Mobile Fun Blog » charging

Brodit Active Holders Vs Passive Holders

Andy Simpson — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:53:22 +0000

Brodit are the leading manufacturer of in car cradles, making a wide range of holders that are specific to your phone to make sure that it’s held securely in place in your car. You’ll notice from the product listings that there are two types available – Active and Passive, and that there are a couple of mounting options too. This quick guide will explain the difference between the different types of Brodit Holder.

Passive Holders:
Passive Holders are a standard straight forward holder for your phone. They are moulded to the shape of your handset and are secured to your car using the self adhesive pads or by screwing into your dashboard.

Active Holders:
Active Holders are the same as the Passive Holders, but include a car charger or have one built in. The charger type will vary by phone, but the holder will generally have a moulding to hold the charging tip in place. On most phones you can simply slide your phone into the cradle and the charger should connect straight away, others may need you to manually insert the charging tip into the phone (normally where the charging port is on the side).

Tilt Swivel:
Tilt swivel refers to the type of mounting plate fitted to the holder. Brodit holders without the Tilt Swivel will sit flat against the dashboard/ProClip and is not adjustable, so once its in place, its not moving. Tilt Swivel devices give you more flexibilty on how the phone is positioned in the car. They can be rotated through 360 degrees and can be adjusted in all directions to improve visibility and to reduce reflections from bright light. Tilt Swivel mounts are ideal if your phone has a landscape view and is used for Sat Nav & Media playback.

Mobile Phone holders get handled a lot and can become loose over time, especially if they are mounted with the adhesive pads. Although the adhesive pads are quite strong, we’d recommend using a screw fixing to reduce the risk of it falling off your dashboard. If you don’t want to screw into your dashboard, you can purchase a Brodit ProClip.

ProClips:
Brodit ProClips are special brackets that are designed to attach to your dashboard without the need for drilling holes. They normally clip into your dashboard between fascia panels or sit at the side of your stereo. ProClips provide a flat solid surface for you to screw your car holder to and are available for almost all vehicles. We stock a wide range of Brodit ProClips, but if your vehicle isn’t listed, please request it and we’ll order one in for you.

Eco Friendly iPhone Accessories

Andy Simpson — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:50:26 +0000

Everything seems to be getting more environmentally friendly these days. This Wooden Dock for the iPhone 3G is the most recent addition to the range of Eco Friendly iPhone accessories and follows in the footsteps of the hugely popular iPhone 3G Solar Charging Case.

The Wooden Dock is handcrafted from solid wood, and each one has its own unique woodgrain finish. The Wooden Dock allows you to charge and sync your iPhone with your Mac or PC using a standard Mini USB cable.

The iPhone 3G Wooden Dock is available now for £19.95.

Why not take a look at our full range of Eco Friendly Mobile Accessories.

BlackBerry Wireless Charger

Andy Simpson — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:28:51 +0000

Fed up of cables trailing across your desk? Do you find yourself constantly crawling under your desk to find the end of your charger? Well this Wireless Charging Pad from WildCharge could be the answer that you’re looking for.

Wireless Charging has been floating around for a while, but never really taken off until now. WildCharge is a simple concept. You have a charging pad that is connected to the mains, and a protective skin for your phone that has built in contacts to supply the power to the battery. To charge your phone, simply place it on the pad. It doesn’t matter how your phone is placed on the pad, as long as its facing upwards. The pad is completely safe and can be touched with no risk of getting a shock.

Now, I have to admit I was a bit weary of wireless charging, but was extremely surprised at how well it works. As soon as your phone is placed on the pad it starts charging, and charge times are the about the same as they would be using a standard charger.

The WildCharge is available now for the BlackBerry Pearl and BlackBerry Curve and is priced at £49.95. Replacement charging skins will be available to purchase separately, so when you replace your phone, you’ll only need to replace the skin. Wireless charging for the iPhone and iPod Touch are coming very soon.

Check out the Video below to see the WildCharge in action.

Extend your Mobile Phone’s battery life

Andy Simpson — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:10:23 +0000

Want to use less energy and get more battery life out of your mobile phone? Here are our top 5 tips on how to reduce your mobile phones carbon footprint.

Turn your phone off!
It may sound silly, but how many times do you turn your phone off when you go to bed at night? Chances are you’ve not had many phone calls in the middle of the night, so by turning your phone off when you go to bed, and back on again in the morning, you’re saving 8 hours a day of battery life and could extend your battery life by a few days.

Turn off Bluetooth.
Bluetooth only needs to be turned on when you need it – by leaving it turned on all day your phone is constantly looking for other Bluetooth devices and draining your battery.

Turn off GPRS, 3G & WiFi.
If you never use the internet on your mobile, you won’t notice any difference by turning GPRS and 3G off – other than having to charge your phone less! If you do use Internet on your phone through either 3G or WiFi, turn them on as and when you need them, other wise they’ll be consuming power searching for networks when there is no need.

Adjust the display.
Manufacturers normally set the screen to its brightest setting to make it look clearer. This only drains power, adjust the settings and dim the screen to a level that you can still see, but is no brighter than it needs to be. Change the screen saver settings too, set it to come on sooner – reducing the time the screen is lit up for.

Leave it alone!
We’re all guilty of it, we get bored, nervous, need to look busy, so we pick up our phones and start fiddling with them. We’re not doing anything on them, only draining the battery. Put it down and find something else to play with!

