Festival season\u2019s well underway now and, like many of you probably were too, I was off enjoying the sunshine at Glasto last week. \u00a0If you were there too then let me know what your favourite bit was in the comments below \u2013 I thought Muse were amazing!<\/p>\n
Getting away from things for a bit is always good but I like to be able to touch base with things back home when I want to, so it\u2019s pretty important to me that my phone stays charged up throughout the weekend.\u00a0 That\u2019s without all the other stuff you use a high end smart phone for \u2013 taking pictures of yourself posing with celebs, updating your twitter to brag about all the amazing bands you\u2019ve seen and, of course, crawling around your tent (probably drunk) in the middle of the night using your phone as a torch.<\/p>\n
So I took the Solar Power Sleeve Charging Case for the iPhone<\/a> with me to try out.\u00a0 I was a bit skeptical at first, worrying that it\u2019d pour it down the whole time and the case would be useless, but since it turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year I had nothing to worry about!\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have an iPhone, there are plenty of other universal solar chargers<\/a> available.<\/p>\n The Solar iPhone charger<\/a> is a great idea as well as being greener and more environmentally friendly than your average charger, which is a big bonus, especially at a festival full of hippies.\u00a0 Its easy to slide on and although it doesn\u2019t look as elegant as the iPhone itself, it\u2019s still pretty cool looking.\u00a0 One thing I really appreciated was that it barely adds any bulk or weight to the phone, since it would\u2019ve been a bit of a pain to carry around in my pocket the whole time if it had.<\/p>\n The Solar charger provides a great boost to your battery power, keeping it topped up whilst you\u2019re out and about, which makes it ideal for day trips and camping trips.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t need to be placed in direct sunlight so I found it was still pretty effective in the shade, although of course the sunnier it is the greater the power!\u00a0 You can also plug a mini USB cable into the bottom of the solar charger and charge it via computer, mains or car adapter, so it\u2019s pretty versatile and can be used wherever you are.<\/p>\n Hopefully we\u2019ll see versions coming out to use as an iPhone 4 case<\/a> and maybe even an iPad case<\/a> soon enough, though I\u2019m not sure quite how sunny it\u2019d need to be to power a whole iPad!\u00a0 All in all I thought this was a brill gadget, and it was pretty useful when I managed to lose track of the people I came with and couldn\u2019t remember whether we\u2019d agreed to meet a) next to the portaloos or b) opposite the burger bar.<\/p>\n