2010 has seen some great new products, everything from simple Stay Stuck Pads to keep your phone safe in the car, through to the awesome Motorola TN555 Sat Nav  & Hands Free Kit, but with such a wide range of phone accessories available, which ones came out on top?

HTC Desire Car Pack

Our phone of the year does so much more than just making calls and providing internet access, it also comes in quite handy as a sat nav. The Car Pack is our most popular HTC Desire Car Holder and is perfect if you use your Desire in the car as it provides a safe and secure way to hold your phone. It also includes a car charger to ensure that you reach your destination fully charged. Car Packs are available for most current smart phones, including the iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S and HTC Desire HD.

HTC Desire Car Pack

Advanced FlexiShield Skin

FlexiShield Skins are still the most popular way to protect your phone against knocks and bumps. They’re made from a soft, flexible, energy absorbing gel and are moulded to fit your phone perfectly. The Advanced FlexiShield Skins are even better value as they also include a screen protector. View all FlexiShield Skins

FlexiShield Skins

InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector

If you want your phone to stay free from scratches and scuffs, but don’t want it covered up by a case, then you need an InvisibleShield. They’re a thin, flexible film that covers all of your handset and protects it against damage. They’re available for most handsets and are best suited to touchscreen phones.

InvisibleSHIELD Full Body Protector - iPhone 4

HTC CC C200 Micro USB Car Charger

HTC have had a fantastic year and have released several fantastic phones – including of course our phone of the year. With so many people now using a HTC handset, it’s no surprise that the genuine HTC Car Charger ranks as one of our top accessories of the year. What we like about this one is that it can also be used with any other USB charging cable to charge your PSP, DS, Bluetooth Headsets and any other phone that you have the cable for.

HTC CC C200 Micro USB Car Charger

Desk Genie Non-Slip Charging Desk Stand

Earlier this year, two revolutionary new products arrived – the Desk Genie and the Dash Genie. The Desk Genie has proven to be incredibly popular as it has a non slip pad that will stick to just about anything without any messing around with clips or adjustable arms.It also doubles up as a charger, USB hub and a memory card reader.

Desk Genie Non-Slip Charging Desk Stand

Cellular Line Retractable Car Charger

Car Chargers certainly aren’t the most exciting accessory in the world, but they’re certainly one of the most popular! Unlike the HTC one in seventh place, this one has a fixed charging cable that retracts when not in use, leaving your car free from trailing and tangled wires. They’re available for most phones, including Nokia, LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson as well as all phones that use either Micro or Mini USB chargers.

Cellular Line Retractable Car Charger - MicroUSB

TrailBlazer Universal Car Charger and Holder

In-Car accessories really are popular and the TrailBlazer has been the most popular car holder of the year. It’s universal design means that it will hold most phones on the market, although some smart phones may be a bit too big and heavy for it. The holder plugs into your cigarette lighter and can be rotated to accommodate any controls or gear levers. What makes the TrailBlazer stand out is that it has 2 charging ports built in – a changeable one to charge your phone and a standard USB port that can be used to charge a second phone, MP3 Player or Sat Nav.

TrailBlazer Universal Car Charger and Holder

Mobile Fun Microfibre Cleaning Cloth

I was pretty surprised by this one – Who’d have thought a cleaning cloth would have been so popular! This microfibre cleaning cloth is more effective at wiping face prints off your phone than the sleeve of your jumper and it won’t scratch the display like some other cloths can.

Mobile Fun Microfibre Cleaning Cloth

Dash Genie In Car Holder

The Dash Genie is a simplified version of the Desk Genie and it well deserves second place. The holder uses a combination of a lightly adhesive pad and suction to stick to the dashboard of your car. Unlike most holders that require a totally flat surface, the Dash Genie will stick to just about any dashboard – even textured ones. Your phone is held in place using a clever sticky dot that grabs your phone firmly, without the need for adjustable arms. Just place your phone on the holder and drive off. Not convinced? Check out our video of the Dash Genie in action.

Dash Genie In Car Holder

Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – V3+

It came as no surprise to find that the Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit is the number 1 phone accessory of 2010. It’s been a firm favourite for years. This year it’s had a couple of updates and now has support for Multipoint, making it more useful than ever as you can now use it with two phones at the same time. It’s a great value solution that makes calling while you’re in the car easy, safe and legal and it thoroughly deserves it’s position as the best accessory of 2010.

Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit - V3+

Stylish, tangle free charging! Get the best for under a tenner

Why the Retractable Charger is the best in the World

• Innovative and attractive design
• Retractable cable – Avoid a mess of tangled wires
• Great build quality
• Automatic charge cut off – prevents battery by overcharging
• Switches between 12 & 24 volts – ideal for both cars and lorries
• LED indicator – so you’ll know when your phone is fully charged

Jabra SP700 Bluetooth Speakerphone

So when presented with the opportunity to try yet another Handsfree Bluetooth in-car visor product I did not climb over the office furniture or rugby tackle fellow colleagues to be first in the queue.  However  on this occasion a particular feature of the Jabra SP700 caught my imagination – it claimed to offer  both voice and stereo music streaming direct from my Bluetooth enabled mobile phone to my in-car entertainment unit.

