iPhone4idiots » accessory

Belkin Chef Stand & Stylus Review

hirtme — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:15:40 +0000

So I picked this up over Black Friday when it was $10 off the normal $39.99 price. We are using the iPad daily now that it’s in the kitchen as opposed to being ignored on the bedstand. The boys love using FaceTime or watching YouTube videos at breakfast and before dinner. Not having the ability to rotate the iPad like other stands is a big deal to me and thus I would not recommend buying this stand. Please watch my review here and let me know if you think I was too harsh or on the money?

iPhone4idiots Accessory Review – Nutshell Case

hirtme — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:52:34 +0000

Full disclosure, Nutshell was kind enough to send me the two cases you see pictured here. I’m very grateful as the majority of other iPhone accessory companies are wankers who don’t even respond to my emails. This New Zealand based company makes a quality product, but you should expect nothing less from the only country not to lose a game at the 2010 World Cup! Yes, I’m a soccer nerd and that’s a great trivia question. Both cases are New Zealand leather lined with ultrasuede and backed by a screen shield. The cases can be used for any iPhone or iPod Touch as both my 3G with American Flag skin and iPhone 4 fit snuggly into the case. These are hard core cases that protect your iDevice from everything other than water. A testimonial on their website is from a motorcycle rider who crashed and slid 30 feet across pavement. The case not only protected his cell phone, but a critical part of his anatomy as well! At first, I thought this was a case you’d want to use in your purse or in situations where you’re not going to be using your iPhone a ton. I thought it would cause me to miss a few calls as it takes a little longer to pull out. However, having used it for two weeks now I have to say I was wrong. Getting it out of the case only takes a second! Some might prefer cases that fit around your iPhone where you can still talk, browse or charge it while its in the case. These cases, however, don’t offer the tank like protection of a Nutshell. For someone like me who drops his iPhone on a weekly basis this is a must. You can choose a belt loop or industrial strength steel clip for carrying. Sizes vary to support iPhone 4’s with or without bumpers. My favorite part is the magnet flap that flips over to close the case easily. Other case options include a pen loop and elastic sided front for holding memory cards, earbuds, driver’s license or whatever else you may want. Depending on how many options you choose a Nutshell iPhone 4 belt case is going to cost about $60. Nutshell also makes cases for other cell phones, digital cameras, iPads, tablets, GPS devices and more. All their cases come with a two year warranty. We are giving away the case pictured on the left on our Facebook page. Leave a comment on the 10,000th member post to enter.

iPhone4idiots Accessory Review – Mophie Juice Pack Air

hirtme — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:28:05 +0000

If you aren’t lucky enough to have an iPhone 4 yet then depending on your usage you might be draining your iPhone’s battery everyday. This is where the Mophie Juice Pack Air comes in handy. I got it for my trip to South Africa as I didn’t want to risk not having my iPhone available for calls, pictures, video or internet (Facebook and Twitter especially). What’s great about this product is not only does it give you extra battery life but it also acts as a case for your iPhone 3G or 3GS. You can get a Mophie Juice Pack Air in black, purple or white. The Mophie Juice Pack Air has two parts as you can see in the picture to the left. The larger lower section contains the battery and where the iPhone docks into the “case” and the upper segment which covers the top of your iPhone. You just slide your iPhone down onto the dock and then slide the top part over until it snaps into place. Once in the “case” your iPhone has a heavier more solid feel. Not the best for keeping in your pocket, but if you drop the device the Juice Pack will provide your iPhone with decent protection. Mophie recommends removing any skins before inserting your iPhone, but as you can see in the picture on the right my iPhone 3G with American flag Ottoskin fit in fine. According to Mophie the Juice Pack Air provides up to 270 hours of standby time, 4.5 hours of talk time running on the 3G network and 9 hours on the 2G network, 20 hours of audio playback, 6 hours or video playback and 4. hours of Internet access. These times are in addition to the iPhone’s native battery life. Charging the Mophie Juice Pack Air took approximately 3-4 hours via a USB port connection. So if you are draining your battery everyday by 7 or 8 PM, this is a solution you may want to consider. The Mophie Juice Pack air retails for $79.95, but you can probably find it a little cheaper. Since I have an iPhone 4 now, I’ll be giving mine away on our Facebook page next week so keep an eye out!

