.
A plug-in system will permit builders so as to add Flexbar performance by means of APIs. This gives the chance for deeper integration with apps, and presumably extra management choices.
A plug-in market may also be on the way in which, which can in flip simplify the method of customers including apps to the Flexbar interface. It is easy to think about with the ability to set up a plugin and have a web page robotically populate with related buttons and controls for an app.
Nonetheless, these are nonetheless in-development options that will not be out there at first. It’s anticipated that the plug-in system and market will launch someday within the second quarter of 2025.
They don’t seem to be out there now, nevertheless it’s simple to see them being welcomed by customers down the highway.
Flexbar overview – In Use
There may be the expectation that the Flexbar is analogous in utilization to Apple’s Contact Bar. To some extent, it’s.
The brilliant show, with an adjustable brightness management, crisply shows the software program buttons and sliders with out difficulty. Even with massive fingers, the smallest button settings are nonetheless simply pressed with out mis-taps, and positioned above the keyboard, it is simply inside attain.
That’s, if the cable of your keyboard would not get in the way in which an excessive amount of. When you’ve got a keyboard with a cable that stands out the again, it’ll get in the way in which and pressure you to maneuver the Flexbar over to the facet.
Flexbar overview: The bottom could be very flat and slick. Use the magnetic stand for extra grip and weight.
The act of urgent the buttons or different parts can be helped by haptic suggestions. A button faucet or a slide is greeted with a small vibration, acknowledging your press.
Faucets are additionally rapidly acted upon in the event that they contain the Mac, with actions carried out with minimal lag.
It is very simple to think about utilizing this in an analogous option to a Stream Deck. When you’ve got lots of shortcuts and macros arrange in a Stream Deck, you’ll be able to simply add extra in a bar-style association right here.
There are just a few included capabilities which are extra for present than they’re sensible. There are hexadecimal converters and calculators which, whereas practical, do not actually lend themselves to a bar format versus your typical calculator quantity pad grid.
There’s additionally the curious addition of a ruler with each centimeter and inch markings. It is a bit of enjoyable however additionally it is correct, making it helpful in case you want a measurement and a bodily ruler is nowhere to be discovered.
Flexbar overview: It communicates to your Mac utilizing USB-C.
The place the Flexbar would not fairly match the Contact Bar is in Apple’s advantageous integrations. The important thing one being the shortage of urged phrases when utilizing a textual content editor, a activity the Contact Bar was extraordinarily helpful for having.
It is possible that this kind of performance could possibly be added utilizing the plug-in system ultimately, however not for the second.
Utilizing it over time, we did run into the difficulty of lightness, because it was very susceptible to maneuver when tapped evenly, even on the magnetic stand. That is most likely all the way down to utilizing it on a shiny wood floor somewhat than a mousepad or one other floor with extra grip.
Flexbar overview – An ideal begin for a distinct segment peripheral
The Flexbar actually gives a variety of productiveness bonuses to customers in an analogous option to the Contact Bar it emulates, in addition to the competing Stream Deck. It is a helpful little display that gives shortcuts inside a brief vary of your fingertips and your keyboard.
It already demonstrates a excessive degree of customizability, however with it comes complexity. For one thing like this, you’d anticipate an intrepid person to have the ability to get themselves arrange and working after a little bit of learning methods to use the Flexbar Designer software and a while tinkering.
For the common Mac person, they may want much more steerage as it’s fairly an intimidating factor to get going with. It does want extra simplification of the setup course of for these customers.
Handily, it is a factor that may be handled by way of software program updates, with add-ons on the way in which. Simply not proper now.
{Hardware}-wise, it is arduous to criticize the Flexbar. It is shiny, large, simply comprehensible as soon as arrange, and really intuitive to make use of.
Flexbar overview: There’s a variety of promise, nevertheless it must good its software program.
The sunshine weight of it’s mitigated by the extraordinarily helpful stand, however may be a difficulty. Some may complain in regards to the lack of a battery and wi-fi choices, however that once more could possibly be a second-gen revision.
As a primary try and attempt to make a comparative product to Apple’s Contact Bar, the Flexbar will get a variety of issues proper. {Hardware}-wise it is just about there, with software program enhancements being the subsequent part of enchancment.
It isn’t fairly there proper now. We will actually inform the place the group desires to go together with this, and the place it would finally find yourself.
Flexbar ProsApple-like bodily design
Brilliant and simple to make use of show
Vastly customizable menus, with the prospect for extra with app plug-insFlexbar ConsInitial setup is difficult to the common person
Mild weight, simply moved with the cableRating: 3 out of 5
The Flexbar is an attention-grabbing product. As a rule, we like the thought, and the idea. The execution simply is not there proper now, and potential customers could be higher served with an Elgato Stream Deck, with the software program the way in which it’s.
So, this rating is predicated on the pre-release {hardware} and software program provided to AppleInsider for overview functions. It takes into consideration what’s usable on the time of the overview itself, and would not consider software program enhancements which have but to be carried out.
If accomplished proper, the inbound software program updates anticipated within the coming months may make it a much better total product. It is simply possible for the rating to be 4 out of 5 at that time — it simply is not proper now. We might revisit this sooner or later.
As a part of the overview, we have additionally integrated the truth that it is a crowdfunded mission. As a crowdfunded mission, there may be at all times the danger the product not delivery as promised — or in any respect. Due to this, AppleInsider would not cowl the vast majority of crowdfunding efforts as a rule, except {hardware} is obtainable and after an evaluation of the group behind the trouble.
The place to purchase the Flexbar
The Flexbar is presently out there on Kickstarter with a marketing campaign that may finish on January 2, 8 AM Jap, 1 PM UTC. On the time of publication, it has raised $264,684 of its $2,576 objective.
It has an MSRP of $179, with Kickstarter backer bundles ranging from $149.
Author : tech365
Publish date : 2024-12-29 00:16:22
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