Mobile Fun Blog

Keep charged in the car

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

If you travel in your car a lot or frequently use your phone throughout the day, then you need a car charger so that you never run out of juice.  There’s plenty of car chargers out there to chose from, whether it’s a fancy dock and charger or one of the simple USB car chargers available.  I’ve taken a closer look at three of our most popular car chargers available:

Navigon iPhone 4S / 4 Car Holder with Charger

Navigon iPhone 4/4S Car Holder and Charger

I actually own a Navigon as my iPhone 4S car charger and what I personally like about it is its curved style.  It looks a lot more stylish than other car charger and dock combos, but does the job just as well.

This car holder can be stuck to your windscreen at the angle to suit you with the simple suction cup.  Therefore you can position it in a place on your windscreen which is not only safe but also comfortable to use.

When using the Navigon you can angle it so that your phone is in either a portrait or landscape view, which is great for when using the maps feature of your iPhone, or for plugging in phone chargers, FM transmitters and other accessories.

Using an accessory like the Navigon you still have all the features of your phone available but your phone is docked safely and securely whilst doing so.

The included car charger is a simple USB charger meaning you can use your own cable and it’s compatible with both cars and trucks.

USB Car Charger Adapter

USB Car Charger Adapter

The USB car charger adapter is in my eyes a staple accessory for any car.

Cheap and cheerful, this USB plug slots into the cigarette lighter and will charge any accessory via USB.  This means not only can you charge your phone, but you could charge a Kindle, hand held gaming system like the DS and even tablets.

This means that if you’re on a long journey, you can keep your passengers occupied without the fear of batteries running out and calls of ‘Are we there yet?’

Compatible with any USB cable, this charger can be used on its own or with a dock, making it multi-functional and essential.  The plug can hide away in your glove box when not in use but you’ll be glad it’s there when you run out of juice!

Genuine Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100 Vehicle Dock

Genuine Samsung Galaxy S2 Vehicle Dock

The last dock and car charger on my list is the Genuine Samsung Galaxy S2 Vehicle Dock.  In a similar way to the Navigon it docks and charges your phone, so it’s a great Samsung Galaxy S2 car charger.

Being an official product, the perfect fit and compatibility is assured with this vehicle dock.  It clips your phone in place safely and securely ensuring that it won’t fall out if you take a corner too hard.

Like the Navigon it can be attached to your windscreen by a simple suction cup, meaning you can dock your phone safely and legally, at the most comfortable angle for you.  To add even more comfort you can view your phone in portrait or landscape, so again it’s great for SatNav apps.

The USB charger fits nicely into the phone and like all Samsung chargers keeps your phone fully juiced whilst you’re on the go.

Sleek and sophisticated, this is a great vehicle dock and charger for all S2 owners.

So that’s my top three; whether you agree or disagree let me know through the usual channels

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Blackberry’s back! (well kind of) Celebrate with a new case.

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

We know that Blackberry have been down for a few days and that users haven’t been too happy about their loss of service.  Jokes have been circling the Twittersphere about ‘Blackberry crumbles’ and ‘What did one Blackberry user say to another? Nothing’, but thankfully for Blackberry users the services seem to be returning to normal today.

What better way to celebrate than by getting a brand spanking new Blackberry case!  Here’s a few of our favourites.

Otterbox Defender for Blackberry Bold 9780

The first case is for the Blackberry Bold 9780 and is from the Otterbox range.  What’s great about Otterbox cases is that they provide three layers of protection: a thin thermal-formed cover for the screen and keys; a polycarbonate shell to protect the handset and a final silicone skin which absorbs shocks.

When combined this leads to the ultimate in protection , all whilst the Blackberry Bold 9780 case aims to remain as sleek and stylish as possible.

Otterbox for Blackberry Bold 9780

Dicota Hard Cover for Blackberry Curve 8520

The next case is for the popular Blackberry Curve 8520.  When the handset first arrived it was used primarily by business men but since then the BBM features have attracted a lot of teenagers to the handset.  The Dicota Blackberry Curve 8520 case is perfect for those teens who want a stylish yet sophisticated case.

Made from an impact resistant hard plastic, the Dicota hard cover snaps onto the back of you Blackberry and offers slim protection and a perfect fit.

One of the most fashionable blackberry curves cases, it offers protection from scratches and scrapes whilst giving you access to all the ports and features of the handset.  Even better the case offers extra grip to the handset to help you avoid those butterfingers moments.

Dicota Blackberry Curve Case

Samsonite Mobile Phone Holster

Samsonite are well known for their high quality luggage so when purchasing a Samsonite Blackberry Torch case you know that you’re getting a high quality product even without the ten year guarantee!

The case is made from genuine leather to add style and protection and it’s perfect for both work and socialising.   This Samsonite mobile phone holster will fit a lot of different phone models due to it’s size – Krusell also do a similar style case.

Being a holster style cover means that every inch of your handset is protected but in order to use the features and ports of your handset it must be removed from the case.

Samsonite Mobile Phone Holster

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BlackBerry Presenter for Wireless PowerPoint Presentations

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

The BlackBerry Presenter is designed to wirelessly connect to your Blackberry phone.  When used together they provide a lightweight and more portable alternative to a laptop for delivering those “Sales Closing” PowerPoint presentations.
With the Smartphone fast becoming a standard bit of kit for the travelling executive and with BlackBerry devices being amongst the most popular for business users, such an accessory definitely has a place in this market.

