Submitted by Sascha on Fri, 08/01/2008 - 06:22.
1. Mophie Juice Pack (5 out of 5)
It won’t protect your iPhone, but it will double the battery life of it. Simply slide your iPhone into the juice pack, and it will charge the iPhone’s battery back to full, while the iPhone uses the Juice Pack’s battery instead of it’s own. Once the Juice Pack is all out, you can simply remove it and enjoy a full iPhone battery life.
It’s not too badly priced at $99.95 (just under £50) for the first generation iPhone and an iPhone 3G version due to be released soon. Because of it’s soft rubberised design give you a bit more grip and stop your iPhone from slipping out of your hand.
I didn’t find it added too much weight or size to the iPhone and still fits perfectly in your pocket. It’s great for going to house parties where you might not be able to charge your iPhone for a day or two.
2. Otterbox Defender Series for the iPhone (5 out of 5)
The Otterbox Defender case is by far the best protective case for the iPhone. It adds only a small amount of bulk, but provides so much protection. It has a thick hard plastic case that your iPhone slips into, and then a rubberised cover that slips over the top of that. The screen is also protected with a plastic coating built into the plastic hard coating.
I dropped my iPhone so many times before and during having this. Before, I cracked the screen and had to have it replaced, and I also got dents over the phone, with this on there wasn’t a single mark on the phone. It’s also somewhat water proof (although they don’t advertise that in lieu of their Amour Case which is waterproof) so if it’s raining, you don’t have to worry about frying the circuits when trying to call the missus.
There are other cases that provide some protection, some of which are pretty good (eg. The Griffin Clear case) but this case goes the full board, and at $49.95 (just under £25) for both a first generation iPhone and iPhone 3G version, it’s a bargain.
While working at O2, I even recommended this to a few customers over the ones O2 has recommended we sell in store. The iPhone 3G version of this case is due to be released very soon.
3. Sennheiser Headphones with Bass Driven Sound (4 out of 5)
I can honestly say I don’t have a problem with the standard iPhone headphones, but they do let in outside noise, and the bass isn’t exactly great. These headphones are available for £19.99 (roughly $40) most places. Although they take a little getting used to as they are actually inside your ear, once you get over the initial “eww” feeling of putting one in, the sound quality is truly amazing, and the bass will blow your mind (or at least your ear drums when set to full volume)
If you want to use them with the original iPhone, your going to need an adapter, but they fit perfectly in the iPhone 3G, and even though the cables seem a little flimsy, they’re quite tough.
Of course you can use them with any device that has a standard stereo headphone jack, such as your laptop, or if you have another MP3 player.
4. JBL on tour Speakers (4 out of 5)
The JBL on tour Speakers can be powered off either AAA batteries, or mains power. They provide pretty great quality audio if you want to play music off your iPhone much louder than the built in loud speaker (which on both models is pretty pitifull) and even provides a built in stand for your iPhone so you could watch video shows in your library or from BBC iPlayer and Revision3.
The quality is superb and is about the same as you’d expect of an iMac or decent PC speakers. They’ll run you up a little bit at £49.99 (roughly $100), but considering that their compact, and such good quality, their almost definitely worth the money.
It has built in touch volume controls, and provides 3 watts to each channel.
If you have an iPhone 3G, then it may be worth you going to Tesco and buying some Technika portable speaks for £10 however, which to be fair are almost as good.
5. Griffin Powerdock 2 (3 out of 5)
If you have more than one iPhone in your household (which you may well do if you pass your original iPhone onto a family member after upgrading to iPhone 3G), or you have an iPhone and someone else has an iPod, this dock allows you to charge them both at the same time.
It might even be worth taking this into the office and leaving it there to charge your phone, instead of carrying a cable with you, and if a colleague also has an iPhone or iPod, they won’t have an excuse to unplug yours because they want to charge theirs.
It’s quite small considering, and it charges the devices quickly. It’ll run you up about $49.95 (just under £25), so there’s really no excuse for not getting it and making life more convenient.
