Sometimes it seems like everything is going through a Kickstarter campaign these days, doesn’t it? Accessories for phones, entire phones themselves... it makes sense to want to make sure that your product has a following before actually going into production, and while some products are obvious winners, other ideas might take a little more convincing before you get people on board with your product. I have a feeling that this recently unveiled case/phone by California company WirelessMe might be one of those products.

The Talkase is a two in one deal: it’s both a case for your iPhone 5s, 6, or 6 Plus, and it comes equipped with a smaller, secondary mobile phone attached to the back. It’s a fairly meta concept, because why would anybody want a phone to accompany their phone? Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of the original phone in the first place? In some ways, yes; but given that smartphones are more often than not designed around Internet and texting purposes rather than phone calls, perhaps it’s time to come up with something that brings back the “phone” in “smartphone”.

It’s an undeniable fact that most flagships these days are getting pretty big. For two-handed use, like when browsing the Internet or texting, a large phone is ideal. But what about when you’re trying to have an actual phone conversation with somebody? Is a phablet with a 6-inch screen easy to wield? Maybe for some, but probably not for everybody. Let’s face it, for a lot of people there are two ideal sizes for smartphones - big phones for browsing and something smaller for phone calls. However, since we don’t yet have the technology to shrink or enlarge our smartphones as we see fit, we’re going to have to come up with a better solution.

Of course, you could use a Bluetooth headset for hands-free conversation. That’s an idea that’s been around for a long time, and seems to work out just fine. Or, as of late, you could even bank on most smartwatches being able to take a phone call here in the near future. The only problem with these two solutions is that they currently don’t have the ability to be a standalone device. Both methods require the smartphone to be nearby. With a Talkase, the smaller phone works as a standalone product. That’s because the additional phone attached to the back of the case is actually a separate phone.

It’s a silly idea when you talk about it like that, but as it turns out, the Talkase phone has a couple of decent benefits to it. While it can be classified as a standalone device, you still can’t get around the slight hassle of removing and replacing the SIM card when you need to use the smaller version of the device. It’s not as simple as just being able to simply use both devices at any given time - only one will work as a phone at a time. However, where the Talkase shines is that should your smartphone run out of battery during the day, you can still use your Talkase phone until you’re able to charge up your actual phone. It works well as an emergency phone.

The Talkase also works well if you just need to downsize for a bit. Maybe you’re going to a concert or camping and you don’t want to take your super expensive smartphone with you. You can use your Talkase phone and when you’re out of the danger zone of bears or mosh pits, you can safely tuck your Talkase phone back in your phone’s case and resume normal activity on your smartphone.

You can also apparently slip a credit card in the Talkase slot, but that’s like... just begging for somebody to steal your phone. That’s a twofer if I’ve ever seen one - a swank phone and somebody else’s money, cool!

I seem to remember HTC coming out with a similar idea either last year or the year before. The HTC Mini was supposed to be a small phone for your big phone, although it didn’t conveniently attach to a case or anything like that. Seeing as we never saw any more iterations of the idea surface, I’m going to guess that the solution wasn’t as big of a hit as HTC might have been hoping. With that in mind, is Talkase’s solution of easy storage for your tiny “phone for your phone” what could make the idea take off, or will it end up just being too much hassle in the end?

While I can see where Talkase solves some of the issues where other solutions (like Bluetooth headsets and smartwatches) fall short, I feel like smartwatches are on the fast track to becoming the standard companion for your behemoth smartphone. They’re not quite there a standalone product yet, but I imagine it won’t be long before they get to that point.

Readers, what are your thoughts on Talkase? Would you purchase this phone/case hybrid?

Images via Talkase