iTrip Controller

When folks ask where I work, I respond with “Griffin Technology.” Unless they’re a huge Apple fan, that name doesn’t ring a bell, so I follow up with “have you heard of the iTrip?” More often than not, the name “iTrip” jogs their memory.

For those of you who don’t know, the iTrip was one of Griffin Technology’s breakthrough hardware innovations (there’s a pretty thorough Wikipedia article about its development history).

The newest version of iTrip, however, is the first to take advantage of iPhone OS 3.0. For the first time, we were able to build an iPhone app capable of two-way communication with external hardware.

My task was to take the iTrip’s control & feature set from the somewhat limited world of its 3-button hardware UI and replicate it in a way that took full advantage of the generous touchscreen of the iPhone & iPod touch.

The most common iTrip usage scenario is in-car, so it was an absolute necessity that we design a fully custom UI that could be safely used by a driver controlling the app one-handed while it’s docked in a cradle or cupholder. All of the buttons & controls in the iTrip app are generously proportioned — even the iPhone’s standard button size looks miniscule at arms’ length.

All of our iTrip variants — RoadTrip, iTrip Auto, and others — are currently updated (or about to be) for communication with the iTrip app, so this app will soon be the de facto standard for controlling all of the Griffin iTrip line (and reduce the unfortunate number of 1-star App Store reviews from folks who have an old iTrip model and don’t realize that a device’s firmware must be updated to communicate with an app).

In any case, I’m proud of the end result — the faux-metal device-within-device aesthetic is something we’re continuing to develop for future Griffin apps.