Bang & Olufsen’s new Beosound Edge is either a piece of conceptual art about skeuomorphism, or a gigantic practical joke. I think it may be both.
But what’s really notable is its industrial design and UX. The speaker is actually a giant volume knob–one that the Verge reports has a gyroscope and an accelerometer to detect when you’re rolling it along the ground. You can see the gesture in action below:
The speaker senses when you’re near, activating a touch-sensitive interface atop its aluminum curve. It borrows from a familiar interface–the old iPod–to let you start, stop, and skip tracks by tapping on the white light. Of course, to adjust the level you just roll the knob. It’s the epitome of skeumorphic design: The entire speaker becomes a physical representation of the physical device that is used to control it.
“You instinctively feel the urge to roll the balancing circle—and you should,” the company writes in its marketing materials. It’s less that I should, and more that I must. I really must.
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