iPhone4idiots Accessory Review – Marware SportGrip Edge

hirtme — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:32:46 +0000

Looking for protection for your new iPhone 4 but don’t won’t to hide your pretty new toy in case? Well the Marware SportGrip Edge for iPhone 4, $19.99, might be for you and we’ve got two to give away! Marware advertises this as a “minimalist protection solution”. The SportGrip Edge includes a soft colorful plastic band for edge protection and front and rear protective film. The film protects your iPhone 4 against scratches yet leaves your new toy for all to see. The SportGrip Edge comes in six colors: black, blue, clear, pink, red and white. My wife and I had drastically different thoughts on the SportGrip. To see why and how to win one. When she saw them she immediately said, “I want one.” She took her iPhone 4 out of its case and hasn’t gone back. She really likes the “minimalist” approach. It takes her a second or two to pull the iPhone out of her purse on many occasions. She wants to answer it at that point as opposed to spending another second or two removing it from a case and risk missing a call. She also prefers being able to charge the iPhone without having to take it out of its case. Lastly, she wants the antennagate part of the iPhone covered. The SportGrip Edge does all this for her. Me, I’m not worried about antennagate as I never touch the bottom left corner of the iPhone. I also prefer more protection as I tend to drop my iPhone every week. I’ll be reviewing the tank I keep my iPhone 4 in next week. Now Marware was kind enough to send me three SportGrip Edge cases. One black (my wife grabbed that one), one white and one clear. Goto our Facebook page here and leave a comment to our post iPhone 4 Case Giveaway. On Monday I’ll pick two winners and mail you your new iPhone 4 cases. Hey, you’ll get it before the one Apple is sending you for sure!

Apple Free iPhone 4 Case Applications Available

hirtme — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:10:47 +0000

Apple launched the free iPhone 4 case program today. To apply you need open the app store on you iPhone and search for “iPhone 4 Case Program”. Install the free app, launch it and sign in. After that you are given the choice of these 7 cases

Apple Bumper
Incase Snap Case (Smoke/Clear)
Belkin Shield Micra (Clear)
Griffin Motif (Smoke)
Griffin Reveal Etch (Black/Black Graphite)
Speck Fitted Case (Black Tartan)
Speck PixelSkin HD (Black)

On the downside, each case list delivery time as 3 to 5 weeks! Ouch, hopefully its faster than that.

BlueAnt Q1 – Voice controlled hands free calling :)

