This was a useful little thing that we’re definitely thinking of getting into stock – the Bunjee.
Bunjees seen in the wild at Gadget Show Live 2011
According to the Bunjee website, there were over 1 million claims on mobile phone insurance over the past year, only 11% of which were due to theft. Accidentally damage is a much larger reason for claim, at a whacking great 60%, and most of the circumstances of damage are avoidable.
Here are the top reasons for claims:
It fell out of my pocket
I dropped it on the floor
I dropped it down the loo
I left it in a bar/ restaurant/ taxi
They’re certainly pretty familiar to me; I’ve been guilty of numbers 1, 2 and 4 at various points of my life, although thankfully not to disastrous effect! At least… not yet (gulp).
Side-note: If you’re the type of person who suffers from number 3, you might want to grab a packet or two of the Dry-All Wet Mobile Phone Repair Kit.
The Bunjee is a handy accessory that fits around your phone and then clips onto your person with a boingy lead. It can be clipped wherever – jacket, trouser pocket or bag – and if your phone falls out or is dropped at any point, the Bunjee will stop it from getting lost or hitting the ground at speed. It’s basically like those mittens-on-strings that you get for children, but much cooler, and with a built-in shock absorber.
You can watch their video below:
It looks like a great idea for accident-prone kids and adults alike, and comes in a range of cool colours to appeal to different markets.
No word yet on whether a similar type of Bunjee providing iPad 2 protection is on its way; if that’s the sort of thing you want then you might be better off with the iBalls Shock Absorbing Harness, which is available now over on the iPad 2 accessories category of our main website.
One of the hottest iPhone accessories over the last year is the TomTom Car Kit for iPhone that works with the Sat Nav App to improve usability and accuracy. The Car Kit features a GPS enhancer, speaker phone and will charge your phone while it’s docked which makes it an essential thing to have when you’re using your phone for sat nav in the car.
The TomTom Car Kit is still one of our best selling iPhone Car Holders even though it doesn’t fit the iPhone 4 very well. We’re constantly being asked when an updated version would be out for iPhone 4, and until now we’ve been kept in the dark.
Free TomTom Car Kit Adapter for iPhone 4
Thankfully though, TomTom have announced that as of last Friday, anyone who purchased the TomTom Car Kit that has now upgraded their phone to an iPhone 4, can now get a free adapter that will allow you to use your shiny new iPhone with your existing kit.
All you need to do is find the serial number that’s printed on the back of your car kit (under the barcode), complete a short form on the TomTom website and then sit and wait patiently for it to be delivered!
One of the top accessories for the iPhone 3G & iPhone 3GS last year was the TomTom iPhone Car Kit. It’s not the cheapest in car solution, but it did a great job of combining a GPS receiver, loud speaker and handsfree system into a compact windscreen holder for the phone.
When iPhone 4 came out, we were all looking forward to using Sat Nav on it – mainly because of the faster processor and the ability to leave your Sat Nav running in the background while you take calls or read a text message. You can imagine our disappointment when we realised that the TomTom holder doesn’t work with iPhone 4.
When I say it doesn’t work, that’s not strictly true, it will work, but it doesn’t fit the holder very well and it’s likely to fall out. If you’re willing to pay that much for an in car solution, you’re going to want one that holds your phone securely.
It’s probably only a matter of time until an updated version comes out that supports iPhone 4 and the upcoming 4th generation iPod touch, but until then there are a number of alternatives that you should consider.
I’ve already covered Sat Nav Apps & iPhone Car Docks for iPhone 3G/3GS, but thought I’d take another look at what’s available and review the options to the TomTom kit. I’ve tried a number of different set ups to try and find ones that match the features of the TomTom kit as closely as possible. The results turned out to be very similar to those for the 3GS, but some of the pricing and features have changed.
Just as a reminder, the main features of the TomTom Car Cradle are:
Charges your iPhone
Ability to play your music through your car stereo using 3.5mm line in
Built in speaker for handsfree calling
GPS Enhancer
Volume controls
Price for Software & Cradle £149.99
In most cases, every feature could be matched, with the exception of the added GPS support, but having said that, the antenna has been improved on iPhone 4 and I’m not convinced that it’s all that necessary.
I’m also basing this on the next version of the iOS software – version 4.1 as it has full support for AVRCP, the bluetooth profile that allows you to control your music using a third party device, such as headsets, speakers and car kits.
It’s not all in one like the TomTom, but this set up will save you over £40! CoPilot Live is a great alternative to TomTom. The software has been updated for iPhone 4 and now supports the Retina Display and Multitasking. Extras like Traffic and Text-To-Speech are available via in app purchase.
The iPhone 4 Car Pack includes a secure, rotating windscreen holder for your iPhone 4 and a car charger. If you’ve already tried using GPS on the iPhone in your car, you’ll know necessary a car charger is. Having the screen on permanently and locking on to a GPS signal drains the battery quite quickly.
The Jabra Cruiser is one of the best portable car kits available. It has a built in FM transmitter that can stream music, calls and directions from your iPhone 4 through to your car stereo using Bluetooth. It has music controls that allow you to play/pause/track skip without having to touch your phone.
Use the Car Pack and Jabra Cruiser to get the most out of CoPilot Live
Navigon was the first Sat Nav app for the iPhone, and has recently had a number of new features added and a price cut. The iPhone Car Pack includes a robust, adjustable holder that can hold your iPhone in almost any position as well as a car charger to keep your phone fully charged.
