My Mobile Life

Well, today I’m reviewing the Hybrid Woven Hard case which was sent to me by the guys at CaseOn. After seeing the pictures of the product on the website, I was pretty excited about this case as it looks mighty swish online. In real life though I have to say I’ve been somewhat disappointed with it.

Firstly, the case is a bit too big for my liking. Those of you who have read my blog will probably know I’m not really a fan of iPhone cases generally (I love the look of the phone on it’s own), so a case is going to have to be pretty special for me to want to cover my phone with it. I mean, a phone is something you carry with you everywhere, and you really want it to be as small as possible, so it lost a few points there. The quality of the manufacturing also leaves somewhat to be desired I’m afraid, as there already appears to be little rips on the inside seam.

On the plus side, the case is quite light, though this isn’t that surprising considering it apperars to be made from a substance that seems closely related to paper (hey, maybe it’s recycled paper and I should be giving it points for that – though I didn’t see that on the packaging).

The phone also fits very snuggly inside the case, which is good, cause you’d hate to have your phone slip out and go to pieces. On the other hand, it’s not so good if it fits so snugly that you can’t get it out (which has just happened to me with this case). It’s a balancing act, I’ll grant you.

If you are contemplating this case and you’re happy to ignore the rest of my review (and buy one), you will be faced with a choice of colours. In the unlikely event that you would like my opinion in that case, I’d suggest you go with the white or the silver, as the Navy case looks nothing like it does on the website. I had gone with the navy thinking that it might be good, being the closest colour to that of the phone, but to be honest, it sucks. Maybe try silver, then again…

I have been wanting to get my hands on the TomTom car kit ever since I purchased the TomTom app for the iPhone, several months ago. While in Melbourne last December driving in the CBD I was bitterly disappointed with the performance of the TomTom app (as buildings obscure the GPS signal). So I spent a couple of hours looking for a store that sold the TomTom car kit but there seemed to be a shortage of the units here in Australia.

Recently however the apple store began selling the kit, so I jumped online and purchased one for $159AUD. The product ships within 24 hours (for free) from the Apple store when in stock, so I had no qualms about ordering it thorough Apple.

As luck would have it this weekend has provided a perfect opportunity to test the new kit as my partner and I were attending a wedding on the south coast of NSW. We flew to Melbourne and made the trip in a rental car taking the scenic route through the countr, which we meant we had a good 1000 kms over which to test the device.

One of the reasons I purchased the kit was that I have been looking for a solution that would allow me to make phone calls while driving. I thought about buyng the Apple headphones with Mic/remote ($39AUD), or even the Apple in-ear headphones with mic/ remote ($119AUD). After testing a set of these for a week or so, I decided against using Headphones as the cord got in the way while driving.

I ended up deciding that the TomTom car kit which comes with a built in speaker and mic that enchances the audio for the phone would be the preferable solutions. After testing I have found that the sound is improved by the speaker in the car kit, particularly the voice instructions from the TomTom iPhone app. The speaker is small but is reasonable even when playing music and does enhances in-call conversation though unfortunately I have found that at times the audio is still too quiet to have a conversation with someone else who is also on a mobile while driving. Calls to landlines are better though and I’m told the clarity on the other end is quite good.

The GPS performance seems to be slightly improved by the built in chip, but my 3G iPhone is still slow when analysing and plotting a route (particularly over a long distance). The fact that the phone has no built in compass is also not helped by the in car kit and this is noticeable when turning corners and at low speed.

Probably the best thing about the in car kit is that it comes with a cable for charging the phone via the cigarette lighter. This is a significant benefit as it means that you can use TomTom on a longer trip, without worrying that your phone will run out of battery. Generally the phone seems to use quite a bit of battery when using the GPS chip, so don’t expect your phone to fully charge even if it is plugged into power on a long trip, but the charge you do get is a great deal better than nothing.

Another place the car kit scores points is on the quality of the phone holder. The attachment has a suction point which fits firmly to the windscreen or dash and a hinge mechanism allows you to adjust the angle of the phone once on the holder. This setup means that the kit should work well in most car configurations.

In thinking about how I would rate the car kit overall, I would probably say it gets a 3.5 out of 5 stars. On the one hand I have been slightly disappointed by the fact that I still can’t have a decent mobile phone conversation using it while driving and that the GPS performance is still a bit crap, but on the other I am impressed with the build quality of the unit and I love being able to charge my phone while driving. Depending on how fussy you are as a consumer, you may not want to spend $160 on the car kit when you get a perfectly reasonable in car holder for your phone for $20, however if you want the whole box and dice then by all means lash out on the TomTom car kit.

It’s well known that the iPhone battery life leaves somewhat to be desired and while I have heard that Apple have done a bit better with the 3GS, with the amount of usage a typical iPhone gets, it will always be at a premium. Yes, there are some things that you can do to improve the battery life on your iPhone (like turning off Wireless and Bluetooth when not in use), but generally there’s no substitute for having a charger with you all the time.

Of course a charger is only useful if you have a wall socket to plug it into, and for those of us who travel a fair bit, sometimes it’s hard to find enough places to charge your phone. This is an issue for those who spend a great deal of time in remote areas, or on outdoor adventures (bush walking, camping, dive trips) as well.

Once again, I’m happy to report that Proporta.com have come to the rescue with the USB Turbocharger 3400. I’ve been playing with this gizmo for a couple of weeks now and it’s pretty cool. Essentially it’s an battery pack, shaped like a very small external hard drive which comes with several different connection pieces that allow you to charge, not only your iPhone but most modern cameras, iPods, and other USB powered devices.