Solar Powered Bluetooth Carkit

Andy Simpson — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:08:37 +0000

These days we’re all trying to reduce our carbon footprint. Turning things off when they’re not needed, getting more efficient cars, recycling waste, but what can you do to reduce the footprint of your mobile phone?

The one source of power that is all around us, completely free and has no damaging effects on the environment is the sun, and thanks to a new range of accessories, you can now harness the power of the sun to help reduce the power your mobile phone uses.

Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kits
LG and Iqua have both released a Solar powered Bluetooth Car Kit.

LG HFB-500 Solar Car Kit

The LG HFB-500 sits on the inside of your car windscreen and charges itself using energy from the sun. While its in sunlight it will charge constantly, and can provide upto 16 hours of talktime, and 1100 hours stand by time from a full charge! LG also provide a car charger, just in case the battery does run out, but as you’ll no doubt be leaving this in your windscreen all day, everyday you’ll probably never need it! If you have an LG handset, you can use the HFB-500 as an emergency charger and charge your phone from it.

Iqua Vizor Sun Solar Car Kit

The Iqua Vizor Sun is a slightly different concept and is designed to be mounted on your sunvisor. You’ll need to have your sunvisor down in order for it to charge, but its clear keypad makes answering calls easy. Talk time is even more impressive than the LG Handsfree, and it has unlimited standby times when in sunlight.

Iqua Sun BH-603 Solar Headset

Solar Powered Bluetooth headset
Iqua are certainly leading the field with environmentally friendly mobile accessories – In addition to their Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kit, they also offer the worlds first Solar Powered Bluetooth Headset – the Iqua Sun BH-603. Despite having a solar panel built in, the headset weighs just 14g and provides upto 9 hours of talktime in darkness, even more in daylight. As the Iqua Sun draws its energy directly from the sun, it gives you complete freedom from wires.

Solar Chargers

Solar Chargers:
These are a must have accessory for anyone with an MP3 player, Mobile Phone, Handheld games console, or any other gadget that can be charged using a USB Charging Cable. The Solar Chargers have an inbuilt battery that draws its power from the sun. A range of charging tips are included for most devices. Solar Chargers are ideal for trips away, days out or down on the beach!

Using the Sun to charge your mobile phone and accessories may not be the biggest change you can make, but its certainly a step in the right direction. To help you save more energy, read our post on How to extend your Mobile Phone’s battery life.

PowerBlok Charging Adapters

Andy Simpson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:11:47 +0000

Whether you are a phone user or a gadget lover, one of the most annoying things about getting a new device is having to replace all of your chargers. For my current phone I’ve got a car charger, a spare mains charger at work and a USB charging cable that I carry around in my laptop bag. But what if I carried my iPod and PSP with me, or if my Bluetooth Headset takes a different charging connector to my phone – thats another charger I’d need to carry around with me! Thankfully PowerBloks make it easier to charge multiple devices with just one charger.

PowerBlok Charging Adapters

PowerBloks are simple adapters that convert any standard Mini USB cable into a USB charging cable, and can also be used to convert Mini USB Mains and Car chargers to work with your device. This is great news, as it completely removes the need to have a seperate charger for each device you own. I’m pretty sure that you will already have a spare Mini USB cable lying around at home that you can use to charge your phone, MP3 Player or games console – they even work on the new iPhone 3G. If you want to use this cable in the car or at work, just connect your cable to a USB Mains Adapter or USB Car Charger Adapter and you’ve got a fully functional charger that you can update as often as you like for a fraction of the cost!

One Charger for your TomTom, Bluetooth Headset, Mobile Phone and iPod

When you’re in the car you can now use the same charger on your TomTom, your phone, your iPod and your Bluetooth Headset, just change the PowerBlok adapter to switch between devices.

PowerBloks are available now for Classic Nokia, Nokia 2mm, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Sony PSP, iPod and iPhone, with other manufacturers due shortly. We’re looking at putting together some bundle packs on the tips – which ones do you think we should do? What other devices should we offer adapters for? Feel free to add your suggestions below!

A Guide to Nokia Chargers

Andy Simpson — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:37:43 +0000

Everybody knows that a Nokia Charger is a general household item and can be found lying around in most homes. Great if you’re often out and about visiting friends or family and running out of power, but as the phones have become more advanced, Nokia have changed and improved their charging connections.

Classic Nokia Charger

Classic Nokia Charger
This is the original Nokia Charger connector, the one that everyone will have lying around at home. No longer used on any of their current handsets, this is a 3.5mm connection used on handsets from the original Nokia 5110, right through to the Nokia 6230i.

2mm Nokia Charger

2mm Nokia Charger
This is the current Nokia Charger, used on most of their handsets. With phones getting smaller in size, Nokia reduced the size of the charging pin down to 2mm. If you have the classic Nokia mains or car charger, you can use the Nokia CA-44 Charging Adapter to reduce the size of the charging tip from 3.5mm to 2mm.

Micro USB Nokia Charger

Micro USB Nokia Charger
Starting to appear on the higher end Nokia phones, the Micro USB Charger uses the same port as some handsfree kits and data cables (not at the same time!) These ports provide a faster transfer rate, which is why they can normally be found on the latest Multimedia handsets

Alternative Chargers

Charge Anywhere
Historically you could only ever get chargers to use at home or in the car. Now you can charge your phone just about anywhere. You can now use a USB Charging Cable connected to a spare port on your PC or Laptop, an Emergency Charger that uses a standard AA Battery, a wind-up charger or even Solar power.