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touchscreen at Spoot: Spotted Early is a file of 3 stories. The newest of them: “Citroën's 2CV returns as a tiny electric roll-top concept”, “This $249 Lock Still Opens When Its Battery Gives Up”, and “Your phone's forgotten back side finally gets a starring role”. The 2CV is back, and it's brought a roll-top roof and a battery. Smart locks sound like the future until you're standing outside with groceries and the lock won't wake up because of a dead battery. Spoot: Spotted Early New things, caught while they're still new and a little weird. Spoot finds fresh gadgets, clever inventions, crowdfunding campaigns,… The list below is every touchscreen story on Spoot: Spotted Early, newest first.
Citroën's 2CV returns as a tiny electric roll-top concept
The 2CV is back, and it's brought a roll-top roof and a battery. Citroën unveiled this tiny electric concept at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, measuring just 3.76 metres, shorter than a modern parking space and probably easier to parallel park. It reinterprets the 1948 original, which means it keeps the iconic silhouette but swaps the corrugated metal for a fabric roof that rolls up when the weather behaves. That's the detail that makes me grin. Who is it for? Someone who wants the charm without the petrol smell, and who doesn't mind waiting to see if it ever leaves the show floor. If you like clever space-shifting, also check out Fiat's Multiplay concept, which swaps its back seat for a flatbed.
This $249 Lock Still Opens When Its Battery Gives Up
Smart locks sound like the future until you're standing outside with groceries and the lock won't wake up because of a dead battery. Although there are backup keys, most of us will discover we left them inside just about the time the lock goes silent. This one, a $249 model, quietly solves that by still opening when the battery gives up. It's not a party trick. It's the difference between a product that respects your forgetfulness and one that punishes it. The clever bit isn't the app or the Bluetooth pairing, it's the mechanical fail-safe that doesn't require you to have planned ahead. Spoot loves a detail that admits you're human. If a smart lock can't handle a dead battery, it's not smart. It's just a door that's learned to say no.
Your phone's forgotten back side finally gets a starring role
Flip the Honor X5d s over and you finally see the point of a phone's back side. For years, that slab of glass and plastic has been the forgotten sibling, the surface you smudge and ignore while the front screen hogs every glance. Honor disagrees. It has given the rear camera a starring role, turning the back into something you will actually think about. Budget phones usually make you choose between a decent screen and a decent camera. This one suggests you have been holding the wrong end all along. It is a small rebellion, and we are here for it. If you like phones that rethink the obvious, our piece on the Light Phone snapping shut against apps pairs nicely with this one. Stay curious. Stay spooty.