The Venturi Mini is a Bluetooth car kit that is designed to fit in your cigarette lighter permanently. You can charge your iPhone 4 by plugging your USB cable in to the USB port on the side of the Venturi. The Venturi works in a similar way to the Jabra Cruiser. It connects to your phone using Bluetooth and will then stream your music, calls and sat nav directions through to your car stereo using its built in FM transmitter. If your car stereo has a line in/aux in connection, you can connect the Venturi to it using a 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable (the same as the TomTom Cradle). This will give a more reliable connection to your stereo, but means you’ll have wires trailing across your dashboard.
Unlike the Cruiser, the Venturi doesn’t have track skip buttons, so you’ll only be able to play/pause your music.
This set up isn’t so much about saving money compared to the TomTom kit, more a case of showing you how much more you could get for the same sort of price. Without doubt, you’ll always get better audio quality using a fully fitted car kit than you would with a portable one. The Parrot MKi range of car kits have been designed with iPods and iPhones in mind and they work almost seamlessly.
The MKi9000 kit is fitted behind your dashboard and is completely out of sight. There is a multi connector cable that has a USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and an Apple Dock connector. This cable connects your iPhone to the car kit and will route call audio, music and directions through your car stereo at the same time as charging it. The Brodit holder that I’ve suggested here has a dock connector on the bottom too, so you can connect this cable to it, then whenever you slide your phone into the holder it will connect to the car kit without you needing to mess around with cables or plug anything in.
Co-Pilot works extremely well with the Parrot Mki9000
If you’d rather not use cables, then you can use the kit over a bluetooth connection and get the same functionality from it. A small remote can be attached to your dashboard or steering wheel and can be used to answer/end calls as well as play/pause/track skip and activate voice dialling.
On the subject of voice dialling, it’s actually a feature of the MKi9000 rather than the phone and will work with all models of iPhone. The only downside is that there isn’t a way to activate voice commands on iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS. The prices shown here don’t include installation and vehicles without an ISO stereo may need additional cables.
Summary
All three of these solutions work great with iPhone 4 and any of the available Sat Nav applications available for the iPhone. To give you a clear idea on the differences between the TomTom Kit and the other options mentioned here, I’ve put a chart together to show the main differences.
It’s not just in the car that you’ll need a secure way to mount your iPhone. If you want to be able to use your iPhone or iPod touch while you’re out and about on your bike you’ve been limited to two options – a Universal Bike holder that isn’t really suited to large, touch screen phones – especially in bad weather, or keep it in your pocket, which isn’t particularly useful if you’re trying to use sat nav or mapping on your iPhone.
Thankfully though there is now another option – the BioLogic Bike Mount for iPhone and iPod touch. The BioLogic Bike Mount for iPhone lets you attach your device to your the handlebars of your bike so you can track your GPS position, your speed, or distance travelled, while you ride using any one of a number of apps available in the App Store.
Dahon BioLogic Bike Mount for iPhone
The BioLogic Bike Mount is a weatherproof case with a built in, touch sensitive membrane that protects your iPhone or iPod touch from the weather and lets you continue to use your phone. For added shock resistance, the inside of the case is lined with silicon.
One of the great things about the Bike Mount pivots so you can use your iPhone or iPod Touch in portrait or landscape mode. The camera lens has a protective membrane over the opening so you can continue to take video or pictures while you ride.
The BioLogic Bike Mount is available to Pre-order now. For more information, take a look at the video below and head over to the BioLogic Bike Mount for iPhone product page.
Since the launch of Sat Nav on the iPhone earlier this year, the number of in-car holders for the iPhone has grown significantly and with so many available, I decided to go hands on with one of the latest car holders for the iPhone 3G & 3GS – the iPhone Car Pack – to see what makes this one different from the rest.
iPhone 3G Car Pack
The Car Pack is made up of 3 items – a suction mount, a cradle for your iPhone and a car charger and putting it together takes just a few seconds.
Mouting it on your windscreen is quick and easy too. The suction mount is solid and unlike some cheap suction holders, doesn’t need to be moistened to stick to the windscreen and once it’s attached the only way to remove it is to release the clamp. The clamp itself is a lot easier to use than you’d expect too. Normally, suction mounts have a small plastic lever that doesn’t seem to move very much and as a result it doesn’t create much suction to hold the cradle in place – that’s not the case with the Car Pack though, the level moves a considerable amount, which provides plenty of suction to keep your holder in place.
Strong suction mount and a locking arm prevent unwanted movement
Once it’s attached to the windscreen, you’ll need to adjust the angle of the holder to suit your driving position. This is done easily enough as the cradle can be adjusted in 3 ways. Depending on which way up you’ve attached it to the windscreen, you can adjust it up/down, left/right and the cradle can rotate through 360°. While it’s easy enough to adjust, it’s not really something that you can do once you’ve started driving, so I’d make sure that you’re happy with the position before you set off – the reason I say that is the up/down and left/right joints are locked in place and to adjust them you need to press a button and then rotate it – something that really needs two hands.
Push the button to rotate the arm
The Cradle that you slide your phone does a great job too. You slide your phone in from the top, and once inserted, a spring loaded clip moves into place to prevent the phone from falling out – (more useful for when the phone is being used in landscape mode).
Overall it’s a great holder. I’ve tried many different car holders over the years, but can happily say the iPhone Car Pack is one of the most solid I’ve ever used. The locking arm means that once set, it’s not going to keep moving around or start to drop every time you go over a bump in the road.
Loading ...
Subscribe to feed
