My Mobile Life

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.

Some time ago, around the time that I purchased my iPhone 3G in August 2008 I made the decision not to jail break my iPhone. For one, I think the term “jail break” scared me off. “No, I haven’t been to jail and I don’t need to break out. Neither does my iPhone” was roughly what went through my head.

In all seriousness though, while there are a number of apps that you can’t get through the app store (and which may tempt one to crack their iPhone), for me at least there seemed to be enough apps on the iTunes app store and I wasn’t going to push my luck by cracking it and risking loss of warranty and god knows what else. That and the fact that it took a bit of stuffing around (and technical know how) was quite enough to put me off.

Well, today I’m kinda glad I made that decision after seeing this article which reports that some crackers have had their Apple accounts disabled after jail breaking their iPhones. Okay, they were probably more active than most users/crackers who simply wanted to get another app or two onto their phone, but nonetheless, it is enough to make you worried if you have (cracked your phone). Yes, I’d imagine that you can just go and sign up for another Apple account if yours gets disabled, but it would be annoying.

Has this happened to any of you out there and were you able to get another Apple account. If so let us know.

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.