Got 2 phones? Here’s how to save on accessories

There was a time when a mobile phone was considered a luxury, but for most of us they’re now a necessity that we can’t live without. So much so, that many of us now have two or more phones. Often though, the decision to carry a second phone isn’t ours – although from past experience I know how tempting it can be to take out a second contract just to get the latest handsets!

The majority of people that carry two phones do so because their employer has provided them with a phone or BlackBerry to help make their work life easier and to ensure that they’re contactable 24/7, although I’ve got several friends that have one phone for calls and a different one for texts as it works out cheaper. Using more than one phone can have it’s benefits, but at the same time it can be a bit of a nightmare when it comes to charging – I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been away with work in the past and only taken one charger with me, only to find that it’s not the right one for my work phone.

Using your phone safely in the car can be a challenge too. Using two wired handsfree kits can be dangerous and if you use a Bluetooth Headset or Bluetooth car kit, how do you know which phone to connect them to as there is no way of knowing in advance which phone is going to ring.

Accessory manufacturers are aware of the problems people have when it comes to charging multiple devices or using them handsfree and are starting to produce accessories that are designed to make these two simple tasks much simpler. The best accessories that are currently available for those who two phones include: Desk Chargers, Mains Chargers, Car Chargers, Portable Chargers, Bluetooth Car Kits, Car Holders, Bluetooth Headsets & Stereo Bluetooth Headsets.

Charging

Earlier this year all the major phone manufacturers agreed to start using the same Micro USB charging port on all of their new handsets. This is great news as it means that going forward you’ll only ever need one charger. The downside is that it’s probably going to take a couple of years for this to filter through to all handsets on the market. In the mean time though, there are a number of solutions available that will allow you to charge several devices using just one charger.

Idapt Desk Chargers
The Idapt Desktop Charger is made up of a charging base and interchangeable charging adapters. You get 6 in the box to start you off and can buy additional ones as and when you need them. The charger is designed to be simple to use, you just stand your phone up on the relevant charging adapter. Most handsets will charge in an upright position but if the charging port is on the side of your phone then your phone will need to lie on it’s side to charge. You can use Idapt to charge several types of devices too – not just mobile phones. Charging adapters are included for iPods and portable games consoles, and the Mini USB connection means that you can charge most Sat Nav units too. The Idapt chargers take up a relatively small amount of desk space, and needs just one power socket to charge up to 3 devices.

The charger is available in two sizes – the Idapt I3 desktop charger has 3 charging ports and the Idapt I2 desktop charger has 2 charging ports. Adapters are available for LG, Mini USB, Nokia 2mm, Micro USB, iPod & iPhone, Nintendo DS Lite, Sony Ericsson and Samsung.

Bluelounge Refresh
The Bluelounge Refresh is a similar concept to the Idapt, but rather than having fixed charging adapters that you have to stand your phone onto, it has 6 charging cables hidden under its base – two iPod & iPhone, one Micro USB, one Mini USB and two standard USB ports that you’d find on a PC or laptop. The point of these is that you can use your existing USB data cable to charge any phone without having to buy any additional adapters. It also means that you can charge any device that supports USB charging – Bluetooth Headsets, portable games consoles, sat nav units. The base of the Refresh lifts up and there is space underneath for you to store any excess cables.

The Bluelounge Refresh is available in White, Black & Pink and is covered in more depth on our blog post from last week.

Mains Chargers

If you’re a frequent traveller, carrying around a bag full of chargers can be a bit of a pain. They take up extra space & weight in your luggage and you can almost guarantee you’ll leave at least one behind in the hotel. There is a way round this though. The 5 Port USB World Charger is a great alternative to carrying around a bag full of chargers. It’s a mains charger that has swappable US, EU, UK and Australian plugs and has 5 USB ports to charge all your devices in one go – 4 on the front and a hidden one on a short lead. You will of course need to make sure that you pack the USB cable for your phone, but they take up a lot less space than a normal charger. the charger has overheat, short circuit and over charge protection built in and will automatically adjust for all voltages. Its small design means that it can be left in your laptop bag so that it’s with you when you need it.

Car Chargers

The Travelwise Universal Car Charger won’t let you charge two phones at the same time, but it will save you from having two separate car chargers. It has a changeable tip that you can change to suit your phone. To keep all the charger tips together, the Travelwise charger has a built in compartment to store them when they’re not in use. The Travelwise charger includes charging tips for Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, BlackBerry phones.

Unlike the Travelwise, this Twin USB Car Charger can be used to charge two phones at the same time while still leaving your cigarette lighter free for anything else that needs to charge in the car. The charger has 2 USB ports that you can use to charge any device that supports USB charging. The USB cables aren’t included with the charger but most phones come with one included.

Portable Chargers

If you don’t have access to plug sockets or car chargers through out the day but are finding that your phones just aren’t lasting long enough, then the Nokia DC-11 Extra Power could be just what you need. The DC11 is a portable, high powered battery with built in charging cables and can power 2 devices at the same time – one with a Nokia 2mm adapter and one with a Micro USB connector (Nokia, some Samsung & newer BlackBerry phones). A full charge should take around 3 hours, but you’ll be able to use your phone while it’s charging.

Bluetooth Handsfree

Bluetooth is the easiest way of using your phone ‘handsfree’, but if you’ve got two phones it either means buying two headsets or having to manually connect to each phone in turn when you want to make a call – or at least it used to. Multipoint technology in mobile phones is becoming much more common now and allows you to use the same bluetooth headset or car kit with two phones at the same time. Using a multipoint Bluetooth headset is no different to using a normal bluetooth headset, and when a call comes in the headset will connect to the appropriate phone without you having to do anything.