BlackBerry Presenter With Blackberry Mobile Phone

I was pleasantly surprised that RIM had taken the time to think about the design and styling of the Blackberry Presenter – its chrome and ebony detailing gives it a feeling of quality.  The seamless curves and chrome banding are only broken to reveal a VGA and SVHS output to connect to a projector or monitor, a PAL & NTSC switch for both European and North American compatibility and a USB port, which doubles to facilitate syncing with your Blackberry Presenter desktop application for software updates and also as a power source, as the BlackBerry Presenter does not have an internal battery.  Also included in the box is a quick set-up guide, leather pouch to transport your BlackBerry Presenter around in, a USB Data lead, and USB tipped power adaptor with the usual plethora of mains travel adaptors to plug in wherever your final destination may be in the World.

Setting up the Blackberry Presenter from out of the box is fairly straight forward and quick.  Just a visit to the BlackBerry website to download the desktop software for the computer and the Presenter software for my BlackBerry Torch and it is good to go.

Plug in the power lead and connect the BlackBerry presenter to the projector or monitor, then switch the Presenter on by pressing the LED button on the top, this should then illuminate red to indicate that it is on – a BlackBerry splash is displayed on the presentation screen.  You can then open an attachment from your email, however the PowerPoint presentation needs to be downloaded to the phone before the Presenter software will recognise it -  with this in mind, it might be a good idea to download the file in good time before the  presentation is scheduled to start otherwise your audience can be in for a lengthy delay.  Then choose ‘presenter’ from the options menu on your BlackBerry phone; the phone will attempt to connect via Bluetooth to the Presenter device – which has a range of up to 10 metres, but I found I could extend on that quite easily without encountering problems.  You will then be requested  to enter a pin number, which will be provided on the BlackBerry screen, it is also located on the base of the Presenter.  The LED on the Presenter goes from red to blue to confirm that a successful connection has been acquired, after which the first PowerPoint slide  displayed on your phone will appear on the presentation screen. Using the touch screen, qwerty keyboard or toggle button of the phone you can then navigate from slide to slide.

The Presenter application has some useful features such as being able to follow your speakernotes on the phone while your audience view the slide.  Also there is a feature whereby you can freeze a slide while you search through the presentation to choose another one, therefore allowing you to re-organise in real time the order of your slides.  Also you can regain the audience’s attention by using a ‘Blank Screen’ option which will present a solid blue screen.  Animations and slide transitions also work well.

Where the Presenter dissapoints is with it’s limited font support, so you may find that the original  fonts are not available and are automatically substituted for default ones.  Also the Presenter cannot show embedded videos and no sound is possible due to the lack of audio ports.

In conclusion, I find the BlackBerry Presenter can be a useful, portable, lightweight  accessory to have with you when travelling to business meetings whereby you might expect to provide a PowerPoint presentation to add a bit of punch to a pitch.  “It does what it says on the tin”  although for the price you can be forgiven to expect an internal battery, better font support, audio and video compatibility and a better phone application that allows seamless and speedy streaming of PowerPoint slides without the added hassle of downloading files to your phone or internal memory card.  If lugging a laptop across the city or country does not appeal,  then the BlackBerry Presenter provides a compromised but credible option.

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BlackBerry HS500 Bluetooth Headset available to pre-order

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Although it hasn’t been confirmed yet, it looks as though there is a new Bluetooth headset on the way from BlackBerry. The current headset, the BlackBerry HS-655 was produced by Plantronics and was a great headset in its day, but as time and technology have moved on, it is definitely in need of an update.

The BlackBerry HS-500 has a brushed metal finish that’s similar to that found on current BlackBerry smart phones and incorporates the latest noise cancelling technology to make sure your calls are as clear as possible.

BlackBerry HS-500 Bluetooth Headset

The Features of the HS-500 include:

• Noise blackout technology with two noise cancellation microphones
• Multipoint technology lets you connect 2 devices at the same time
• Pair up to 8 devices – 2 at a time
• Crystal clear sound by advanced DSP (digital signal processing) technology
• Intelligent volume controls and audio shock protection
• Dual wearing style ear gel or flexible ear hook
• Dedicated on/off slide switch
• Micro USB Charging
• 6 Hours talk time
• 120 Hours stand by time

The BlackBerry HS-500 is expected into stock in the next few weeks and you can Pre-Order the BlackBerry HS-500 now for priority despatch and to avoid any disappointment.

Features, specification and release dates are subject to change

(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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How to find your BlackBerry model number

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

BlackBerry phones have really taken off over the last few years and are no longer seen as just a business users phone.  As their popularity has grown, so has the range of devices – the days of just having a range of 2 or 3 BlackBerry’s has gone and with most of them looking pretty similar, getting the right accessories for it can be quite tricky if you don’t know the model number of your BlackBerry.

To confuse things a little, BlackBerry have recently started to give their handsets nicknames such as BlackBerry Pearl, BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Storm & BlackBerry Bold. These names aren’t always the model number of your phone as there are currently 5 handsets that carry the name Pearl and 5 handsets that carry the name Curve. To get the right accessories for your BlackBerry you will also need to know the 4 digit model number that normally starts with an 8 or 9.

This short guide will show you a few quick and easy ways to work out which BlackBerry model you have.

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(7 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)

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