The power button and volume rocker are typically the only physical controls you'll find on a smartphone as almost all functions are accessed via soft-buttons on the touchscreen these days. Sometimes a hard button can allow for quicker access to certain functions though. Dedicated camera shutter buttons, like on Nokia's Lumia devices or the Sony Xperia Z1, are a good example.

The Pressy button is a new accessory that adds an additional programmable hard button to your Android device. It slots into your smartphone's headphone socket and once inserted is hardly visible. After downloading and installing the corresponding app you're ready to go. Pressy comes with three default actions out of the box:

  • One short click to toggle your flashlight
  • One long click to toggle your phone in and out of silent mode
  • Double-click to snap a photo

However, the button is fully customizable, too, so you can assign all sorts of functions to a specific combination of button clicks in the Pressy app. For example you could assign two short clicks to calling a contact or capturing a screenshot.

If you have an Android phone with the headphone socket at the bottom, like the LG G2, Pressy arguably won't work that well for you but otherwise it looks like a really good idea. That said, it would be even more interesting for mobile photographers if it supported a half-press, just like a real camera shutter button. The Pressy button was funded through a now finished Kickstarter project but you pre-order one now for $27 from the Pressy website or watch the video below for more information.