Thursday, December 30th, 2010
Carrying on with our review of 2010, I thought I’d take a look, not only at the top 10 phones of the year, but also the top 10 accessories of the year too.
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+
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Tags: best accessories, car charger, car cradle, car holder, car pack, cleaning cloth, clip and talk, dash genie, desk genie, Flexishield, invisible shield, must have accessories, top accessories, zagg,
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Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Plug and Play Bluetooth Car Kits are the safest and easiest way to use your phone in the car and the Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit has always been a firm favourite with Mobile Fun customers. As technology has moved on, the Clip and Talk range has grown and there are now 3 different Clip and Talk Car Kits to choose from – the standard Clip and Talk V3, the Clip and Talk Slim & Lite and the Clip and Talk Solar Edition. On paper there doesn’t seem to be that many differences between them, so how do you know which is the best Clip and Talk car kit for you?
I’ve put this guide together to run through each of the Clip and Talk Car Kits to help you choose the one that’s right for you.
Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – V3
Now in it’s 3rd generation, this is the original Clip and Talk car kit. It offers extremely simple controls and can be used by anyone. Once you’ve paired the kit with your phone, it’s just one button press to answer/end calls and activate voice dialling (if your phone supports it). There are two large buttons for adjusting the volume, and a discreet mute button for times when you don’t want to be heard.
Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit - V3
If you’re not technically minded, don’t worry, the Clip and Talk V3 doesn’t need any installation. Setting it up involves inserting the battery, clipping the kit to your sun visor and pairing it to your phone. You’ll be up and running in less than a minute.
Battery life on the Clip and Talk is excellent, it has up to 1080 hours of stand by (that’s 45 days!) and 16 hours of talk time. This means that unlike some kits, you’re not going to have to keep it plugged in to your cigarette lighter and have cables trailing across your dashboard.
The Clip and Talk V3 can be paired with up to 8 handsets, this means that if the car is used by several people each driver can use the kit without having to pair their phone with it each time they get in the car. You can only use one phone at a time with the kit though.
This kit is best suited to those who are using a car kit for the first time or that want a simple, straight forward way to answer calls safely and legally in the car.
Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – Slim And Lite
The Clip and Talk Slim & Lite is, as the name suggests, a slimmer, lighter version of the Clip and Talk. As well as the obvious size difference, the Slim & Lite also supports Multipoint. If you’ve not come across Multipoint before, it’s a way that a bluetooth device, such as a car kit, can communicate with two other devices (such as mobile phones) at the same time.
Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit - Slim And Lite
Uses for Multipoint vary from device to device, but in a nutshell it means that you can have 2 phones connected to the same car kit at the same time. This way, it doesn’t matter which phone rings, the call can be answered quickly and easily on the car kit.
Battery life on the Slim & Lite is almost as good, with 1000 hours stand by and 5 hours talk time. (The talk time is reduced slightly because the kit is monitoring two phones instead of one.)
Controls are similar to, and just as easy to use as the ones on the standard Clip and Talk, with one button to answer/end calls and activate voice dialling.
The Clip and Talk Slim & Lite is the perfect choice for any one who carries two phones around with them – one for work, one for personal.
Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – Solar Edition
With everyone doing their bit to bring down emissions and reduce their power consumption, accessory manufacturers are looking for greener ways to power devices such as car kits. Solar power has been making an appearance in more and more mobile phone accessories over the last year or so and car kits are the most logical accessory to make use of it – especially as they spend most of their time in your windscreen.
Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit - Solar Edition
The Clip and Talk Solar Edition is a very similar kit to the Slim & Lite, but with one big difference – a built in solar charging panel. Unlike the previous two kits that clip on to your visor, the Solar edition sticks to the inside of your windscreen and uses the power of the sun to recharge it’s battery – completely eliminating the need for a regular charger.
The kit takes 18 hours to charge using sunlight, but does come with a Micro USB car charger if you want a faster charge or are using it at night. Using solar power you get unlimited standby time and up to 13 hours talk time. Unlike the other two kits here, it doesn’t fit on your sun visor, instead uses a suction mount to place it in your windscreen.
Controls are as easy as the other two Clip and Talk car kits, and as with the Slim & Lite it supports Mulitpoint, allowing you to use two phones at the same time.
We recently reviewed this kit on the blog, if you want to see well it performed, read the Clip and Talk Solar Edition review.
Summary
In terms of call quality and usability, there isn’t much between the three kits. Personally I’d opt for the Clip and Talk Solar. Multipoint is worthwhile feature and the fact that you never need to charge it is extremely appealing as it means that the cigarette lighter is free to charge my phone or iPod. Not being mounted on the sun visor is a bonus too as it means that you can continue to use the kit (and be heard) even with the visor down.
If you’ve used any of the Clip and Talk Car Kit’s let us know what you think using the comments form below.
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Solar power has been making an appearance in more and more mobile phone accessories over the last year or so. Initially only available as stand alone Solar Powered Chargers, the technology has now found it’s way into mobile phone cases, Bluetooth Headsets and Bluetooth Car Kits.
Of all of the accessories available, Bluetooth Car Kits are the most logical accessory to make use of solar power – after all, they do spend most of their time either on your dashboard or sun visor.
- Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – Solar Edition
Until recently there were only a couple of Solar Powered Bluetooth car kits available – the LG HFB-500 and the Drive Solar Pro. The latest car kit to join the range is the Clip & Talk Solar Edition. The Clip and Talk range has always been incredibly popular and offered great value for money, so I thought I’d put the latest addition to the Clip and Talk family to the test to see how it performs. (more…)
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