When it comes to using your phones in the car, you’ve got three options, a Bluetooth Headset, a Bluetooth Speakerphone or a fully fitted Bluetooth Car Kit. Personally I’ve always preferred a fully fitted kit, but as they don’t currently support multipoint you’ll have to constantly swap between phones, something that’s not particularly easy to do when you’re driving and could be quite distracting. For this reason, if you carry two phones around with you and want to be able to use them safely and legally in the car then you should invest in a multipoint Bluetooth Speakerphone or Bluetooth Headset. The best ones are listed below.

Bluetooth Speakerphones

The Supertooth Visor One Bluetooth Car Kit allows you to use both phones at the same time and will automatically connect to which ever phone receives or makes a call. It has a voice recognition system that lets you answer your calls just by saying “OK”. The Visor One also supports voice dialling and can play music from your mobile phone too – although not in stereo.

The DualPhone Bluetooth Car Kit is a simple to use Bluetooth car kit – similar in many ways to the popular Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit, but with the added bonus of being able to connect to two phones at the same time. The Dualphone Car kit supports last number redial, voice dial (if your phone supports it).

The Movon Bluetooth Car Kit MK30 is a compact car kit that has a number of features that you’d normally expect to find on a much more expensive kit. It has an OLED display that will show you who is calling and Text to Speech software will call out the callers name or number too.

Car Holders
Before I move on to Bluetooth Accessories, there is one more accessory for use in the car that I think deserves a mention and that’s the Brodit Double Tilt Swivel Holder.

I’ve been a big fan of Brodit ProClips and Car Holders for a long time – for those that have not come across them before, ProClips are brackets that clip onto various parts of your dashboard with out damaging it and provide a firm, flat base for you to screw a car holder into. They’re a much better option than drilling holes into your dashboard and can be removed easily when you change car.

The Double Holder fixes onto a ProClip in your car and allows you to attach 2 seperate phone holders on to it. As both mounting plates have a tilt swivel fixing, it means that you can angle them to suit your driving position.

This is the most secure option there is for mounting your phone in the car, the only slight downside is that because you need 4 seperate parts it’s not the cheapest but if you spend a lot of time on the road and need to be able to see both your phones quickly and easily then this is well worth the investment.

Bluetooth Headsets

There are two types of Bluetooth Headset available, Mono and Stereo. Mono Bluetooth headsets are worn on one ear and are great if you only want to use them for calls, where as Stereo Bluetooth Headsets are worn on two ears, look more like headphones and have a built in microphone. Stereo Headsets are perfect if you want to be able to listen to music from your phone, MP3 player or PC and still be able to take calls.

Top Multipoint Bluetooth Headsets

The Jabra BT530 Bluetooth Headset is a fantastic Bluetooth Headset that packs a lot of features into a really small device. As well as having 2 noise cancelling microphones, the Jabra BT530 has intelligent volume controls that will automatically increase the volume when you enter a noisy environment. Simple and easy to use controls make using this headset a pleasure, and as it’s multipoint, you can answer calls quickly and easily regardless of which phone starts to ring.

The Plantronics Voyager Pro Bluetooth Headset is quite a heavy duty headset, so if you’re on the road all day and need something that’s going to be comfortable, exceptionally clear and work with both your work and personal phone, I don’t think you’ll do any better than the Voyager Pro. It has dual microphones to eliminate background noise, protection against wind noise, and Audio IQ technology to make every call crystal clear.

The Jawbone Prime Bluetooth Headset is a very powerful headset. It’s the third headset in the ‘Noise Assassin’ range and is the first Jawbone headset to support Mulitpoint. At first glance it looks similar the the previous Jawbone, on the inside it’s quite different. It has a vibration sensor that sits against your cheek while you’re wearing it, but the noise reduction technology has been improved so that even when the sensor isn’t touching your face you can still be heard clearly – even in the noisiest of environments.

All three of the Bluetooth Headsets listed here were featured in our recent Top 10 Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headsets post.

Top Multipoint Stereo Bluetooth Headsets

Stereo Bluetooth Headsets are becoming increasingly popular now that most of us are using our mobile phones as our MP3 Players. Multipoint Stereo Headsets not only let you connect to two phones at the same time, but you can listen to music from one phone and if a call comes in on the other phone, your music is paused so that you can take the call. It’s not complicated either – the headsets handle the calls for you, so all you have to do is decide whether to answer it or not!

The Jabra Halo Stereo Bluetooth Headset is the latest stereo headset to be released, and to be honest its probably the best one yet. It has incredibly simple controls – a touch sensitive slider on the right ear lets you adjust the volume by sliding your finger up or down, where as a double tap will skip the track. One multi use button lets you play/pause your music as well as answer/end calls and activate voice dialling. When they’re not in use, the headphones fold away so as not to take up too much space and to reduce the chance of them getting damaged. If you want to know more take a look at my Jabra Halo hands on review.

The Jabra BT3030 Stereo Bluetooth Headset can be worn either ‘Dogtag’ style around your neck, clip on your clothes or simply go in your pocket. Featurewise it does everything that the Halo does, but with a 6 button pad to control your music and calls. The bit that makes these stand out is that you can use any 3.5mm headphones that you want with the BT3030, so if you don’t get on with (or damage) the headphones that come with it you don’t need to replace the whole kit.

The Sony Ericsson HBH DS-980 Stereo Bluetooth Headset is another headset that is designed to be worn around your neck. The earphones are fixed and the control unit has dedicated music control keys. These will work best with Sony Ericsson phones, but will work with all makes of phone and music player.

Well, that’s just about everything covered. If you know of any other products that work well with two phones or have any suggestions feel free to let us know using the comments form below.