In the Box

The compact and stylish Bluetooth speakerphone also comes supplied with a visor clip that is already fitted, a USB charger cable, USB car charger and ‘plain English’ and compact user guide.

Jabra SP700 Bluetooth Speakerphone Box Contents

Getting Started

Just connect the USB charger cable to a spare USB port on your computer and up pops an illuminated  red battery icon to indicated that it is charging. When fully charged this icon then changes to green.  If you do not have easy or regular access to a computer then think about  purchasing a USB Mains Charger and use the USB charger cable  provided in the box when not in the car.  On the front of the unit are a range of icons that illuminate to indicate what status the speakerphone is in.  I will discuss these in detail later.

There is no dedicated off/on button, and although not immediately obvious, this function is activated by  pressing  and holding the front of the speakerphone; 2 seconds to switch it on and  4 seconds to switch it off.  If like me, you tend to exit your vehicle and forget to switch the speakerphone off then do not worry, the SP700 has an auto-power off when the phone is out of its Bluetooth range.

Pairing the SP700 to your mobile phone couldn’t be easier; when you switch it on for the first time it automatically enters its pairing mode which is clearly indicated by an illuminated Bluetooth Status icon appearing.  Next, just activate the Bluetooth function on your phone and set the phone to “discover” the SP700, enter the pin code (0000), mount it to your car visor and you’re good to go!

The Jabra SP700 clips neatly to your sun visor in the car

Controls

Now the SP700 is not big on controls, I have already mentioned the lack of an on/off button and it does not have any audio adjustment controls aside of a volume up & down button on one side of the unit, and there is also a FM transmitter button located on the opposite side.

Features

Now the SP700 provides the basic functions like any other like handsfree kit, as well as supporting extended features of some phone models like voice dialling – which as you may have already experienced is a potential Olympic Linguistic event in its own right.  Also the SP700 features advanced noise reduction and echo cancellation that insures excellent sound quality on both sides of the call.

When using the SP700 the current status is clarified by a clear voice announcement – available in 10 languages – a treat no doubt for those multi lingual potential users out there or those wanting to practice some basic phrases before arriving at their international holiday destination this summer!

The voice announcer switches from a female to a male voice for different status alerts.  However the announcement that caught me by surprise was the one that announced the caller ID of an incoming call – brilliant – and by pressing the front of the speakerphone I could answer or end the call.  The announcer also confirms when the speakerphone is switched off and also when it has made connection with your mobile  phone.

I found the clarity of the incoming call to be excellent by comparison to other Bluetooth visor speaker phones that I have used in the past, and I can confidently say that my voice was clearly received by my caller.  I must admit that my vehicle  suffers from very little cabin noise generally – however I also tested it in my wife’s 1.4 about town vehicle which isn’t a tractor by any means – but with mischievous and noisy kids in tow I still found the SP700’s speakerphone to be equally as impressive.

The Jabra SP700 has a classic, slim line design

The best feature is the FM transmission -  A simple press of the FM transmission button illuminates the FM transmission icon and speakerphone mute icon, then kicks the voice announcer into action as she clearly tells you the FM frequency to tune your car radio to.  If this frequency is congested by existing  radio stations then you can make adjustments by 0.1MHz at a time using the volume keys, the announcer will recite the new frequency selected each time you make a change.  My radios’ RDS function displayed the word JABRA to indicate that I had sourced the correct frequency and I promptly saved it to a spare preset number.   This remains the fixed FM frequency unless you make a change as previously mentioned or reset the unit to factory settings.  The only thing I did not have time to test was how the selected FM frequency would stand up to long journeys whereby you may drift into localised radio stations sharing the same frequency; however, the ease I found in changing frequencies leaves me quite confident that such an event occurring would not be a major problem to resolve.

The Nokia E71 phone was used to test the SP700 for streaming music to my car stereo, on hitting the play button on the phone, music came belting out almost immediately through the car speakers.  The quality was fairly good, however I found that the SP700’s lack of audio controls came to haunt it as the volume controls previous used to adjust the FM frequency remain set to this function while in FM transmission mode,  so you have to rely on your in-car audio controls to equalize the sound and adjust the volume.  This sometimes is a problem when you switch back to the radio or CD mode as the volume can sometimes be far too high for those built in sources.

Taking calls using the FM transmission mode was a delight, however be aware that your calls may be picked up by a stranger who is tuned to the same FM frequency and in close proximity to your vehicle, so keep this feature just for music or calls that are not of a private or sensitive nature.  On a final point if you turn off your radio or forget to change the status of the SP700 back to its own speakers, then the SP700 automatically disconnects from its FM transmission status following a period of non-use.

The SP700 boasts up to14 hours talk time & up to 255 hours standby however after a week of testing I am yet to re-charge.

Conclusion

I must admit the SP700 has not changed my preference which is to avoid taking calls while driving if I can, however when circumstances dictate that this is unavoidable or for those of you or where this is a day to day necessity then the SP700 does not disappoint, mainly because of its ease of use, functionality, portability and quality.  The Ace up its sleeve however is the FM transmission that adds a more practical and up to date feature for all music lovers who have migrated their favourite playlists into the fashionable multi-media Bluetooth mobile phones that are currently available – a smart move by Jabra.