The first thing I noticed when unpacking the battery was that it’s extremely light. The pack that it comes in includes a small bag which keeps the battery and the various connectors all together when traveling.

The charger itself is equipped with a standard USB port for charging itself (this is done by connecting the device to your computer directly and generally takes 3-4 hours) and a mini USB port which acts as the outlet charge port. A bank of Leds on the device allow you to see the current level of the battery and also to see the progress of the charging process.

The kit comes with a retractable cable and a range of interchangeable connector heads including 1 x DS Lite, 1 x iPod, 1 x Nokia, 1 x Sony Ericsson, 1 x Micro USB and 1 x Mini USB. A PSP connector is also available from Proporta on request.

Other reviews of this device that I’ve read have reported that 7-8 charges are possible from a single charge of the mobile battery, but I guess this will very somewhat depending on the size of the battery in the device that you are charging. With my iPhone I have found I can get 3-4 charges out of a single  charge of the main (mobile) battery which would typically keep me going for 7-10 days, more than enough for most trips on the road.

In the end I have to say that this little gadget is extremely handy to have on hand for those trips where you may not have the luxury of plugging your phone into a power point every couple of days, but where you still need your phone or other device to remain charged and at approximately AUS$50 (excluding delivery) it’s quite conveniently priced.

Well, after months (years even) of putting off getting a case for my iPhone I have finally given in to reason and started using one. I’ve always liked the look of the phone on it’s own and argued that’s it’s solid enough to take a few knocks. And mine certainly has, in fact there’s a crack on the back which is now measured in inches rather than millimeters, so it seemed prudent to protect this valuable little device.

What is more, Proporta were nice enough to send me their anti-microbial silicone case to review and thus I wasted no time in slapping it on my little baby when it arrived.

The first thing I can say is it slides on easily. It’s not a super tight fit, but it is tight enough to do the job and this makes it a hassle free case to put on.The silicone has a nice texture as well, which is one of the other things I’d been concerned about when thinking about putting a case on the phone. I didn’t want to put some cheap plasticky looking thing on there and hide this gorgeous device that Apple spent so much time designing. What is more the case has holes in all the right places, meaning that you still have full access to the camera, re-charge port, ear-phone plug, etc… It’s even got a couple of extra holes at the back near the battery which I can only assume are there to dissipate heat and allow the phone to stay cool. Or maybe it makes it go faster. Who knows!

The silicone case itself only protects the back and sides of the phone, which still leaves the glass to worry about. So it’s just as well Proporta have included a glass protector as well. It’s just a slim piece of plastic that sticks to the glass and provides scratch protection and would probably prevent the thing shattering into a thousand pieces if you did manage to drop it on the wrong side. Getting it on to the phone sans air bubbles is harder then licking your own elbow, but hey it’s worth the effort.

Okay, so the case does what you’d expect, it protects the phone. What else is new? Ah, well did I mention the case is Anti-Microbial. “WTF? Why would I need that…” I hear you thinking. I’ll let Proporta explain:

“It’s an alarming, but not entirely surprising fact that the filthiest things we encounter on a regular basis are computer keyboards and our mobile phones. In fact, the average mobile has 25,127 germs per square inch, whilst the average toilet seat has just 49. So to help protect against any possible nasties you could pick up from your iPhone 3G, Proporta has developed the Antimicrobial Silicone Case with SteriTouch (Apple iPhone 3G).”

Think about that the next time you decide to clean your screen with your tongue.

So for all you clean freaks out there (yes, Nanda I’m thinking of u) this is the case for you. Well, if you have an iPhone 3G that is.

Gees, it’s been quite a while since I sat down and put up a new post. There is something that I’ve been meaning to post on for a few weeks now and it’s about a new bicycle mount that I discovered for the iPhone.

After a not so positive experience a few months back which involved buying a cheap bike mount (I think I spent $15) and getting it only to find that the fixture only worked on a very thin handle bar. Not very practical considering most bikes made since 1998 have oversized handlebars.

Components of the bike mount kit

The bike I wanted to mount my iPhone holder to is my road bike which has oversized carbon bars and this meant that the mount was practically useless to me except that I did find a friend with a skinny set of handlebars and gave the mount to her.

Anyway, a few weeks back I came across a website for an American Manufacturer called RAM Mounts who produces all sorts of mounts and it turns out they make a very decent iPhone mount for bikes. The particular mount that I purchased is this one which retails for less than $18 (US). About $20 Australian. I think I paid no more than $10 for shipping which made it a very affordable contraption and I was pleasantly surprised to find how well it works in real life.

Instructions for the bike mount

My first impressions were positive. Finding that there was clear instructions on how to set it up and it wasn’t overly complicated. Initial steps involved cleaning the surface where the mount was to be placed. Then setting up the rubber dampening pad that protects your frame.

The mount came with a couple of pieces that gave me a choice of where to mount it. It could go either on your handlerbars or on the top tube of your bike (the one that runs between the Stem and Handlebars and the seat post). I put mine on the top tube as I already have a bike computer on the handlebar and it sits there quite nicely.

The bike mount on my bike

The mount is spring loaded and allows you to rotate your device if you so desire. It’s also tidy enough that you can tighten up the screws and eliminate any vibration which can be quite annoying, especially on a long bike ride.

An overhead view of the bike mount on my bike

Yes, I suppose you have to wonder what would happen in the event of a stack, but I guess that’s what insurance is for, isn’t it. All in all I have to say I’m very pleased with the mount and would recommend it if you’re looking for a similar solution.