hirtme — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:27:17 +0000

I’ve never used Bluetooth for anything other than a mouse. But given a number of states have passed laws about hands free driving I decided to take the plunge with a Bluetooth headset. Even Tennessee, where almost everything is legal, might one day pass this law so why not be an early adopter. Frankly, texting or surfing while you drive is more dangerous, but the laws are always way behind the times. Anyway, I jumped on Ebay and purchased a BlueAnt Q1 “like new” for $50. The MSRP sticker on the back says $129.99 which I just can’t see spending. However, overall I’m quite pleased with the purchase as this headset is really sweet. Be sure to check out my video review at the end of the post that shows how simple it is to use with your iPhone. Pictured below on the right, my Ebay purchase came with the original box and all the parts: Q1 headset, AC adaptor, USB cable, ear buds, ear hook and quick start guide. I have a video review at the end of the article which might be clearer than this post so be sure to check it out as well. Open the box, slide the hook into the headset, put the ear bud on the headset, place over your ear and you are ready to go. Just tap the BlueAnt button and it looks to connect and pair to your iPhone. This is very simple, on your iPhone goto Settings-General-Bluetooth and turn it on. You quickly should see the BlueAnt appear under devices including the software version. Since I got this on Ebay my version was older (8.15). To get voice speed dialing to work I had to upgrade to 8.19. This was painless as all you have to do is register on the BlueAnt website and download the BlueAnt Q1 Updater. Once on your PC you attach your headset to the USB cable, plug into your PC, run the updater and in 5 minutes I was at version 8.19 and speed dialing worked immediately. The BlueAnt has numerous voice commands including “Teach Me” or “What can I say?” for some tips. Personally, I didn’t find these very helpful as everything I want to use it for is pretty intuitive even for someone who has never used a headset before. Other voice commands are “Answer”, “Ignore”, “Redial”, “Check Battery” and my personal favorite “Call” followed by one of eight speed dial numbers. So once connected you tap the blue ant button and are prompted to, “say a command”. Over 90% of the time I say, “call speed dial 1-8″. BlueAnt uses the numbers you have stored as Favorites in your iPhone for the speed dial. Very rarely do I have to say any command more than once or the BlueAnt gets the command wrong. The call quality of the BlueAnt is pretty good. My wife has yet to say anything about it sounding different and I’m sure has no idea I’ve been using a headset for the past two weeks. Another friend of mine was surprised when I told him I was using one to review for the website. He thought the quality was great. The only issues I had were my fault. First, the headset moved around a little bit the first day which was annoying. After looking in the box again I saw I hadn’t put the earbud on. Once in place the headset doesn’t move. Second, I found the volume wasn’t high enough for me to hear well. Again, my fault. Once I realized the buttons on the side were volume up and volume down the issue was solved. I know I’m an idiot. Anyway, the only issue for calling was wind. Someone told me, “that’s pretty bad” during one gust, but overall still had no problem carrying on the conversation. At a restaurant for dinner there was no issue with the background noise for either party. The Q1 has a standard and max setting for noise suppression. I haven’t tested this much myself as I’ve found the sound clear, but most reviews on this feature seem to be slightly positive. A few reviews have mentioned that the voice commands don’t work as well unless you have the BlueAnt pointed towards your mouth. Well, I guess I must have a deformed head cause that is the natural position it fell into when I placed it on the first time.

Also, since this is bluetooth you can listen to music if you want. Once or twice I’ve had it running in my one ear to help get through a conversation I didn’t care to be in. Also, you hear the ding for new emails or whatever type of push notification you have setup on your iPhone.

On the downside, the BlueAnt Q1 has a rated battery life of 4 hours talk time and 5 days standby time. This is plenty for me, but my guess is that more you talk on your iPhone the more likely you are to want a headset. Thus, for some people four hours might not get them through the day. For me, a charge will last two days. Overall this is a really sweet device. Whether its worth the retail price or even $50 Ebay price I leave up to you.

Customize Your Skin!

hirtme — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:28:36 +0000

While OttoSkins, which we reviewed here, is a great product with pre-loaded designs, UniqueSkins is the place to capture your own personal image on a skin. The actual sticker itself seems to be a bit thinner but will protect your device all the same. Uploading photos is very easy and the site is quite user friendly. I made two skins for the iPhone – one of my favorite hockey team (3 photos) and one of a nature scene (1 photo). One of the best features is the option to use more than one photo, to customize the front and back differently, and to add text! I did notice, however, that my 72 pixel photos were grainy looking and my 96 pixel photo was better but not great. Uniqueskins recommends using Google’s Picasa (which I didn’t do). So perhaps if I had followed directions, my photos would have looked better on the finished product. Using a higher resolution photo may have been helpful as well. As was said in the OttoSkins review, these get noticed! So you could use this option to market your business, attract people with similar interests or just show off your kids or animals. Whatever you choose to use for your phone, laptop, wii, Bluetooth, etc. – this product is fantastic! At $6.99 per skin, the price is right too.